Floatin'...
I'm back on again after a weekend in Rhode Island.
That was quite a nice visit. Newport is truly a city of rich schmucks, and has been for a good part of its history. This is demonstrated by the proliferation of mansions, huge residences that reek of the greed of the people who apparently only need them a few weeks a year. It's not just the mansions build in the "guilded age," from 1850 to 1900. There are plenty of modern-day mansions dotting the landscape, obstructing the beautiful ocean views and limiting access to the limited beaches. Those things are just as large and much less beautiful than the ones built a century and more ago.
Still, there is a lot of interesting history within the walls of the old mansions. We toured two of the mansions, The Breakers and The Elms. I believe The Breakers is the better known of the two, but I think I enjoyed The Elms if only because they had a recorded tour that you could listen to at your leisure. If you have any interest in the old rich families of America, like the Vanderbuilts, then these are good places to see what their lives were like. Honestly, it doesn't look like it was much fun; even summer vacations were socializing marathons in a terribly competitive society. On the other hand, it's real hard to feel very sorry for these folks.
Newport itself is steeped in history. We unfortunately didn't know much about it, but as we plan on visiting at least Rhode Island again, to check out the rest of the storied shoreline, we'll read more into its history. Saturday was windy and foggy, so visiting the two mansions were good options. We also went to the seaward point's shoreline, a rocky landscape that had big, angry waves crashing one after another. I took a lot of pictures while Jess took a nap in the car. That night, I took Jess out for a very nice seafood meal. Sunday morning, we went back to the beach to see it in dazzling sunlight before heading back to Newport and work.
I came into the Y tonight to a bit of a surprise: they'd floated me up to the SICU for just four hours, until 2300. I didn't mind, though, I was interested to see what it was like. The setup of the unit was similar to the MICU, in particular the layout. I quickly noticed that many of the patients are much sicker. There were some crazy wounds, chest tubes, drains, things that I haven't seen down in the MICU yet. It was pretty interesting. Unfortunately, I only had the four hours, which flew by because I received report, gave all my meds, did an assessment of both my patients, bathed one of them, gave the 2300 meds, counted the output up, and gave report on them both. It was 2330 by the time I finished, just in time to rush down to the MICU and get report on my patients there. In the SICU, both the patients were intubated, heavily sedated, on insulin drips, the works. Really, I wouldn't have minded staying there the night. I'm guessing I'll get floated again.
Back on the MICU, I had an empty room and a patient on just oxygen. The big excitement in that room is putting on a percussion vest. I've kept busy helping other people out around me, others have had loads to do. It was a little sigh of relief coming back down, finding that I know where most of the stuff is and how most things are done here, in the MICU. That's something not to be taken for granted.
Until next time, be safe.
