The title sounds like a county song. Tonight I was helping Samantha with her Health term project which was a paper on critical care. Sometimes I think I can't stand my job anymore and then I realize how much I really do love it. I could write that six page paper with just the information about critical care that is in my head!! I don't think I'm bragging, because I know most of my co-workers are the same. It takes a lot of training to do what we do and it takes years before you stop wanting to puke at the idea of your patient coding. I still get really scared and nervous when suddenly there is a patient dying unexpectedly, but now I know I am surrounded by other smart people and I know that I have support when I have an intensive care brain fart. Patients try to die and we say "forget that!!" (it is a family oriented web site).
Here is a pic of a patient I took care of about 2 years ago. OK, it's not a pic of the patient because that would be a violation of the Patient Privacy Act (Hippa), but it gives you an idea of what I have to juggle sometimes.
There was a machine that worked like his kidneys, a machine that breathed for him and another one that helped his heart so that it could rest. Unfortunately, he didn't survive, but many have.
On Halloween we ALL had nurses hats made by my best "Nurse Betty" Terri Michele) and posed for this pic.
Notice how our scrubs are all so slimming and un-frumpy??? hahaha. We took this pic in the middle of the unit so we could hear our alarms. In the middle is one of our Cardiothoracic surgeons nestled in the HEART of Nurse Betty!! Plenty of perks at this job!!!
Watching his giraffe rattle. Look at those eyes!!
He's getting so big! He loves to grab at things now. 
He is so cuddly! He loves to cuddle up to me and just go to sleep. He doesn't fight it at all, just cuddles up and I wrap him in his blanky and he goes to sleep.
