Thanks for all you do! The long days and nights, sore bodies, and wearing multiple hats when caring for patients does not go unnoticed. You are very much appreciated!
Category: Nursing Students
September is Suicide Prevention Month. Have you taken a moment to check on your family and friends? How about checking on the “strongest person that you know?” They need to be checked on as well. We have all been trying to get through this pandemic while still going to school, working, and taking care of home. Stress, anxiety, and depression levels have skyrocketed! Take time out each day for a “mental moment.” Meditate, go for a walk, listen to music, paint, etc. Engaging in these types of positive coping skills can help improve your mental health. If you find yourself participating in negative coping behaviors, please seek help from a mental health professional. There is no shame in doing so!
#InThisTogether
#endthestigma
Well y’all I did it! I got my first Covid-19 vaccine! One more to go.
I will admit that the quick development of the vaccine was the main reason why I did not want to get it. However, pandemic anxiety and my children wanting to return to in person class instruction were my determining factors for getting the vaccine.
I have never been a person to get anxious, but ever since the pandemic started I have experienced the worst anxiety ever in my life! I mean, I was terrified to leave the house and be around other people. I am hoping that two weeks after receiving my second dose when I am considered “fully vaccinated” that this will change. We should not live in fear, but we should also be cautious and careful.
I have not experienced any serious side effects after receiving my first vaccine. I only had soreness at the injection site for a day or two. I will keep you all updated on my second 💉 dose. Have you gotten yours? Let me know your experience below.
Love 💕 Nurse Neesy
Happy New Year! I can’t believe that we are at the end of the first month of 2021 already! How many of you have already broken your resolutions by now LOL? Instead of making a New Year’s resolution this year I decided to start a new venture in my nursing career.
For those of you who do not know my story, I started working with patients at the bedside as a teenager. I worked as a patient transporter and a dietary aide in the hospital. I then became a patient care tech and a home health/hospice aide. I love caring for others and truly believe that nursing is my calling!
As a nurse, I am a true advocate for my patients. I stand up for them when they are not able or afraid to do so. I help them access the healthcare resources that they need when they don’t know how. I am their shoulder to cry on, and their available ear to listen when they are lonely.
I have worked in a wide arena of nursing including correctional facilities, assisted living, inpatient and home hospice, OB/GYN and adult medicine medical offices and most recently tele-health due to the pandemic. Through tele-health visits I was able to touch bases with my elderly, immuno-compromised, or chronic condition patients who were instructed not to come into the office unless absolutely necessary.
I was able to coordinate their care from a distance. Let me tell you, getting my patient’s the resources that they needed to withstand this pandemic felt amazing! I fell in love with care coordination so much that I’ve moved into this as my new nursing position. Being able to follow my patients after they have had a doctor’s appointment, hospital or rehab stay and giving them the tools that they need to prevent being readmitted feels so fulfilling! This is where I need to be. Helping my patients take better care of themselves! I am doing what I was born to do!❤️
-Nurse Neesy
Ok ladies, it’s time to grab your mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, or friends, and make sure that they are up to date on their breast cancer screenings. Heck, go with them to their appointments for support if you have to!
Make sure that you and your loved ones are also performing your self-breast exams monthly. If you are unsure of how to perform this please see the link below.
https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-self-exam
Contact your physician or other advanced practiced providers immediately if you notice any irregularities or have any of the following symptoms:- lump or swelling in the breast or axilla area
- change in color, shape, or texture of the breast or nipple
- discharge from the nipple (that is not breast milk)
- peeling/flaking of the nipple skin
- breast/nipple pain
- nipple retraction (turning inward of the breast)
Remember early detection saves lives! We take care of everyone else, so let’s make sure that we take care of ourselves as well!
Take the time out today to check on your loved ones. See if everything is alright with them MENTALLY! We often assume that if people look alright physically that they are doing fine. However, there are many people who dress themselves up daily in “pretty packages” and put on fake smiles. In reality, they are hurting and need someone to talk to but they do not know how to initiate the conversation.
If you know anyone who may need mental health assistance, talk with them and offer to go with them to see a professional. There is a stigma in many communities that may prevent some from seeking help and this needs to be eradicated! We are all in this together! #noshameingettinghelp
Hang in there! You’ve got this! ❤️
It has been two weeks since we have been quarantined and surprisingly I haven’t lost my mind! Homeschooling my children has not been that bad considering I have one child in elementary, one in middle, and another in high school. The assignments have actually been fun and I only need to get them refocused a few times out of the week. School for them has been suspended until the end of April, but I doubt that they will return for the rest of the year.
Cooking has been fun and creative! I have been hesitant to allow my family to eat out with this pandemic, so whatever they are craving as far as takeout, we make ourselves! Hubby and the kids practiced baking a cake for my birthday next week and it actually turned out great! My birthday…sigh. I turn the big 40 next week and my girlfriends and I had a birthday bash planned for this weekend, I was actually supposed to be in Miami today! Well, that’s been canceled, thank you Covid-19!
On the health front, my family has been taking their vitamins, exercising, practicing good hand hygiene, social distancing, and cleaning/disinfecting our home. We come outside in our front or back yard to get fresh air and exercise. Hubby and I only venture out to the pharmacy or grocery store for necessities, since I stocked the pantry a week before being placed on quarantine. My “mommy senses” told me to do it.
Watching news stories about my fellow nurses and healthcare personnel have been very disheartening! Hospitals have been running out of rooms and ventilators for patients, and there is a shortage of personal protective equipment. There are not enough testing kits to diagnose patients either! Ambulatory practices are being exposed because patients are coming in saying that they have one set of symptoms but they actually want to be tested for the coronavirus!
Healthcare workers have been working in deplorable conditions, to say the least. I just saw a New York article today that my brother-in-law sent showing nurses in New York protecting themselves with trash bags! My girlfriend shared an article about nurses in California being told that they will be fired for wearing their specially fitted N95 masks! Are you kidding me! There are so many “unknowns” with the Covid-19 coronavirus, and I feel that we were not prepared here in the United States.
I will continue praying for the families of those healthcare workers on the front lines who’ve lost their lives taking care of their communities. I pray for those who are still active in the trenches fighting the good fight! Thank you! I also pray for you reading this blog post. May God protect you and your families during these uncertain and ever-changing times.
I remember being a tween and waiting for hours at a hospital in Virginia for both my mother and my uncle to recover from surgery. Although they did not get along or speak very often, my mother donated one of her kidneys to my uncle. What a gift! Who knew that many years later both of their kidneys would fail around the same time and I would lose them only months apart within the same year.
Hypertension and diabetes are usually correlated with chronic kidney disease, so the focus in 2020 is the management of these comorbidities. Prevention methods consist of smoking cessation, healthier eating habits, incorporating at least 30 minutes of physical exercise, and getting enough sleep. For those patients who take medication to regulate their blood pressure, it is imperative that they continue to do so in order to reduce the risk of kidney disease.
Don’t forget to support by wearing green this month and spreading kidney disease awareness to your friends, family, and co-workers!
For more information, visit:
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/community-health-outreach/national-kidney-month
The Nurse Niche 