ICU…and I raise you!

Welllll…this weekend was pretty intense. 

I worked. 

I saved lives. 

Literally.

I try not to go into too much detail about my job (a) because of the whole patient privacy thing and (b) because I have a feeling it’s not very thrilling to read about.  But sometimes I wish I could share all the crazy things I see and do on a daily basis because, well, it’s a big part of my life.  Or at least a part.

Anyways, as I’ve mentioned before, I work in the cardiopulmonary critical care unit (CPCU), which is the step down unit for the surgical intensive care unit (SICU).  Basically I get patients after any open heart surgery (bypass, valve replacement, pericardial windows, etc.) and occasionally lung surgery, too.

Since the CPCU and the SICU work together, occasionally I’ll get sent to work in the SICU, which is what happened on Saturday.

My patient was on the verge of flat lining the entire shift…you can’t IMAGINE the kind of stress that can have on a person. 

It can be a little scary.  A whole lotta crap went down…but the only part that matters is that my patient is doing well now (and knowing it’s because of me isn’t too shabby either). 

Bring it on ICU!  (just kidding, please don’t, the stress of Saturday cost me 4 years of my life)

On Sunday I transferred my patient upstairs to the CPCU since she was a bit more stable.  I was glad to be getting back in my comfort zone.  Home base – yessss! 

Oh, and did I mention I got an additional patient on Sunday, too.  Heaven forbid my stress level enter a manageable range…

I left work each day in such an exhausted state…all I wanted to do was a swan dive into a pile of pillows pass the eff out. 

ANYWAYS, sorry about the rambling…I’ll get back to the real reason you read…let’s start with Saturday’s eats

Coffee & coconut date rolls – the breakfast of champions?  For sure.

Pre-packed lunch. 

Ensalada grande:  spinach, carrots, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, clover sprouts, dried cranberries, and more seaweed/sesame salad.

Courtney, I promise I’ll post more on the seaweed/sesame salad later!

More snacks: Newman’s Own dried organic apples, Berries GoMega odwalla bar, apple, and Ocean Spring Mixed Fruit crisps

Check out the cute starfruit!  By the way, anyone know what a jackfruit is?  Because I had some for lunch.

The best part of the day was when Kyle surprised me after work!!!  And guess where we went for dinner?

Whole Foods!!!! 

The baked tofu is one of my fave hot bar items, and you can’t go wrong with chickpeas…the wild rice/edamame/carrot mix was a new one for me and I LOVED it.  As usual, WF delivered.  My dinner was perfectly fulfilling and satiating.  Mmmm…

Later on I had some dessert, which wasn’t my best creation.

It was almost worthy of a “Heat the Salmon Butt” title.  But I did finish it, so I guess that says something.  I thought this was the vanilla flavor, so imagine my surprise after I mixed it all up and took a bite. Plain greek yogurt with PB and carob covered raisins? 

Fortunately, peanut butter masks anything and everything enough to delight my taste buds (and carob raisins clearly didn’t hurt either).

So I licked the cup clean :)

As for Sunday’s eats…I packed a similar lunch the night before.

The only difference between this salad and Saturday’s was the addition of baked tofu (the 3 leftover chunks from WF).

Estrogen?  Check!

The 2 remaining dried apple rings in the bag, an apricot Clif bar, an apple, and some ridiculously overpriced grapes.

Here’s an action shot of my salad half way through…

I love mixing my salads up in tuperware. 

Shake, shake.  Shake, shake, a shake it!

If you are looking at my lunch and thinking…that’s not very much food.  Well, you’re right.  I was starvin’ marvin by 4 pm – scavenging the unit for random eats.  The search was somewhat fruitless, as you would expect of a Jewish Kosher hospital (under construction on a Sunday no less).  Ugh.  I had 23 glasses of apple juice instead.  Awesome.

I nearly passed out on the subway ride home…which is why I was SO thrilled when I got home to this!

Look what greeted me when I walked in the door!  Kyle gets MVP for the weekend.  Meeting me downtown for a Whole Foods surprise dinner on Sat and BBQing vegan eats for me on Sun…I hit the jackpot with this one!

Look at him all proud of his skillz.  Cue master K! 

I love BBQ corn!  He also made mushroom/bell pepper skewers and LightLife smart tenders (plus 2 un-pictured chicken breasts for himself). 

I think I tried this brand of smart tenders long ago and wasn’t a huge fan, but this was a new flavor (Lemon Pepper) and wasn’t too bad. 

As I mentioned whined about earlier, I was hangry by the time I got home, so I immediately made up a plate.

I added 3 tender strips and a kebob to a handful of spinach and corn.

Hit. The. Spot.

Here’s plate numero dos, with a multi-v vitaminwater on the side.

Anyone tried these new lower calorie vitamin waters?  This was the first time I tried one and I’m still a little unsure how I feel (I’ve never tried any of the original vitamin water flavors either).  I noticed rebiana (the stevia extract) on the ingredient list, but I think it’s in the form of Truvia (the one with “natural sweeteners”).  Hmm…

 

Dessert was huge fruity melon mix and a pair of hermits.

So chewy and delicious!

After watching three horrendous hours of Celeb Apprentice killing my last few functioning brain cells, it was bed time.  Thank goodness I have Monday off!  I have so much catching up to do!

my last day of 25

The day flew by. My LAST day of 25 years old. I had a soy latte before work and an Iced Oatmeal Luna Bar in the morning.

For lunch I had a sando (packed from the night before). Bread with sabra classic hummus, mustard, and smart tenders "chik'n tenders" (lemon and herb flavor).
Normally I like some greens in my sando, but then it would have been so fat, I wouldn't have been able to take a bite.

Way fat!

I also had raisins and an apple...then a coffee for the road (only 5 more hours left).

I took a break from the gym today...too tired.

Dinner was salad.

I made the BEST curry tuna for on top the salad, too!! Two cans of tuna, vegan mayo (ff veganaise), mustard, one apple, a handful of raisins, and a dash of curry powder.

Once mixed in with the lettuce...tuna is why I could never be a true vegan.

10 dates for dessert. I ate them too fast, so no photo!

tropical storm Kyle

Rain. Boo. Good thing I was stocked up with these little silk soy milks :)

So I had 2 cups of coffee (basically a latte with the massive amount of vanilla creamer and soy milk I used) to which I added stevia for some sweetening. I also had a soy milk by itself while I watched yesterday's (2 hour season premiere) episode of Grey's Anatomy that I had tivo-ed. Here's my review: HORRIBLE! I couldn't even finish the episode, it was that bad. Seriously, I can't even believe how ridiculously awful the show has become. So sad.

After a few errands, it was lunch time, so I decided to try out Wednesday's new purchase, lemon pepper smart tenders. I figured I'd like them since they are by Lightlife (I mean, I can't live without their other products, especially the smart deli "turkey").

My review: They were very pepper-y and since I'm not a big fan of pepper I think next time I will get the "savory chick'n" flavor. They were definitely good though, and since it is hard to find a non-meat substitute for chicken that actually tastes like chicken, I was pleasantly surprised at how close this came. I will definitely buy it again. I think for future meals, it would be even better sauteed...maybe cut into chunks and added into a risotto or pasta dish with other veggies so the pepper flavor can be diffused by other food. I think I have some good ideas, so stay tuned.

I went to the gym after lunch and had a great workout! New music purchases on iTunes always lends itself to a high intensity gym sesh! I did ab work on the mats after and then stretched forever...I was kinda delaying leaving the gym because it was raining outside again.

I picked up a treat on the way home :) soy latte #3 (but only my first starbucks one for the day)

Pre-dinner snack was half the bag of edamame (post dinner snack was the other half)

Talk about a protein loaded day! All I wanted for dinner was even more "chicken" so I heated up some Health is Wealth vegan chicken-free nuggets. I love these, and the smell of them cooking always makes Kyle want to steal them away from me.

BBQ sauce and honey mustard on the side. Mmmm...

After dinner (and the presidential debate) I went out to meet up with Kyle and his boy posse (he had dinner at Rosa Mexicana with some of his work friends). I was the only girl for the night, but I didn't really care. We went to The Rusty Knot and I had a pretty gross glass of white wine. To say the menu was minimalist would be an understatement, there were 3 types of beer (one of which nobody had ever heard of) and one red and one white wine (which I later discovered were from a box)! One of the boys ordered their special (a word I use reluctantly to describe the concoction), called a "dark and stormy" which was dark rum, ginger soda, and some kind of beer (?)...nasty. The drink was passed around all night but still didn't get finished. I'm not sure I will be going back there. Still, the night was fun and I got to see people that I don't work with, so it was still a good Friday night.