Trying for a better week

Goals this week are a little morbid.
So I had multiple pt deaths last week, 2 expected, but 1 not. None due to receiving OT services or lack thereof but still not a pleasant thing. I did get one lady up to the chair about 5 hours before she coded, didn't do much else since her O2 sats were not stellar. So I've been a little depressed and I would just like for people to stay alive this week.

Saw a cute-as-a-button 89 y.o. lady on Friday who had a pontine CVA (blessedly mild) but told me "I've never been sick all my life, so if I die it's ok" and I am just thinking NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! The COTA saw her yesterday and she met all her OT goals, but after that she transfered into intermediate care for continually BAD blood pressures (222/101 etc) which is not good. Went in and talked to her today...hopefully they will get her heart under control. She is totally asymptomatic and does great from a functional standpoint, however she keeps having these skyrocketing BPs. Everything would probably be under better control if she had come to the ER right away but she arrived 4 days s/p onset of symptoms and only came in when her MD called and noticed her slurred speech. Worse- she lives with an adult child... how can you not notice that your mom has major weakness on one side, slurring speech, and struggling to walk? Seriously, better to come in sooner than later.

Saw a bunch of pts with multi-trauma today... one guy I saw OOB for the first time in 3-4 weeks, an older lady with dementia who we presume fell down the stairs and refused to put on her TLSO, and a man who was involved in a head-on car crash- now in the ICU only seen for splinting. He has BUE intrinsic plus/resting hand splints and BLE foot boots now. Probably has a TBI as well that can't be evaluated yet so he will have a long recovery road ahead. Been learning (and relearning) a lot of stuff about splinting lately.

Really hope week 2 on neuro floor is better than week 1. Not making a lot of progress on the stroke textbook but I have gone through several AJOTs and other research articles, hope to have a summary post soon. Also still working on a Malcolm Gladwell related post. In other work news, am now on the documentation committee following our strategic planning meeting so I hope to make that both comprehensive and quicker, if possible. Added a bunch of new 'tweepz' on twitter, hopefully that won't cause any brain overload but may be helpful resources, so if you do the tweet thing, go ahead and check it out. :)