All parts of the job

Worked the past 2 nights. Up at 12:30 today after sleeping for 3 hours....let’s hope I can hold out for the fun night planned filled with a mud hens game and out downtown somewhere. Oh, and let’s hope the sky doesn’t blow up on us either like the past few days/nights.  Lots of tornado warnings/watches. Hello midwest. Either way I am just glad that there were no touch downs with tornados around here. I still cannot believe the damage done in Missouri.  It’s really hard to watch the news with all of the images from there.  It seems like mother nature has really hit us hard this year with the awful storms that have been happening.  I can only pray that she gives us a break from all of this and that we all stay as safe as we possibly can.  The one thing that they do make me want to do is get on some sort of disaster relief effort at some point in my life.  I’ll definitely have to look into that.  Anyone know anything about doing that? Let me know!

Another topic I need to bring up: confused patients.  I have had one the past 2 nights and it has been more than a lot for everyone.  I can remember when babcai (my grandma) seemed to talk in circles, ask a lot of the same questions and how hard it was to continue to see her like that.  I cannot even imagine how this family can see their family member continue to wake up, not know what she is doing in the hospital, start crying about not knowing what is going on, and then realize she is confused and get upset about it again.  And continue to answer the same questions over and over again when it is just a continual circle to get you back to where you started.  After two nights it was just exhausting.  No matter how hard I or anyone tries we cannot fix her dementia, but seeing her be tearful over again I just wish that it could go away.  I cannot imagine being confused and realizing I am confused.  It is one thing being confused and just being pleasantly happy with everything and not really knowing, but this is just awful to see her so upset at herself for being confused.  I guess it is all part of the job, but there are points that it just breaks my heart beyond belief.  

Just to let you all know I sent out the letter to everyone about supporting me in the Pelotonia.  I will post another one below if you did not receive one and would like to contribute to the cause.  Every little bit helps!

Hope you all have a wonderful memorial day weekend...enjoy some wonderful weather.  I just got back from a 6 mile run and it made my day that much brighter. Hope you can all do something of the same sorts!

Family and Friends:

August 20th of this year I will be biking 100 miles in the fight to end cancer: Pelotonia.  Pelotonia is a bike tour that raises money for life-saving cancer research at The Ohio State University’s James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.  Pelotonia directs 100% of every dollar raised to research and putting an end to cancer.   

I have a goal to raise a minimum of $1800 for the innovative research that takes place at The James.  

I am currently a nurse at The University of Toledo Medical center on the hematology/oncology focused floor and feel compelled to help out in any way I can towards the battle to end cancer.  We nurses use this research every single day taking care of patients and I pray that Pelotonia will continue to support the work that we do for others in their time of need. I am writing to ask for your financial and prayer support of my goal.  No donation or prayer is too big or too small, every little bit helps!  If you would like to contribute visit www.pelotonia.org and search my name under riders.  You can make a donation there under my profile. 

Please visit my blog at www.swimmer-runner-biker.blogspot.com so you can ride along with me on my journey!!  I will be posting pictures and updates as much as possible.

Thank you so much in advance for your support in this event and your generous donation to the James Cancer Hospital.  If you have any questions do not hesitate to call me or email me at 724-689-5399 or ernzer.1@gmail.com.  

Hello pavement!

I’ve felt like a normal person the past few days! It is unbelievable how many things you can get done when you don’t sleep in past 12.  I knew this before (and I’m sure the majority of you know this), but I guess I had forgotten after getting used to the night shift thing.  I have been up before 9 the past 3 days and it has been amazing.  Biked and/or ran in the morning time (I forgot how much I loved doing that right in the AM) and was able to get so much done around the apartment/run errands.  I hope I can nap or sleep in tomorrow for the sake of having to work tomorrow night.  This little break from work has been like a mini vacation minus the whole trip part of it.  It’s been wonderful regardless.  I think when I have breaks like this in my schedule I’m going to try to sleep less during the day...especially when it is getting to be absolutely beautiful out.  I can’t waste these wonderful days of summer when I know how awful these winters can get.  

Ok, enough about sleeping.  Just a short story of my ride today for you all...

I have had so many visions of myself doing this at some point, so I knew it would happen eventually.  I just went out for a short 15 mile ride in hopes of running a little bit afterwards.  Which thankfully did happen and reminded me of how much I want to do a triathlon again.  But that’s not the point of the story....got side tracked sorry.  I was about 4 miles from my apartment on my way back when I came to an intersection that actually has cars coming through quite frequently as opposed to many of the roads I travel on.  I slowed down and saw a car coming so unclipped my right foot so I could rest for a second.  (I have those pedals where you have to clip in your shoes to them and unclip when you get off of the bike.  It is not a problem, especially when you aren’t stopping that much at all and once you get used to it: see Cycling pedals 101 below)  My body seemed to not want to lean to the right side (where my foot was unclipped) and knocked me over to the left.  Long story short I didn’t have time to unclip the left one so I ate some pavement, well a lot of pavement.  Ouch...right on my sunburn from Sunday.  Nobody even stopped to see if I was ok. :(.  There was one car that passed, so I guess I’ll give that car the benefit of the doubt and say that I was pretty embarrassed so I’m kind of glad they did not stop.  Only came out with a scratch on myself, and a tiny one on Jarvis.  Nothing to write home about.  Hope you laughed a little bit at my expense from my story.  If not, well I’m sorry I’m not funny enough for you.  Anyways, I’m going to enjoy the rest of this pretty day.  Included in the day for me? Glee finale (obviously), listening to my new lady gaga cd (you all need to go buy it, for reals.), and cooking up a yummy dinner at some point.  Hope you all have a wonderful evening!

Cycling Pedals 101: cycling pedals, or ‘clipless pedals’ are pedals that lock into cleats attached to the bottom of special cycling shoes, much like a ski boot.

 The idea is simple – with a solid connection between your feet and the pedal, you can “pull” on the upstroke as well as “push” on the downstroke.  Thus you get 360 degrees of power instead of only pushing down the entire time.  Your feet are less likely to slide around or off the pedals, and with a stiff-soled cycling shoe, you transfer more power into your pedal stroke.  All together, clipless pedals make you dramatically more efficient on a bike.

http://triumphtriathlon.com/2011/02/17/new-triathlete-question-clipless-pedals/

Flipping dogs

So last night I got the entire night off.  I was on my way to work as ready as I could be after only getting a few hours of sleep during the day (how hard is it to sleep during the day when it is nice out? it’s going to be a challenge for me) and I got that wonderful phone call asking me if I wanted comp time. Yes. Please.  I was able to get some shopping at NY and CO done (hello 50% off everything) and get my apartment somewhat clean before meeting some friends for sushi.  Yes, sushi. Well, I had already eaten dinner so I just got a yummy key lime martini that tasted like summer and some edamame.  And I tried a piece of sushi. It wasn’t horrible.  I would have liked it had it been crab-less. (Is that correct english? who knows)  Maybe I’ll try it again.  That’s a big MAYBE though!  I fell asleep at midnight so thank god I didn’t have to work, I would have been dragging.  I hate that feeling beyond belief.  It allowed me to get up at 8 (what?) yes, 8am to go on a 26 mile ride in this gorgeous weather. It was amazing until I turned around and realized that the wind was behind me the whole way out.  I hate HATE windy rides.  I’d much rather have a million hills than wind...I say that now but I guess Toledo doesn’t really have many hills. Or should I say any hills?  But at least hills have an end to them, the wind just hits you in the flipping face out of no where. Ridic.  And then there was this house that has 2 big old dogs that come chasing after me. every flipping time I ride past there they seem to think that it is a great idea to come chasing after a bike.  I have come to the conclusion that because one of their name’s is “buckeye” (I heard the owner screaming it when it came after me) and because my bike is Ohio State colors it is just drawn to me.  Or maybe it’s just because I’m a moving object and they don’t know any better.  Either way, it scared the living daylights out of me.  And I can only hope that they have them in the house the next time I’m riding by...but since this is not the first time I have a feeling it will happen again, I will have to stop so I don’t get knocked over, and my life will flash before my eyes yet again.  Thank you dogs for causing me stress on my ride that is supposed to de-stress me.  At least after the ride I got to go to mass and now I’m sitting poolside writing this.  I think it may be time to take a little nap in the sun? Yes please....don’t worry mom I’m wearing sunscreen.

Oh, and I have no clue who that man is...but I'm gonna bet he's getting burnt.

Step one of common sense: complete

Step one of using common sense: getting my flat fixed, learning how to correctly fix a flat by myself, and buying the necessary supplies to help me when I’m stuck miles from my apartment again.  Thank you bike works of Sylvania!! No more phone calls from me saying I need saved when I’m stuck in the middle of no where. I don’t think so anyways...

Did absolutely nothing but run errands this afternoon. Getting that tire fixed was top priority, and figuring out how to put the tire back on my bike when I got home.  Only took me 4 attempts! 

At work tonight I had the sweetest old man as 1 of 6 of my patients.  He was one of those people who could talk for hours upon hours. It is a blessing and a curse at times: blessing when I have time to talk, curse when there are 5 other patients who need you at the same time.  Isn’t that awful that sometimes I don’t have the time to talk to those people who really need to talk? Well, I did get a little 20 minute stretch while I was in his room and was able to do so.  He was great at rambling for sure...you know, one of those  people who could talk about nothing and if I shook my head and said uh huh a few times he would just keep on going.  But then he got into how he ended up in the hospital.  He fell at home, and was on the floor for over 2 days.  2 DAYS!? I cannot even imagine what that must feel like at all. 2 days straight of yelling for help, hoping for someone to hear you. He just wanted someone to listen to his story, just like he just wanted someone to hear him when he was on the floor for those days.  A little reminder for everyone to just listen to “those people” who just don’t ever stop talking. They’ll get to the point eventually.  Well hopefully. Peace and much love, A

WE FINALLY WON!

Volley ball game last night: success. WE WON!!!!!

Yinzers run a marathon relay

So here we are a few days later...what is new?? Well, my back is no longer burnt. It is peeling. Gross? Yea, sorry.  I went to the ‘burgh last weekend to see the family.  I was able to get a megabus ticket home and back for a total of $2.50. Score.  Thanks to Jackie for driving me to and from the station. And thanks to the 2 police officers for not giving her a ticket on the way home.  

The trip was much enjoyable.  Mom made a mexican fiesta on Friday night which was delicious and exactly what I needed.  The sibs came over as well which was a fiasco as always.  I got my outfit from Emily for the weekend for team GNC and my bib.  I was “frank” for the day since that is what my bib said.  I’m ok with it.  Emily brought over this neat thing from Under armor.  See link: 
http://www.underarmour.com/shop/us/en/mens/accessories/protective-gear/pid1223503?iid=125|ArmourBite|v4.0-Endeca-Department-Page---113|dp_hero_01||MWBG|armourbite|P|I|1223503|

Do you think they work? She seems to think it’s legit.  

The next morning we took a tour of some homes in the south side in Pittsburgh.  A walking tour was just what I needed to stretch frank’s legs out. And dad brought his pedometer too and was very proud of the fact he did over 5,000 steps!  I loved seeing all the houses I will never in my life be able to afford and spending some time with the rents.  We met up with the bro on Mt. Washington for a lunch looking out to the beautiful city of Pittsburgh.  Yummy lunch filled with lots of laughs! Upon going home I suggested church later that night but my body was telling me I was crazy....after readjusting to regular person sleeping schedule (thank you night schedule for doing so) I was in need of a nap that afternoon/evening and noone was going to disturb me....(sorry mike gearhart for ignoring your phone call that afternoon...I called you back yesterday though!!)  It made for a non restful sleep for the night unfortunately and I was a bit sleep deprived during the race.  Which was quite ok since the adrenaline was running like crazy after seeing the kenyans running their butts off and all the people on the sidelines cheering for us.  If you get a chance to run in a relay race definitely do so.  They are a blast (I cannot wait for RAGNAR in January!!!!!)  Pittsburgh did a great job of keeping everything organized and fun the whole race for everyone.  After the race mom made us all a huge brunch and I pulled a dad and fell asleep on the couch for an hour or so.  

We just hung around the house/went grocery shopping in the afternoon...nothing too crazy.  Emily suggested we all grab some ice cream later so we me them at the ice cream shop near us all.  Perfect ending to a great visit with the family.  Boyd man dropped me off at the megabus station the next morning and I started my journey back to Toledo just to work at night.  When I finally was able to sleep the next morning I had been up for 22ish hours. Too much stress on my body some times.  Thus why I need to chill out on the going away to different places every other weekend for at least one weekend the next month.  I made the decision to stay in Toledo for memorial day weekend so I don’t go crazy trying to make plans with people and get to different places just to come back to work.  I need to take a chill pill and relax in T-town so I don’t lose my brain.  I can get some good bike rides in that weekend too! Well, at least one I’m hoping for!  Sometimes I think I need to slow down my life a little bit sometimes.  Really, I just need to take a step back and remember that I am supposed to be enjoying myself and not just checking things off of my to do list everyday.  God made this life of mine so I can experience it, not try to squeeze everything in I can possibly squeeze in.  I know I tell myself this all the time, but it is hard to live by it, I am always on the go.  If you notice me too much on the go give me a slap in the face and tell me to stop, look around, and enjoy my life.  In the words of miss Francesca Battistelli “In the middle of my little mess, I forget how big I’m blessed”....I need to stop forgetting that fact!!

Peace and much love,

A

USE COMMON SENSE

It has been QUITE the eventful past day for me.  As in, something out of the ordinary for me.  Something maybe worth reading about for you?...

Yesterday morning I decided a bike ride was in order.  I needed to give the pounding of my legs a little break for the pittsburgh marathon relay this sunday.  And I just haven’t been out on my bike for a while so I was itching to get out on a nice day.  Not too windy, hot, and sunny is exactly what it was yesterday.  I had my tanktop on and still need to invest in some bike shorts, but I was so excited to get out on the road that it didn’t matter to me at all bike shorts or regular bike shorts (I guess I paid for it today though...that and the not caring about sunscreen thing)  I reminded myself one more time that I really need to get a patch kit for my bike before I go out again, but said screw it, I’m going and I don’t really care.  “I’ll be fine”...last time I’ll say those words ever again.  I took my phone in hopes of capturing a picture of the reality of the back country roads I ride on. 

I had a great ride...on my way to being over 30 miles yesterday and feeling good in every which way (other than not realizing I was burning profusely).  I even made it to a cute little town called Luckey, Ohio complete with a home cooking restaurant, bar, corner store, church, and little elementary school.  Adorable.  I looked at my milage and saw 15 miles completed on my journey and figured it would be a good idea to turn around, total being 30 miles today.  I made it a little over 7 miles and grabbed my water bottle for a sip.  Well me being my clumsy self let it slip out of my hand and ran over it with my back tire...thus starts my realization for how far I still am from home as my back tire started to swerve.  I am still thanking God that I brought my phone with me on this ride, I almost went out with nothing but some water....I know, I’ve learned my lesson.  I got my first burn of the season while I was waiting for my friend Mallory to pick me up (shout out to mal! Thank you! thank you! thank you!!!!)  and I also got extremely dehydrated.  Made for a fun night at work of being hot then cold and exhausted beyond belief from the ride/dehydration.  And all my patients were asking ME if I was ok! They were trying to take care of their nurse! I appreciated it, but I know that’s not how it should be!  I guess what this has taught me is first off, always wear sunscreen.  I am pale, I can’t fight that anymore.  Secondly: always bring necessary supplies on a ride: phone, ID, money, extra tube for tire, pump, water.  Anything else anyone can think of? 

I need to use some more common sense is what this stupidity comes to....ready, go. 

Baseball and Bud light night

Lots of baseball news for the past few days....

1. The Pittsburgh Pirates are above .500. This is the biggest news for the Pirates since they got a new stadium. 
2. The “lemonade here” man from pnc park passed away. If you’ve ever been to a pirate game you know who I’m talking about.  May he rest in peace and have people waiting on him hand and foot up in heaven like he did for so many!
3. I went to the mud hens game last night.  Go Toledo! Seriously such a great park. And $9 for a seat behind home plate I’ll take any day.  I enjoyed Tony Packos and a few beers with Jackie, Mallory, Kc, and Tony.  Love this crew of people. So much fun...and a good break after 3 nights straight of working.  I slept for 12 hours last night after it all!

I think that’s it for the baseball news.  I can’t wait to go to another game, such a good reminder summer is coming. I woke up this morning at 8am to a thunderstorm and couldn’t fall asleep for a bit so I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food revolution on hulu. (I then fell asleep until 2, which is how I ended up getting 12 hours of sleep ha!)  The show really is amazing, though.  He has such a huge goal for people and healthy eating.  I honestly get scared when I think about the fact that there are so many young kids who are developing diabetes and so many who don’t even know the meaning of a good homecooked meal with fresh ingredients.  It is so sad...

I have a feeling that pretty soon I will be seeing 90% of my patients will be diabetic, even though it is not unusual to have half of them being diabetic now!! 

This ride is not for me

Ugh, most boring night at work. Ever. 3 patients at night is crazy....but it was nice to have a break for a change! Back again tonight. I went to mass at 8 this morning and was able to get to bed by 9:30 this morning.  I woke up around 4 and went on a short 35 minute run around Perrysburg.  It was so nice to see people out walking around levis commons, a lot of families for mother’s day! Shout out to mama Ernzer for how awesome she always has been for me!  

Note about a patient I have taken care of for the past few nights I’ve worked.  She is a young married mom who was just diagnosed with stage 4 cervical cancer in April.  Her kids came to visit her today for mother’s day.  They may be there when I go in tonight.  There are pictures of them, her husband, and drawings and cards plastered all over her walls of the hospital room.  I think sometimes I go into work and have to stop and think about who I am really taking care of.  I try so hard to try and put myself in her shoes and imagine what my life would be like.  And even though I work with her so much I just cannot even imagine half of what is going on with her.  She has not seen the sunshine, slept in her own bed, been in anything but a hospital gown, taken a real shower, run after her kids, had a home made meal, or had any sort of privacy for a month now.  And that is not even all of what she hasn’t been able to do.  She has been through many procedures and will be starting chemotherapy on Wednesday.  Why am I sharing this with you? I am putting faces to why I am going to be doing the pelotonia this august.  It is for her and her family.  The miles of training I will be putting in are for the people that don’t have to opportunity to see the sunshine everyday. This ride is for them. Not for me. 

Real housewives addiction

Well, Last night was work. The first night of 3.  After being up since 10am yesterday and working out like crazy this past week and being on my feet all last night I think my legs needed a little break until tomorrow or Monday if I needed to go back to work tonight and tomorrow night.  So all I did today was sleep. Yep, big surprise there right? Well hopefully I get back to the grind tomorrow.  After work, breakfast with the girls, and church? Yea we’ll see if it happens. Fingers crossed, and lots of caffeine will help. Hopefully. Let’s just hope I don’t get sucked into another flipping real houswives of “fill in city” again like yesterday. Even though it was much enjoyable. Time to get my scrubs on again and save some lives.

Back country ohio roads are THE best!

Today I woke up after being out to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and grabbing a drink with the one and only KC Kenney.  I think the nachos did my stomach in last night...I was starving during the show which ended me after the show at frickers.  I ran 7 miles yesterday and today I ran a little over 5.  I am focusing on running for the next week as I will be doing the Pittsburgh Marathon relay next Sunday.  After that it is all about the biking this summer...with running in there too when I am on the off days of course.   I am so excited to be doing the Pelotonia this coming August and look forward to the training really picking up.  I did about 30 miles last week in the beautiful weather we had and am looking forward to more days of nice weather and back country Ohio roads! We’ll see how this new training goes for me since bike training is something new for me!  I am hoping my more experienced friends help me out with what the heck I am supposed to be doing.  

For now it is the first night of three for me at work tonight, gotta go jump into the scrubs and get going! Peace out homies.

Every Second Counts

Hola everyone! Let’s see...work last night from 7-11 went well!  I didn’t think I’d have to go in for the extra hours I signed up for, but the floor blew up with patients the nights I had off.  I’m ok with the over time!  I had a patient who was 84 years old that was in the hospital for normal pressure hydrocephalus.  She was at home dizzy and falling and knew she needed to come in for a spinal tap to get the fluid out of the brain.  Well, she had it done and is “better than ever” according to her.  She was the epitome of the 84 year old I want to be.  She still gets out and about every single day and “does her exercises and errands”.  She seems to see the good in every situation (including being in the hospital) and was be thankful for anything and everything you do.  Just giving in every way.  I just wanted to stay and talk to her about her life for the whole night.  Unfortunately that was not possible.  Understandable though, there were other patients.  Which were wonderful as well.  Busy busy, but I was able to get home by 1230, watch glee and 16&Pregnant (don’t judge my tv addictions), and read a bit.  Oh speaking of reading here’s a quote I wanted to share with everyone from my newest book I’m reading....

“I was a success story-for the moment. I was still as scared and anxious as a patient. Each time I visited the hospital I had an uneasy reaction.  The first thing that stuck me was the smell.  If I did a smell test I could find a hospital with my eyes closed: disinfectant, medicine, bad cafeteria food, and recycled air through old vents, stale and artificial.  And the lighting: it made everyone look pale, like they didn’t have quite enough blood in their bodies.  The squeak of the nurses’ rubber-soled shoes, the sound of the plastic hospital mattress: every time I moved crackle crackle wrinkle wrinkle. These are the odors and sensations and images all cancer patients carry with them no matter how far removed they are from the disease.  There was a story in the New England Journal of Medicine: a woman was treated for breast cancer with very arduous chemo, and suffered violent bouts of nausea.  Five years later she ran into her oncologist in the mall.  She instantly threw up.  So that’s how cancer stays with you.  And it has stayed with me” -Lance Armstrong Every Second Counts

I was at the library the other day and came across this book by Lance Armstrong.  It was like it was calling my name.  The quote above is exactly what I was talking about the other day when saying that this race is not for me.  This race is for the patients who have to be in the hospital day in and day out, who are fighting the haunting memories of the hospital that I try to make comfortable for them in any way.  For the lady who cannot see her oncologist without the reminder of the chemo that made her so nauseated day in and day out.  

I will have to finish this book and let you all know how it goes.  I’m sure I’ll be happy with  my random find in the library...