round the mulberry bush

I have had another brilliant week. Placments are odd. Because they are only for 8 weeks, if you hate it then thats just long enough i expect. On the other hand, if you love it…which I do, it’s not enough. Just when you have got settled and comfortable and have begun building rapports with the clients, you’re offski.

I went to ward round all by my very self this week. One of my mentors clients attempted suicide and ended up in hospital. My mentor has been poorly and off work, so I went to represent her. I enjoyed it. Apart from the fact that I got hideously lost on the way to the hospital, because I have no sense of direction and am not a big fan of driving far away to new places.

Today was depot day. I have been a student nurse for 17 months now and have thus far avoided jabbing anyone. Injections scare me to be honest. Well they did up until this morning, but not so much anymore. I gave my first one at 9.20am to a very lovely lady who told me that it didn’t hurt a bit and that I would make a fantastic nurse. I had previously been told that that is what she says to students, but it was lovely anyway. She also gave me a round of applause I will remember her and her bottom with huge fondness through my nursing career!

I was very worried that I would put the needle in too hard, or not hard enough, but when it came to it, one minute it was in my hand and the next minute it was in the lovely ladies behind. Job done!

This afternoon, I gave a Risperdal Consta depot…which have needles as thick as your wrist and 12 foot long. It was marginally more scary than the first one, but okay none the less.

I am so glad that I have got the first couple out of the way. I am also quite pleased with myself because the first time I saw a needle that size on placement  I felt dreadful, and my pulse went up to 140 odd..I checked while we were stood in the clinic, much to the amusement of the charge nurse.

Depot-tastic.

This week has been heavy going…both good and bad. I am still loving the placement and feel like I have settled in well there.

I have been busy busy busy. I went out to the MHA assessment. It was really hard going. The guy got detained under section 2, and it was very distressing for him and his family. It was a very intense couple of hours. I cried a little bit as he got into the ambulance. I couldn’t help it.

He went to the ward where I did my first placement. It was nice to see the nurses again. I found out though that my mentor (who was brilliant) got attacked in August last year and has been off ever since. That saddened me lots.

Then today, I found out that a lad that was on that first placement committed suicide last night. He was only 22 and had been really poorly for a long time. I saw him the night that the sectioned client got admitted. That too was very sad.

So on that front, this week has been very hard.

It hasn’t made me question what I am doing though, even though I have struggled a bit. Infact it’s made me even more sure that I am doing the right thing.

Next week I am going to talk to the staff at the local personality disorder unit. I am really looking forward to that.

I’m working tomorrow and Sunday so will be spending my spare time in my PJ’s just loafing

This week on placement has positively whizzed by. I am really enjoying it aswell. The team are lovely, they have all been so helpful and answered all my questions and stuff. next week I am going to book to spend some time with the Early Intervention Team, the Forensic CPN and I am going out with the AMHP to watch a Mental Health Act Assessment. That will be quite heavy because the point of it is to assess whether somebody needs sectioning or not.

I have met some really interesting clients, with all sorts of different diagnoses, and in the next couple of weeks I will be allocated my own mini caseload with the low risk clients, who I will go out and visit and stuff (like a real live nurse). Exciting.

My mentor is brilliant. She is very empathetic and brilliant with the clients. I think I can learn a lot from her. She’s been a nurse for a million years aswell, so knows lots.

The bits that I am nervous about is presenting an assessment to the team, just because I worry that I sound like I haven’t got a clue what I am talking about and also doing my first depot injection…which is definitely going to be on the 30th cause its all been arranged and I met the client yesterday who says that she is more than happy for me to administer it. I hope that I don’t hurt her, or pass out. She has told me that she usually bleeds quite a bit after the injection aswell. At least I know to make sure I have a plaster to hand.

It has been quite tiring although I am mainly sitting. Learning knackers me out though and I was in bed at 8.30 the other night as a result of this. Next week will be hard because I will do a week on placement and then have an early at work on Saturday and a late on Sunday…so no break for Marge. The shifts at work are only 6 hours though, so should fly by.

All in all things are good

I started my new placement today. I really enjoyed it. As I’ve said before, I do prefer the inpatient setting to the community team but it was good all the same. My mentor is very nice, and the rest of the team have been really welcoming and most lovely. There is a guy there who reminds me of Martin Clunes (although he looks very little like him) and he is hilarious. I liked him a lot.

I went on two visits and then this afternoon sat through the team meeting. Although I don’t know who they are on about, it was still interesting listening to the different issues that clients were experiencing etc. There seems to be a large amount of clients with eating disorders, an area that I find fascinating, and then most of the other clients have psychotic disorders or Bipolar.

After 4 weeks of lazing around, eating sweets and reading books, I am a bit knackered this eve. I intend to have a southern comfort and coke and watch the programme with Fiona Phillips, where she talks about her dads Alzheimers.

Big piggy told me that he is “starting to like Grandpa now” (see earlier post). It’s a massive relief because it was worrying me that he didn’t like going to my dads and had to do so while I am on placement.

So all good tonight in the world of Miss Daw

I am feeling brighter than I was earlier. I’m still as fat, but don’t care as much

I went to the doctors earlier regarding my never ending headache saga. It wasn’t the doctor that I like to see. She’s really popular so it’s a nightmare getting an appointment. It’s not surprising though cos she is lovely.

Anyway, the doctor that I saw was fine. She always looks as if shes smirking though. It unnerves me slightly. I’m sure she was only smiling to put me at ease. She looks smug though. Maybe she is. She’s loaded and I’m a scratty student.

She was very thorough, which was good. Asking me lots of stuff about my headaches, which she says are migraines although the anti migraine stuff did sod all. She also asked why I was on antidepressants. I replied that she was just being stupid and that it wasnt because I was mrs fecking happy now was it….inside my head that is…on the outside i banged on about life stressors etc etc. She says that although my migraines are hormonal, they may be being made worse by depression. I disagree personally, but if I were her that’s exactly what I would be thinking.

She has put me on beta blockers..propranolol…she reckons they might help. They help prevent migraines. She was probably thinking that the anxiety reducing properties wouldn’t go amiss either. She’s probably right.

I have been on them before, when I used to have panic attacks. I rememeber that they made me feel a bit spaced out. That was on 10mg. My dose now is 80mg.  They will think I am mashed off my tit ends when I turn up at my placement on Monday hahaha.

Fingers crossed that they will do something though. Migraines are so debilitating. I am also sick of being ill. I ‘m sure people think that I have Munchausens.

Middle piggy had his MMR today. He didn’t have it when he was a baby. He’s 7 now. Rumple was very worried when it all came out about the so called links between MMR and autism. I was unsure too. However since starting the course and learning about evidence base and all that jazz, I conclude that the guy who did the study was naught but a chancer. Poor piggy. He was very brave but I could tell it hurt.

Just as an aside, I have managed to acrue near on 40,000 hits. How on earth has this occured? I only know of 5 people that read my blog. Unless they look really really often…

My mood has gone all of a wobble again today and I feel a bit crappy, truth be known. I attribute this to the following reasons:

1. Christmas is over and done with.

2. I am going to be really busy for the next couple of months. My next time off is April I think, although I’m not 100% sure on that…whenever it is, it’s too far away though.

3. I start my placement on Monday. This in itself is fine, but the organising of to-ing and fro-ing the piggies to their respective carers before and after the 9 to 5 is a nightmare.

4. Big piggy hates going to my dads house. He doesn’t hide the fact much either. So I am worried about that and feeling guilty because he will be spending quite a lot of time there come next week.

5. I have put on lots and lots of weight. I think it’s a combination of my implant and that I haven’t stopped eating for the last couple of weeks and seem unable to do so.

6. As a result of point 5 all my clothes are too tight so i am going to have to buy some smart clothes that fit for aforementioned placement. With money that we don’t have.

I think that’s it.

To end on a positive note, I went for my induction day for new job yesterday. It was really dull, fire lectures and bla bla but it does mean that once my POVA check comes through, I can start. Which I am quite looking forward to.