Archive for March, 2010
Fifteen days since I’ve written and those days have been, for the most part, absolutely crazy. I spent the first part of that completing my last stay in St Louis. That’s right I said last (last of the 8 day stretches anyway), I am finally home and getting into some sort of a groove, or at least trying to. The first week home I was not on-call but Springfield was busy busy. I worked two cases but had the potential for four. I slept half the day on the 24th due to being in the operating room on a kid over night.
Did you know that less than 1% of deaths are candidates for organ donation?
Just because someone dies does not mean they are eligible to donate their organs. They have to meet certain criteria; the person has to have sustained some sort of head injury. This means you have a stroke from bleeding (hemorrhagic), maybe from an aneurysm rupture, a vessel tear from high blood pressure or from traumatic head injury. Other reasons for brain injury are caused from lack of oxygen to the brain maybe from your heart stopping for an extended period of time (anoxic) or you have a blood clot in your body that moves to the brain and cuts off oxygen supply to part of the tissue (ischemic).
A traumatic hemorrhage could be sustained from several possibilities. A visit to the chiropractor and you get work done to your neck, the next thing you know your carotid artery (the main artery supplying blood to your brain) has been severed by improper movement. You are 20 years old and out on a joy ride with some friends, the driver is being a prankster and looses control, the car swerves and hits a pole, you aren’t wearing your seat belt and are thrown from the vehicle hitting your head on a tree. This causes your brain to rub against the skull several times causing massive injury throughout the brain. Or, for whatever reason, you get a bullet, knife, piece of a car or any other sharp object penetrating into the brain. All of these scenarios, and many others, cause an injury to the brain that usual involves bleeding, fracture, swelling and lack of oxygen to the brain tissue.
In order to be an organ donor from any of these types of brain injuries you must suffer either severe deficits and require life support for the remainder of your existence (which most people would not want to live like this) or you are declared brain dead.
Oh my what a week. Sorry it’s been so long since I posted last. I was sick at the beginning of the week and then finally made it to St Louis for more training. I have been nonstop since arriving.
I have finally received some information on more volunteer opportunities but it is still not coming together as quickly as I had hoped. I did get a packet to start speaking for groups for the American Heart Association, now I just need an event to speak at. I can see it now, standing in front of a big crowd, my face becoming flushed and getting shaky and sweaty when I begin speaking. It is going to take some getting used to speaking to groups. I am looking forward to this new personal challenge.
I received a call from the lady at the United Way. She has given me a couple of numbers to be a mentor for the Boys and Girls Club as well as volunteer with the Ozarks Literacy Council. I think I will do a little better with speaking for those groups; surely I can read a book to kids without getting flushed and sweaty. I am also going to try to recruit some friends to sign-up to volunteer with United Way and work for the seniors in our community. They send groups out to do yard work for seniors that don’t have family, friends or maybe don’t leave or can’t do the work themselves. Surely I have people in my life that would want to help those in need. I know my husband is ready to sign-up. 
I’ve been truly amazed by the lack of response/support I have gotten for the American Heart Walk or March for Babies I am doing. I guess I really thought people would want to do something to help others, whether that be to walk or give support by donations. I have been proven wrong. It hurts my heart to know that people don’t want to put effort forth to help others.
I am still waiting to hear from the Make-A-Wish foundation. I really want to work with the kids doing Wish Granting but I have to take volunteer classes first. I can’t seem to get anyone to tell me when the classes are, I have been approved as a volunteer but that’s as far as it’s gone. I guess I thought these groups would be excited about new people volunteering and be ready to get them started but maybe I am wrong. This is one of the opportunities I am really looking forward to so I am going to keep pushing for it.
I do have a training class for the American Red Cross on Friday. I am looking forward to that. I got an email last week to be on a heads up because our area was possibly getting tornadoes and the Red Cross was going to need support. Luckily we weren’t needed, but without that class I would have been no help and I didn’t like that feeling. Maybe someday I can retire from nursing and put my entire heart and soul into volunteering for the community and local charities. I guess we will see what life hands me in the future.
I have been home for 4 days and although I haven’t had any cases I have been go, go, go. It’s amazing how you can think that your week is going to be slow and uneventful but in thinking that you have jinxed yourself. I have had meeting after meeting and lunch after lunch. The lunches just sound awful don’t they. Greek Mediterranean one day then Italian the next then sushi for dinner. OMG, I just don’t know what I am going to do about all this food. Oh wait, yes I do, gain a bigger butt. 
My husband, he’s a little jealous, he doesn’t get to join me. Poor guy. 
My meetings have been with Chaplains, an Ethicist, my coworkers, education for nursing students and the CEO. I bought 3 new suites when I got this position. I was so excited to have a reason to wear suites. Is that weird? I hadn’t gotten to wear one yet until yesterday. It felt great, and I think the look fits me well.
We did education with nursing students that went really well. I was observing one of my coworkers talk and I was piping in to help them understand concepts of brain death and head injury better. After my explanation the whole class said “Oh!!”, like a big light bulb went off. It was awesome. I am going to start teaching and eventually this will be one of my roles. I was so excited about educating when I applied for the position. I never thought that was possible but now the idea of teaching thrills me.
I finally got to get back in the gym. I got on a spin bike for the first time and I loved it. It’s amazing,I have no endurance to run but I can get on a bike and I feel like going for hours. I purchased books on road biking to get me started for the summer and I am thinking about purchasing a spin bike. I have signed up to take spinning, cardio kickboxing and strength training all twice a week starting Monday. I’m so excited!! Time to get into shape people. Summer is around the corner and I want to be in the best shape of my life.
My volunteer work is still a bit frustrating. I was sent a speech opportunity with the American Heart Association that someone responded to just minutes before I did, so I didn’t get it. I’m still waiting to hear back from several places and the United Way lady and I have been playing phone tag all week. My Heart Walk and March for Babies teams that I am captain of are not where I want them. I can’t seem to recruit many walkers or sponsors. I guess it will all come together when it is supposed to.
That’s my week in a nutshell. I made a list Monday night, as I was laying in bed not being able to sleep, of everything I wanted to get accomplished this week. I haven’t even tackled half of it. Tomorrow I am going out with the ladies and Sunday is lounge day. I guess the list will have to wait for another week.
Wow, the last several days in St Louis where quite busy and exhausting. I have been training for this position for 37 days and I have worked 5 cases, helped save 9 lives and I have no idea how many lives I will have helped improve. One person can improve the lives of 100s of people through tissue, bone, valve, cartilage and eye donation. It’s a pretty great feeling and there is so much more to come.
All of my cases have been hard, nothing is easy emotionally about what I do. One of my first full cases I helped save the lives of a 7 month old who needed a heart and an 11 month old who needed a liver. You can imagine how small the donor was. It was a very emotionally trying case. I had to be able to separate myself from the reality of the situation in order to get done what was needed. The loss of a life can bring life to others who may have eventually lost theirs.
Another case was one that I had mentioned in a previous post. A women who died of Broken Heart Syndr
ome. She left this world saving several others but leaving 4 small children and a husband dying of cancer. Those children are going to loose both of their parents in a very small period of time and I hurt for them. These families, in the time of great loss, are making wonderful decisions without having had the time to process everything that has happened. Sometimes in our society it is hard to believe that their are so many giving people in this world and yet so many others that are not willing to give.
What is it about organ donation that turns people away? Why would someone not want to help save others? Our society is lacking a tremendous amount of education on organ donation and I would love to help change that.
Find your state donor registry and sign-up to be an organ donor.