Tuesday, July 29, 2008

PUN vs RN

My house looks like a pharmacy; we have everything we need to play doctor. Teehehehe Evan says I am a PUN, a Personal Unregistered Nurse. I am really getting very good at this nursing thing. The home nurse has shown me how to do everything so I am pretty much on my own now. Every night I have to hook up a TPN bag (this is liquid food/nourishment) to Evan’s PIC line in his arm. Hooking up the TPN is a very long process because it has to be so sterile and I have to add vitamins and insulin to the TPN bag. The TPN is full of sugar so I have to check Evan’s glucose levels and give him insulin shots several times during the night. In the morning I have to disconnect the TPN and flush out the PIC line so that it doesn’t get plugged. Next I have to crush up his meds and liquefy them so I and push them into his “J” tube. Of course there is the replacement of the bandages and the list goes on an on. My days are very busy but I am learning a lot. It is looking like there is another spot on Evan’s incision that is going bad, but I will place my scheduled call into the doctor tomorrow morning and see if we can get an appointment to see him. The doctor might have to re-open the incision to drain the fluid that is causing all of the problems and then close it back up again. If he does this, it will just be an in-office procedure. I feel so blessed that we have the jobs that we have and that I can take the time to here to take care of my sweetheart. I must send a special thanks to our co-workers at UDOT and Kennecott for all of their support during our absences.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you may have future career in nursing, Julie. I know Evan is in excellent hands and that his recovery, overall, will be a swift one with your excellent care, encouragement, and love for the man.

Marion Donnelly
Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation

trisa said...

I am glad to see him home and smiling. He looks like he has better coloring. Keep up the good work Julie. It looks like your nursing has paid off. Evan I hope your liquid dinners are good. I am glad to see you are getting around. To both of you, keep up the good work and keep getting better.
Trisa

Shannon said...

Ick! You must have been born to be a nurse! Way to care for Evan-keep it up and get that man back to his joker self. After this I bet you'll know you can do anything!