ICU Step Challenge Motivation

The ICU I work in is having a "step" challenge this month with the goal of getting people active. My participation in this challenge has introduced my love of sport and being active to many new friends. My completion of multiple Ironman races is again being talked about because I get so many steps each day. I have published three books about how I learned we can accomplish what we truly set our minds to. My first book, "Living Without Limits: a memoir", recounts how I almost let my fear of chemistry keep me from becoming a nurse and how facing that fear eventually helped me cross the finish line of the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. I wrote that first book because I enjoy inspiring others to see their true potential and find the courage to push self-imposed limits.

My books are available through Amazon or me. Let me know if you'd like some motivation or inspiration to chase that seemingly impossible goal.

A Dawn with Hope

I sense hope on the horizon.  Vaccines are infiltrating our bodies and building a hopeful, capable feeling of finally fighting this awful virus.  My body has been building my own army since I got vaccinated one week ago and it feels wonderful.  

Scientists diligently worked together to develop a safe invader to inject and allow our human body to build ample defense to this virus.  It is time to change its uninhibited creation of chaos and death throughout our families and world. 

As an ICU nurse, it is a relief to actually feel hope for a change in the near future.  All our efforts could be in vain if we, individually, do not take advantage of the vaccine and let our machine of a body use this gift to create a defense to Covid-19.  We've gone without hugs and physical contact long enough... I welcome 2021 because it is full of hope for me. 
  

 

Surgical ICU Nurse - Damn Covid Virus

I want to share my perspective and let my nursing voice be heard.  I just spent five of the last seven days working because of the increased transmission of Covid and I am physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.  This isn’t sustainable and it’s happening because some people are deciding that wearing a mask and physical distancing is just too much of an inconvenience for them.  If you are one of those people, please reconsider your choices; if you are wearing a mask, thank you so much and please continue doing so. 

My work day is 15-16 hours long and all but 2 of those hours involve actively caring for patients.  Not one of my patients last week planned on being in our ICU, but because of a fall at home, a car crash, a paragliding accident, feeling ill after an outpatient procedure, a fall while hunting, stomach pain that wouldn’t go away, drive-by shooting, being accidently run over by a trailer, excessive bleeding after childbirth; these people ended up needing an ICU bed and some way we found one for each of them.  This won’t be the case soon if we as human beings don’t start taking Covid seriously and wear the damn mask.

I don’t work in the Medical ICU where covid positive patients are cared for, but every patient that comes into the hospital is assumed to have Covid until testing negative.  This increases nurses and doctors workloads because we have to put on and carefully remove full PPE until each patient’s test results are negative.  In the Surgical ICU we hope test results come back negative, but that doesn’t always happen; my 25-year-old patient unexpectedly tested positive on Thursday, after having tested negative 5 days earlier.  Happily, there is no concern for me because I took the necessary precautions each time I went into that patient’s room, probably more than 30+ times during my shift.

My hope in writing this is to personalize what this virus means to healthcare workers for any of you who have stayed outside it’s reach.  You can make a difference for us.  Please, please, please choose to do so.

 

Ski "Deer Valley" View, then to get our mail

A unique view of Deer Valley during my back country ski today, from what I call the "East Kamas Loop".  Afterwards I skied down the snow packed road to get our mail; I'm actually living a rural, winter life.



I skied by the irrigation pipes after getting our mail.

Frosty Front Porch

Look at what a snowy, windy storm did to our front porch earlier this week.  It was a chilly winter day that we enjoyed in front of a crackling, real fire in our wonderful fireplace.  I love rural life!

Horse Drawn Wagon Ride Under the Stars

Are you kidding me?  Did this really happen?  Is this actually my new life?  Most days I expect to awaken and find it's not real...

For example, we got a call from our neighbor last week letting us know about his horse drawn wagon ride scheduled for later that week.  We were excited about the ride, but as we realized my mom would be staying with us when the ride would happen, we could hardly believe it.  My mom has always dreamed of going on a horse drawn sleigh ride - the wagon would have to do, and boy did that night achieve dream realization status for all of us.
 

The day had been sunny, which meant for a bitter cold night, since there wasn't a blanket of clouds to cover our valley.  The clear sky did mean the crystal, clear, twinkling stars would encompass the world above us.  We bundled up, my mom was dressed in three to four layers, not including the blanket she brought to wrap around herself.  We climbed into Brenda's 4-runner and made our way around the corner because it was literally too cold to walk any distance outside.

We were one of the first to arrive and we saw the wagon, but no horses yet.  We walked towards our neighbors and I noticed one of them leading two massive horses towards the front of the wagon... they were huge and all I could do was tug mom and Brenda's arms and point towards them.  I was speechless.  Belgian horses were being harnessed to the wagon and it took some coersing to get them attached.  I stood in amazement of what I was about to experience... seriously, we were at our neighbor's house, watching Belgian draft horses being hitched to a wagon that would pull us for a ride under the stars on a bitter cold winter night.  And, all of this was happening around the corner from our home.  Unbelievable!


Not us; it was too dark for photos and we were enthralled in the moment.

We loaded onto the wagon and bundled up under the stars.  When the wagon moved we heard the sleigh bells jingle that were hanging from the front of the wagon, just like in the movies.  Then, when the horses were on the pavement for a short section, the clip-clop of their hooves combined with the bells sounded like a dream winter vacation advertisement for Sun Valley or Jackson Hole. 

We wondered where they'd pull us and if it would be on the road in front of our house... YES, we turned onto our snow covered road and jingled right past our house!  The lights in our yard and on our house added to the fairytale like feelings as the horses pulled us along their way.  It was dark enough to see the sky filled with stars and cold enough to see remnants of the horses breath as they pulled us into the space they'd just been.

We stayed in the wagon and enjoyed a second ride and, when it was done, we were happy for the warm bonfire and hot cocoa awaiting us in our neighbor's front yard.  Such a welcoming neighborhood in a very special time of year; I could not ask for more.  I am living my dream!

I Must Be Dreaming

Our sunrise this morning was unreal.  These vistas exist during winter vacations to Jackson Hole, Sun Valley or the Sawtooths, not as a part of our every day life.  I doubt I will ever take the views from our new home for granted.  I hope you enjoy my attempt to capture the beauty.