Code Brown!

Ok, that title is for my brother, Chris. So without further ado...

"Code Brown" was something my clinical instructor last semester jokingly referred to as when a patient has a case of diarrhea. Chris was very upset that I never experienced one myself, and it's only fitting that on my last day of pediatric clinicals, when I was just HOURS away from making it through two full clinical rotations without having a "code brown," that I'd have one...not once, not twice, but THREE times! Clearly, after some cleanup and a couple handwashings later, I texted him to let him know the big news. He was very excited for me.

On to my patient for the week: He was an 8 year old, precious little boy with "high-risk ALL" or acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Actually, he was the little boy who held my hand while playing mini-golf on the computer that I mentioned in my last post. ALL is the most common type of cancer in children, and while cancer is cancer, and little can really address the hurt, confusion, sadness, and the downright unpleasantness of being diagnosed and treated, ALL actually has a very good prognosis when caught early in children.

My little boy wasn't actually coming in due to his cancer, but had gotten sick as a result of his cancer leaving him neutropenic (essentially, without immunity). He came in with neutropenic fever, vomitting, and...diarrhea. Initially they thought he had the flu, but after testing, they discovered that he tested positive for C. diff, a particularly virile bacteria which can cause severe diarrhea. So, if I'm being honest, I knew what I was getting myself into, although I had hoped to avoid said "code brown."

He turned out to be quite the handful, and didn't really want to spend any minute alone, especially since he wasn't allowed to leave his room (think virile bacteria on a floor where almost every single patient is neutropenic and at a high risk for infection). So I spent time blowing bubbles - he was very impressed with how big I could make mine, playing Candyland (I won the first game, despite his cheating. He won the second...probably because of his cheating), and playing ball in his room - a makeshift game that used his emesis (vomit) basin as the basket. Don't worry, it was clean! He won the ball game too, 25 to 23 :)

It was a fun morning though, I always enjoy a good morning getting to step back and act like a kid for a couple hours. Of course, what I've learned in nursing so far, is that the morning will be going slow - you've given your meds, your totally on top of your charting, patient is content - and then all of a sudden everything happens at once. In my case, it was a firedrill occurring at the exact moment that he says, "I just dookied all over myself" - hilarious...except that he wasn't kidding. Several minutes, and one more code brown later, we got him all cleaned up, in a new gown and pants, back to his game of Candyland, and the floor taken care of. The perks of nursing ;)

It was a fun last day, and I have to admit, it really was fitting that it had some code browns. Plus, my patient was adorable, and the source of a major ego-boost. He most have told me, "you're purrrdy" and, "you're nice" at least 50 times throughout the day. And I got a hug!

So now I'm officially done at 5 Childrens. The 7 weeks of clinicals absolutely flew by. I really wish they'd make our peds rotation longer than half a semester. I've been so enthralled by the different ages and cases that I've had, that I feel like I could easily do another half of a semester (heck, a full semester) and still feel like I'd barely scratched the surface. Nothing's set in stone in my mind, but peds is definitely something I'm leaning towards for my future practice. And now, when we get back from spring break, on to our psych/mental health rotation, where stories are sure to abound!

Until next time!

PS - Went home last weekend to surprise my mom/aunts for their birthdays, and was talking to them and Jonathan about food aversions in kids, and how to get past them, and my aunt (who is a nurse) started crying because she was so happy I'd chosen the nursing profession. It was pretty funny, but I'm glad that she's proud of me! Jonathan was a little confused, but I just had to explain that crying outbursts are quite typical of the women in my family (no offense (mom)!).