Survived my First Week!

 

Well I did it! I made it though my first week as a travel nurse! I'm 1/13 the way done with my time at Phoenix Children's Hospital. I actually really like it here!  The people I work with are great and they are all super nice, the patients are cute, and the hospital itself seems pretty top notch!  If Arizona didn't try so hard to imitate the burning fires of hell during the summer, this would be a great place to work all of the time... but we all know I'm not very tolerant to heat so that will never happen for me. But I can definitely see why so many people come here during the winter months.

So as I mentioned in the previous post, this hospital is HUGE!  I knew I wasn't working in the main hospital PACU, but I didn't realize how many ORs/PACUs this place had!  They have 3 different sets of ORs and 5 PACUs! I work in what they call the "Aerodigestive PACU", which basically means that we get the ENT cases, Dentals, and Gastro scopes. They have another outpt PACU for the Uro, plastics, ophthalmology, and ortho cases, and the main OR for all of the other emergency and big surgeries. I like where I'm at because, whereas I'm very familiar with ENT cases, I also get to learn about other types of cases that the CPC would normally take care of at Primary Children's Hospital.

They run things a little differently than I'm used to, but that's to be expected. This paragraph is for my nerdy nurse friends and the questions I know that they are wondering 😊😊. First, the charting system they use is called Allscripts. Not a super common one among hospitals from what I understand, but it's pretty user friendly and easy to pick up. By Friday, I pretty much felt like I had a good handle on the charting and was taking patients nearly on my own with minimal help. Secondly, in this PACU, they clump phase 1 and phase 2 care together. They discharge from the same area and with the same nurse that received the patient from the OR. I can get up to 2 patients at a time, but only when the first one meets phase 2 criteria. We don't extubate here, so it works out. Third, their cafeteria is BOMB!!!  Super yummy food, lots of different choices and options, and I've LOVED eating my lunch outside where I get to soak in the sun and feed the birds!

In news outside of work, this has been a little bit of a rough week. Ivy got SEVERE diarrhea starting Sunday night that lasted through most of the week. She would wake me up 2-3 times a night to let her out, and for a couple of days, I came home to multiple accidents that I would have to clean up. On the third day, I left her outside so she wouldn't have any more accidents... good thing the weather was perfect and we live in a place with a fenced yard area! On Thursday, I was lucky enough to get her an appointment with the vet. They have no idea what caused the diarrhea, but they gave me some antibiotics, probiotics, and a prescription dog food to help her and it seems to have worked!  She's doing much better, and so am I!

We've been taking it easy this weekend to let Ivy fully recuperate, but tonight, we decided to take a drive out to the desert to watch the sunset, and boy was it worth it!  The clouds were perfect and it wasn't long before the colors painted the sky!  Ivy was a good sport in being my doggy model and we just soaked it all in until it got dark. I'm definitely looking forward to more sunsets like that!

Anyways, tomorrow is a new day and the beginning of a new week! Wish me luck! 

Arizona, Here I Am!!

 

    I'm here in Arizona! Here I sit, in my AirBnB, the eve before my first day! I've been here for 5 days and weather has been absolutely perfect! A lot has happened since I last posted, some good and some troublesome, but it has all worked out and I'm ready to start work tomorrow!

    So to start with, I had some hiccups. First, I found out that figuring out housing is hard! My first arrangement fell through. I guess that's the reason why they say to start looking for your next assignment when you still have 8 weeks on your current contract, so that you have enough time to find housing that works for you before they are all reserved!  So I got a place on AirBnB in Mesa, Az for a month, and then in January I've made arrangements to move into the 2nd apartment bedroom of another healthcare professional who lives/works in the area with her dog. I absolutely loathe moving, but since I only brought 1 carload of stuff with me, it shouldn't be too bad.

    The next hiccup... well it was a little bigger of a deal. I was supposed to start working this last monday (11/30), but something was up with my background check where they were waiting for it to clear the courts or something, so I wasn't able to start. It's kind of been a back and forth with the hospital, the travel nurse agency, and myself as to what's happening and when I can start. But I got notified today that it had finally cleared and that I can start tomorrow!  That means my contract will be extended a week, but that's not a problem. So I hope Phoenix Children's is ready for me! Ready or not, here I come!!

    So what have I been doing with all of my extra time you might ask? Well after I got my groceries and got settled after the first day, I decided to do some exploring!  On Monday, I attempted to go see a cool ruin about an hour outside of the city. I got there and found out it's closed and only open Tues-Sat (I know!  Weirdly specific days to be open!), so I drove back to Tempe to go and explore Papango Park a little. It's in the middle of the city, with a series of sandstone hills. One of them has an arch in the rock, aptly named "Hole in the Rock". We climbed up, went in and out of the hole, had a view of the city... all of the good things. Found out from an informational sign there that it's considered an archeological site, because apparently the ancients used it to keep track of the season, so they could measure the solstices, etc. Apparently there's lines that they carved in the rock to measure it, but I couldn't see it. Interesting to know the history anyways.

Yesterday, Ivy and I took a drive up the Apache Trail up to Canyon Lake. Ivy had fun chasing the ducks and other waterfowl for a bit. We went to see if we could ride the Dolly Steamboat. I had heard from my friend Janiel that it was kinda fun to ride and you can see all kinds of wildlife and learn the history of the area. Alas, they don't allow pets on the boat, and since I was there to have an adventure with my pooch, I passed. But as I was leaving, I noticed that there was parking in the same parking lot as the marina for a trail across the street: the Boulder Canyon Trail. So, Ivy and I took a little hike! It wasn't planned at all, but a happy find! I saw a bald eagle flying over the lake, so I did see some wildlife. I didn't expect to see big Saguaro and other cacti right next to a lake, but alas, there it was, and I was charmed!

  

Next, Ivy and I drove down to go see the Ghost Town on our way back. On our way there, I saw road signs for the Lost Dutchman State Park that was right on the way. Again, it wasn't planned, but I thought, "why not! I'll give it a shot!" and pulled on in to check it out. It's named after the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine, a legendary gold mine. Supposedly, in the early 1840's a Mexican family found and mined the gold there. Then in 1848, as they were taking a load back to their home, they were killed in a Apache raid and the location became lost. Later, in the 1870's someone else found and mined it, but after his death, no one has been able to find it since. Here is a more detailed history of the legend . Anyways, the park is  right at the base of the Superstition Mountains, so in an interesting setting. Here, Ivy and I hiked the Treasure Loop. The trail takes you right up to the base of the superstition mountains, and you get some great views of the valley and can see a tiny downtown Phoenix in the distance!

    After we had finished our hike at the Lost Dutchman State Park, we did a hop skip and a jump over to the Goldfield Ghost Town. It was founded in 1893 after another pocket of gold was found in the area in the 1880's. There was a gold rush to the town, and at one point, it was bigger than the city of Phoenix, boasting a population of 4000! It was even considered as the state capital for a while until the gold vein they were mining ran out and the mine flooded with water. That happened 5 years after the town was founded and after that, everyone left, and it became a ghost town. Now it is a "commercial ghost town", meaning it's a tourist trap. But it DEFINITELY has the feel of the old west! I guess on Saturdays and Sundays, they even have old fashioned shoot outs!

Ivy and I took a "private" train ride around the town (meaning no one else got on the train with us). It wasn't terribly exciting, just a slow chug of the train making a small loop around the town. But I learned some of the history and got some great views of the town against the superstition mountains!  I just love learning the history of these places! It makes it all the more fascinating to me!

One thing that I experienced yesterday, was a bit of what I'm calling "Nature Shock"... kind of like culture shock, but with nature. I love the desert. But I am definitely used to the Utah desert: red rocks, small cacti, sandstone and sand everywhere, cedar trees, etc. Here in Arizona, it definitely feels more barren. The deserts here have lots of the big Saguaro cacti, which I actually think is really cool to see! I didn't know they were that huge! But they also have Cholla cacti and organ pipe cacti, which I have never seen before here. I haven't really seen any of the smaller variety cacti I'm used to seeing in Utah. Its good because, since all the cacti here are huge, you don't accidentally step on one. But there are no trees here! No shade at all unless you are standing the the narrow shade of a saguaro. Because of that, to me the sun looks brighter and feels more intense... but maybe it's all in my head. I dunno.

    Anyways, that's it for this update!  I'm excited for further adventures and to start working at Phoenix Children's Hospital!  I'm not really even all that nervous, which I expected to be. I'm just ready!  Wish me luck!

I'm a Traveling Nurse!!

Well, it's official!  I'm a traveling nurse!  I'm really excited!  I've wanted to try out travel nursing since I got my RN license, but have always had one reason or another why it wouldn't work. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job working as a Same Day Surgery/PACU nurse at Primary Children's hospital, and hope to come back after I'm done, but for a variety of reasons, I felt that this was the right time to pull the trigger and travel!

This has all happened SO fast! I made the decision and told the recruiter on Nov 2 that I was interested in traveling, but I didn't want to travel until February, after the transition of the President, just in case any funny business happened with that. But then she sent me some positions for PACU at Seattle Children's and Phoenix Children's, and for the amount of money they were offering, it seemed too good to pass up!  I originally wanted to go to Seattle and interviewed with them, but Phoenix offered me a contract the day after I submitted my application with them, and I decided that I would probably enjoy it better there for my first assignment. The weather in winter is better, it's 3 hours closer to home... it seemed meant to be! So I signed my contract with them today (Nov 16th), I am moving down there on Nov 28th to start on Nov 30th! AHHH!!! My contract will be until Feb 27th, 2021 and then I'll be able to take of  a few weeks in between contracts.  

So my first assignment is going to be working as a PACU nurse at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty much the same as what I'm doing now, but I'll be getting paid lots more to do it, and I'll be able to see the area down there. Plus the fact that I'll be able to escape the cold Utah winter/snow, and enjoy the warm winter weather of Arizona (average highs in winter are high 60's, low 70's)! I'll be working M-F, from 0700-1530, no overtime or on-call, and no weekends or holidays. I think it will be nice to get off in the afternoon and have the rest of the evening with my sweet pooch (who is DEFINITELY going with me on this adventure!). I'll be able to come home over Christmas, go hiking/exploring on the weekends... this is going to be AWESOME!

It looks like I have found some housing! I'll be living with another healthcare professional and her dog, so Ivy will have a doggy playmate, and I'll have another human who I can hopefully become fast friends with! I don't have to worry about putting down a deposit or paying rent until I actually get there and see the place, so that's a relief. On the Facebook groups that I'm a part of for traveling nursing, some people have posted about how they were scammed because they put down a deposit, got there, and the address didn't exist, or it wasn't as advertised. So I'm glad that this person isn't going to make me pay until I get there.

So next step..... PACKING!  I'm going to be pretty busy this upcoming week and next week figuring out what I'll need to take with me and packing some of my other stuff away/putting it in the attic. I'm hoping to be able to fit what I need into my car, maybe my rooftop carrier, so that I don't have to rent a little trailer to haul stuff. My housing is furnished, and I won't need to bring kitchenware, so hopefully that won't be to hard to accomplish.... but I hate packing!  I'm going to get some clear totes that are stackable and label them so I can just pack the same way each time I move.

I think this is going to be great! I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had to work PACU at Primary Children's. It has really opened a lot of doors for me! I really hope that I like travel nursing, or can even just tolerate it for 2 years... that's my goal. There are many reasons I'm doing this, but the main reason is that I am hoping to save enough money to have a really good down payment for my future home, wherever that may be!

I'm starting off in Arizona, but there's many places I think I would love to travel to and explore while I'm working: Oregon, Washington, Washington D.C., Alaska, Boston, Atlanta..... I'm excited to see where this adventure takes me!  I'll be updating this blog as I go, to keep my family and friends updated with my adventures! It's gonna be good! Here I go!......