Induction week!

Well I'm nearly at the end of what has been a very tiring week of induction. To those of you for whom this is relevent - don't you ever moan about Holly House's study days again! My brain is just about frazzled & just when I thought I couldn't take anymore it was computing - ALL DAY today!!!

Everything is computerised - charting, drugs, doctors orders, results (both lab & diagnostics), where the patient is at any time, fluid balance etc etc. The ward is chock full of computer terminals down both walls. Even the glucometers incorporate bar code readers - ready for the next step.

We each have our own ID & we have to make sure we log off so we don't get blamed for someone Else's mistakes. It also means that the docs can enter their requests & we can see them really easily - no trying to guess what they've written or them saying they told us something when they didn't! It's all there in black & white!!

The drug charts show meds that are due on your shift by having a yellow fill, if they're given it's white & if they're overdue it's red. It's really good for knowing what's going on but it's going to be a complete nightmare to get the hang of!! Remember I have LPN's (like our enrolled nurses) & HCA's to help though! So it's not quite like the UK thank goodness!

Also the whole hospital is "needle less" we don't use needles to draw up meds, to give IV drugs or anything. The nurses all do there own cannulations for IV starts, the venflons are pretty good although I've only got to try on a rubber arm so far! We don't take routine bloods but sometimes we'll have stat bloods or time sensitive bloods to take. ALL IV fluids go through Baxter's - including blood & because most of my patients are oncology they all have tons of different bags - sometimes going through triple access pumps!! It's scary after Holly!!

The hospital is also HUGE!!! Bigger than Whipps by miles!

I've bought my scrubs in various colours & patterns (I might think about getting a picture on here at some point) because I have my first day on the ward itself tomorrow, where I'll be with the clinical nurse educator all shift. So wish me luck!!

Edgemont School & a new cast!!

Here's Sophie & Lewis outside their new school. Sophie managed to break....yes you read that right..........BREAK her old cast & so we had to go to hospital AGAIN to get a new one!! As you can see, she chose bright orange this time. Luckily we now have our health card numbers, so we didn't have to pay anything.

The walk to school

These are the stairs we climb to get to Sophie & Lewis' school. It also gives you an idea of the view we get from the school playground. Unfortunately the battery ran out on the camera before I could take anymore, so they will have to follow yet again!

Getting it together!

To all - promise we will be up and running properly soon - we still have quite a lot to organise but things are settling & we are now close to being back to something resembling normality.

We totally love the area we're living in right now & would definitely choose to buy here. It's on the more expensive side of Calgary but the pay off is great neighbourhoods & schools - worth every penny. It's close to good amenities, quiet(when our kids are asleep anyway) & clean.

The kids love their respective schools. The Elementary (Primary to us Brits) is really close & on top of a hill that gives the most wonderful views of Calgary & the mountains. It's a nice, bright, friendly place & Sophie & Lewis are finding it very comfortable indeed!! We can walk there in about 10 mins but I drive if it's wet, on account of Sophie's cast! Which reminds me, I will get a photo of said cast on here soon!!

The downside for the younger 2 is that, because of their birthdays, they are actually going to be in school one more year than their UK counterparts. They are in grades 3 & 5, both of which they had completed in England but if we pushed them up (which the school was not going to do anyhow) they would be by far the youngest in their classes so we chose to go with age & they're really happy, so we'll just keep quiet about that extra year!! :-) Alex, on the other hand, is laughing because he's ended up having a year less at school than his UK counterparts!! He's going into grade 11 & now just has 2 more years at school, instead of the 3 he had in the UK!! We've checked out the courses & he's totally up to speed, so he won't lose out. I've told him NOT to wind up the younger 2 - & so far he's not!

Talking about Alex, he's very excited about his school program. He's taking sports medicine as one of his options & part of the course includes attending sporting events - tough work but someone has to do it!! He's also taking Phys Ed where he will do everything from Kayaking to volleyball!! He has chosen to carry on with Chemistry & Biology for his other options, as he was doing so well at them in the UK. His other subjects are compulsory - Math, English, Social Studies & CALM (some citizenship type thing they have to do for 1 term of High School here)

Anyway, better get on with dinner!

Calgary at last

Well it's taken a while to get even remotely sorted - hence the long gap since writing - but we have made it to Calgary & it's great so far. We have purchased furniture, cars, TV's, ordered internet, cable & phone services but we still have plenty left to do. However, we're moving into our house on Saturday - we have somewhere to sleep, somewhere to sit & TV to watch - SORTED!

I also now know where I'm working - an oncology surgical ward where they do cutting edge surgery. It has a great nurse:patient ratio & a really fun ward manager. No night shifts either. There are aready 4 UK nurses on the floor, so I should fit right in!!

Of course,being us, we have had occasion to see the healthcare system from the other side already as our dear, accident prone Sophie has managed to crack a bone in her foot while playing on the trampoline in our friends garden!! She's now sporting a beautiful bright red cast on her foot -photo to follow!!

There's a great, newly built, designated children's hospital not 10 mins from us - so we took her there. Of course, our health cards are not done yet so we had to pay $515 up front & will be able to calim it back once our cards are through.

It's not stopped her though - she's been walking to the park & back with the rest of the gang & wathcing her run across the fields cast & all was just hysterical!! Luckily she has a weight bearing cast with a walking shoe.

Tropical Storm Fay

For those of you who may be worried about the impact of the tropical storm hitting Florida - don't be. In our area it's turning out to be a damp squib. We may get the odd gust of 30mph winds later & we'll certainly have a damp end to our holiday but having cleared our pool area of furniture & making sure we had enough food & water to last us, just in case, it's turned out to be nothing. Still for once I actually know what we're having for dinner tonight!! Not usual when I'm on holiday!

Of course Miami was hit fairly hard & so will Polk & Manatee Counties near Tampa but for Citrus (where we are) they haven't even bothered to close the schools.

Sea World

Shamu.

Well we had to go do at least ONE park!! Seaworld is pretty neat & all the kids enjoyed it! We went with Rusty & his girls, whose pics I'm sure will appear at some stage! Sophie sat down in the splash zone with him & his younger daughter, Robin - they got soaked!! We stayed up for this one but did go down for the dolphins later (their water is warmer!)