Friday, September 14, 2007

Autumn

Darker, colder, shorter days. We’ve started heating up the wood stove in the mornings. At the gym I have zero energy. And I’ve gained 2 kg. I feel like shit! Husband is very comforting and supportive though. A nap and a shower did the trick and I was back in business.

Night shift. I have night shifts this weekend, tonight is the first. There is the city fair going on and an amazing amount of drunkenness and fighting. The police have apparently been driving car loads of drunk kids to the station to be picked up by their parents. A 17 year old boy was sent to the ER in a coma, with a blood alcohol of 3.8! A couple of girls came to urgent care after being attacked and beaten up. Later I heard that Irene too had been involved in one of the fights and sustained some bruises and a bloody nose. Apparently her boyfriend had gotten out of control drunk and they were attacked by a whole crowd. Then, in the early morning there was a MVA involving 4 people: 1 dead at the scene, 1 helicoptered to the major trauma center in Oslo and 2 sent to our sister hospital in Elverum.

First day at work. My first day back at work in Norway was a good experience. I was supposed to orient for charge nurse and learn the new computer system from 9am, and before that get the practical stuff out of the way, like usernames and passwords for the intranet, Gat and Dips, lockers, id card etc. However as the manager hadn’t come yet, and two critical patients arrived right at the beginning of the shift I decided to orient on the floor by helping out with one of the critical patients as it is good to have 2 nurses there. I soon discovered that it was the assigned nurse rather than me, that needed support. The patient had chest pain and was extremely short of breath (probably pulmonary edema) so that she was trying to jump out of bed in a panic. The assigned nurse was getting vitals. I put in an IV and got an EKG and arterial blood gasses, put the patient on a scope and inserted a catheter, got hold of side rails and generally took over, as the patients assigned nurse seemed a bit overwhelmed by the situation. OK, so I haven’t forgotten my critical care skills. Not much has changed here either in the past year. It is amazing to feel confident and competent for the first time in over a year. How can that be? Is it just the system that is different?


Oslo with the Kids Ingvild and Irene have to renew their passports. Tormod came along for driving practice. It was a beautiful day. Both Irene and Tormod drove, mostly Tormod though. When we were done at the Embassy (where the security is worse than at an airport), Tormod took us out to lunch at “Friday’s”, where the staff greet the customers in English. After lunch the kids did some shopping, and before going home, I treated them to italien ice cream and coffee.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Life is good! Hooray!!!

A lot of good things are happening!

Irene has celebrated her 18th birthday. The kids and I went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. This is the first time the 5 of us have been together for over a year.

The MRSA test came back negative! Finally I can start working! Monday is my first day in my "new" job at my old emergency room. I'll spend a couple of days reorienting. Then I'll fly on my own next weekend! It's fantastic that they (the managers) have this confidence in my abilities. How I missed that in the US.

Other good things: I cashed in the rest of the money I brought over from the USA, and, after having paid all my bills, including new glasses, I still have enough to pay for the chickens which will be coming next week.

Ingvild loves her school. She got into Spanish as a foreign language. Her first choice. We did some math homework together last night. She has chosen the more challenging math class. And she can't seem to get enough of dancing: besides ballet and jazz dance in school she has started hip hop on Tuesday evenings after school.

And tonight, I too, am going to start dancing again! I miss contra dancing very much, but they don't do that in Norway, so I'll be dancing Swing. Husband has promised to join me in October when the beginners course starts, as he hasn't danced in 5 years.

The weather is sunny and golden. Lovely really. Cool in the mornings, but by afternoon I have discarded the long johns and wool undershirt.

Tomorrow we are going on a weekend trip to Copenhagen with my in-laws. My bags are packed and I'm looking forward to it. Ingvild will be holding the fort by herself, and I have stocked the fridge and freezer with her favorite foods. I'm sure she'll manage just fine!