A little bit of this...a little bit of that

I'm not doing a seller job keeping up with this blog...sorry.

Auckland is a beautiful city, it grows on me more and more each day.  Although I prefer living in the country without neighbors...Auckland has so much appeal.  Parks are on every corner, shopping is abundant, beaches are near, funky little suburbs...and the weather is fantastic.  The skyline at dusk is amazing, the Sky Tower is stunning.

Beaches...do not compare to anything in the States.  Each one here is unique, as beautiful as the last...different shells and sand textures.  The water is warmer than expected, but still the undertow at some beaches is crazy.  There was a deadly shark attack here recently...which will definitely keep me out of deep waters. 

My job...I feel very torn on the subject.  Its the most difficult and stressful nursing job I have had...nothing I have done compares to this.  Only 6 weeks of orientation to the ICU...are you kidding me (my initial thoughts)?!?!  Everything about the hospital is the complete opposite of what I'm use to in the States.

     1)  Paper charting - I have used computer charting for the past 8 years.
     2)  Medications - We mix them here....not even a prefilled saline flush to be had.  We mix everything...code drugs, antibiotics, narcotics, pressers, electrolytes.  Which begs the question, what do pharmacists do here?  This is such a dangerous thing for nurses to be doing, scares the crap of out me, one mistake is lethal.  At night, the rooms are dark and you are mixing drugs with a flashlight.  Holy crap!!!!  Also, all medications are foreign to me, everything named something different here. 
     3)  Syringe Pumps - I hate them with a passion.  When you stop your Noradrenaline infusion to switch your new syringe for 5 seconds, you sit and watch your patients MAP drop...not a good thing. 
     4)  Narcotics - no pyxis or accudose machine...just good old lock and key...writing down narcotics in a book...no comment. 
     5)  Help - no respiratory therapists, no aids...nothing but you and your patient.
 
Basically I feel like each patient comes from the operating theater almost dead and my job is to keep them alive until I go home.  I have learned a great deal...but still have so much to learn.  At least I had great preceptors...I also have my husband there who is the best teacher and supporter. 

Auckland City Hospital

The kids have settled in nicely here.  We still have not found a nanny...this is proving to be a difficult task!  Zoe loves school...she is in Primary 1.  Her teacher is young and Zoe likes her a lot.  She has made several friends, her favorite classmates are twins.  Skye is growing up quickly as getting tall...she turns 3 in May which is hard to believe.  She is quite a wiz playing angry birds...she has moved on from Mickey and is into Dora.  Jazz is 1.5 years, she is continuing to explore all around.  A little slow on talking, but understands everything.

 

I'm still shocked on how expensive everything is here...the Kiwis just don't know if they have never been anywhere else.  My car battery died yesterday....$330 for a new one!  Petrol is out of this world...about $150 to fill your tank.  We are much wiser on grocery shopping.  Eating out for lunch is about $40, and that's sharing a meal. 

Our stroller was stolen at the beach...I think it was a fluke thing.  We feel rather safe here and don't see too much theft...but I'm mad about the whole situation. 

Our summer is wrapping up here...I'm excited to see what the so called winter brings.  I sure miss cold weather and snow...a nice fire would be nice.  Until next time...Cheers!