RT Student Blog

I figured I would come here one last time. This semester has been really tough but its over now. I had my pinning ceremony the other day. My graduation is Thursday night. I am no longer a Respiratory Therapy Student. I have 2 jobs lined up so I might not be writing a lot this summer. I am studying now for my CRT exam which should be in a week or so. My new blog will be at http://rt-blog.com (don't go there yet cause I haven't started it yet).

I know I haven't posted in a really long while. You wouldn't believe how busy I have been. In less than a month I will no longer be an RT student. I took my Pediatric Advanced Life Support class today. I am now PALS certified. Some of the other things I have been up to to get prepared. I had to do 25 clinical simulations on a computer in the computer lab. I did them.. I had to do a community service project. I went to the local high school and talked to the health occupations class about Respiratory Therapy. I had to write a case study on a neonatal patient. I am almost done with that. I have Kettering which is a 4-day board prep class this weekend. I also have my final checkoff at the hospital with my instructor tomorrow.

I have my PRN job at the hospital I love. I'll remain there when I graduate and pass the boards. I also applied to another hospital PRN. I hope I get it cause I love the people there and will miss them when I graduate.

I'm gonna come here to complain about work because I'm not gonna do it at work. I love the hospital I work at and for the most part like the Respiratory department I work in. There are a few people that are tarnishing that for me. These people find it necessary to complain and talk ab out people. I try to find good qualities in people. They like to talk bad about people when they aren't around. Actually, it's mainly one person who apparently feels like they are the best RT there and like to trash others. It's really starting to annoy me. Then, theres another who is also complaning a lot. This is mainly about the doctors and the way they write orders. This is going to be a really long year as I bide my time between graduation and my last house payment. I am so moving to a bigger city and a bigger hospital when that day comes in 2010. It's starting to look like I may want to work at Duke to work with CFers.

*Let me preface this post by saying that I hate my camera and plan to replace it soon* You'll see by the pictures

Tonight I went to the local kickoff event for the Great Strides walk. I have really gotten caught up with this great organization and a lot of the bloggers dealing with CF, but this is the first time I actually met someone living with the disease. I met The House family and Christian who has CF. They started the Great Strides walk in Fayetteville last year, Go check out their Caring Bridge site to see how Christian is doing.

I look forward to get to know all of these brave people in this area as the walk gets closer. Don't forget to check out my team page to see how you can help.

Last night (or early this morning) I sat in my car and updated my Twitteer/Facebook status from my Peek in the hospital parking lot. After an update like that I figured I should come here and tell you about the day I had. I did get home over 21 hours after I left but I didn't spend that whole time at the hospital. I did get a break.

I got to the hospital at about 6:30 AM for clinicals. I paired up with the RT who was assigned the ICU and we got report from the night shift therapist who was getting off. Before we could get to the unit, a rapid response was called. We rushed to the room where it was and saw a crowd of people. The patient was gasping for air with gurgling sounds and SpO2 ("SATS") in the 70's and 80's. The RT handed me a Non-Rebreathing mask and told me to get in there. The patient was on isolation but I had no time for the gown. I quickly donned the mask and gloves and began to weave my way through the nurses that were in there. I hooked up the NRB and replaced his Nasal Cannula with it. Another therapist opened up an NTS kit and thrust the sterilepackage at me to put on the gloves. I did and lubed up the catheter. The nurses held the patient's head becaause he knew what was imminent and began to thrash his head about. I suctioned him out 2 or 3 times and his Sats came up. We then got out of the room and moved him to the ICU.

The rest of the day was uneventful and filled with ventilator monitoring and breathing treatments. I did get to NTS this patient again and another patient once (that's 3 times total for the day). The evening shift came in and we gave report about 3:30. I had to be at work at 7:00 and didn't feel like going home between. I live about 12 miles away so I probably could've gone and taken a nap but I didn't.

I just hung around town. I walked around Wal-Mart, and Office Depot. I bought a mouse for my laptop. I love this mouse in case you were interested. I ate dinner at Zaxby's. Visited my grandmother before she ate dinner then went back to the hospital. The rest of the night was unexciting because as a student I can basically just take a patient list and give breathing treatments. Then I got off at 3 AM.

As you guys know I am in my last semester of RT school. What this semester entails is one class a week and many hours of clinicals. During clinicals we have 220 adult checkoffs (130 general care and 90 critical care) and 20 neonatal checkoffs. I have now completed 219 of the adult checkoffs. I need to do spontaneous pulmonary mechanics one more time. That is when you use a couple of hand held meters to decide when a patient is ready to be extubated and come off of mechanical ventilation. I was so close to that final checkoff on Thursday too. It's frustrating to be that close.

I also need 5 neonatal checkoffs too. I have to try and get back to the NICU for those.

In school when we went over airway clearance we learned about the vest. I didn't think much about it until I started talking to all of you, my new friends, living with Cystic Fibrosis. Now I know that the vest has cut mortality rates in half, I also know that it costs over $15,000. Now I have some questions. Do you have one? Is it easy to get and get covered by insurance, medicaid, or whatever you use? Do you know of kids with cf in families that cannot afford one? Is the company that makes it receptive to this and willing to help you get one, even if you can't afford it? I don't mean to pry but I have plans and ideas and the answers to these questions will help me. Please leave a comment or if you'd rather it remain private please email me at marcus.williford(at)gmail(dot)com. Thank you.

Oh, before I go I wanted to tell you guys about a new blog I found. Her name is Salty (I'm sure thats not her real name) and she seems to be living with CF and diabetes. Her blog is Salty and Sweet. She's a hottie too(sorry,I just had to throw that in there. I am a guy after all). Here is what she says in the "about me" section

"Other Cystic Fibrosis warriors must be out there. I believe we must band together, share with each other, and fight these horrendous diseases together. Knowledge is power. The more we know the stronger, and healthier, we each will be.

I have dedicated many hours of my life reaching out to help my doctors find a cure and new treatments for Cystic Fibrosis. Now I want reach out and connect with others who have CF, those who have CFRD, friends, family and anyone else who knows what it is like to live with health issues, and those wonderful people who support them."

Let's get to know her too.