This Little Piggy...

There may have been a piggy that went to the market...

There may have been a piggy that went home...

But the piggies today, cried "Wee Wee Wee" all the way...to the lab table(unfortunately for them!) Actually, there was no crying involved. Their crying days were over...luckily for them, because...

I got to intubate, place a chest tube, perform a thoracotomy, do an arterial stick, a lumbar puncture, and suture the heck out of that little guy!

And it was AWESOME!!!

Don't get me wrong...pigs are my FAVORITE animal out there! I would own a cute little pink guy if they didn't poop, or pee, or squeal really loud! When I was younger I had about a bazillion stuffed animal pigs...and even now, my BFF gives me pig stuff for my birthday as a joke!! So, it was a bit hard to see them laying on the table all pale and sunken...

but once the procedures started...

it was AWESOME!!!

It's amazing to be able to do procedures that I assist with and watch all the time in the PICU. But it's equally amazing to me to realize today how very little I knew about these procedures. I know how to position the patient, what vital sign changes to watch for, the risks etc., but the actual procedure, I guess I just never watched that closely to truly understand step by step what goes on.

I must say, I did a rockin' job. I actually LOVE suturing. If there is a job that highly involves suturing, I'm there! I'm thinking that ER would be great for this... hmmm....

On the other hand, intubation (AKA putting in the breathing tube) was the hardest/most nerve wracking for me! Despite knowing that 1.) this is NOT a child, it's a pig, AND 2.) the pig is not even alive, it still made me nervous!! I needed to give this little piggie an airway!

It was a great, but very long day of procedures! Our group of 6 nurses grew close by the end of the day. And it's always fun (funny?) to see a group dynamic. In our group you had:

1.) The girl who was the know-it-all, until the last procedure which she just couldn't get...finally- she wasn't perfect!

2.) The girl that screamed, or jumped, with nearly EVERY procedure...good luck girl...I would NOT want her putting a chest tube in my kid!

3.) The girl who turns BEAT RED in the face with every procedure...she was good, but man does she flush!!

and 4.) The socially awkward girl who may or may not be a genious...you can't tell b/c you can't get passed her totally awkwardness around you, the professors, the pigs...everyone!

And then the other 2 of us were just somewhere in the middle. I'm sure one of the 4 girls above has a blog, and is probably writing something about me...but like I said, group dynamics are always fun/funny!

Tomorrow we talk about being summoned and how to handle being sued (agghh...what am I getting into!?!?). Not as exciting, but definitely some information I want to have a good heads up on.

One more day of this class extravaganza...and then it's back to working life in the PICU. Ahhh, there's no place like home : )