2017 Reading list

2017 Reading List

I had a slow to start to reading in 2017.  Once I started An Unfinished man I was set to read all year.  I enjoyed all the books but the ones in purple I really liked.

1. An Unfinished Man.  Jim Wayne 
1. An unknown author but an amazing read.  Its hard to put down.
2. Bodyguard.  Jessica Linden 
3. Come and Get Us.  Shan Serafin 
4. Luckiest Girl Alive.  Jessica knoll
5. Extreme Ownership.  Jocko Willink  and Leif Babin
6. Here's to Us.  Elin Hilderbrand 
7. Coach to the Goal.  Michael Duke
8. Black and Blue  Candice Fox 
9. The Winter Guest.  Pam Jenoff
10. Higher Love.  Paul Campion and Randy Johnson 
11. All the Single Ladies.  Dorothea Benton Frank 
12. Locked-in.  Carolyn Furdek 
13. A Mothers Confession.  Kelly Rimmer 
14. The Woman in Cabin 10.  Ruth Ware 
15. The House Husband.  Duane Swierczynski
16. Let's Play Make Believe.  James Born 
17. Nightingale. Kristin Hannah
18. The Cabin. Natasha Preston 
19. Alaska Skies.  Debbie Macomber
20. Alaska Nights. Debbie Macomber
21. Alaska Home. Debbie Macomber 
1. This series makes you want to go to Alaska
22. The Whistler.  John Grisham 
23. Under the Lights.  Abbi Glines
24. 1984. George Orwell 
1. The reality of today's world is extremely frightening
25. Awake. Natasha Preston 
26. The Couple Next Store. Shari Lapena 
27. Suzanne's Diary for a Nicholas.  James Patterson 
28. The Cellar.  Natasha Preston 
29. Lilac Girls. Martha Hall Kelly 
30. The Twelve Days of Christmas.  Debbie Macomber 
31. Silver bells.  Debbie Macomber 
32. On a Snowy Christmas.  Brenda Novak 
33. The Perfect Holiday.  Sherryl Woods 
34. Winter Stroll.  Elin Hilderbrand. 
35. A Low Country Christmas.  Mary Alice Monroe 
36. Winter storms.  Elin Hilderbrand

2016 Reading List

I read lots of good books in 2016.  I enjoy Kristin Hannah and Elin Hilderbrand.  I discovered Pam Jenoff this year, and really like her style.  JoJo Moyes is awesome. I had a lot of time to read sitting at football practices this year.

1.  13 hours in Benghazi. Mitchell Zuckoff.

2.  Bronx Masquerade.  Nikki Grimes

3.  Angel falls.  Kristin Hannah 

4.  Me before you.  Jojo Moyes 

5.  Winter street. Elin Hilderbrand 

6.  Sharp objects.  Gillian Flynn

7.  Anne Frank.  The Diary of a young girl

8. Bel canto. Ann patchett

9.  The lovely bones.  Alice Sebold

10.  The Rumor.  Elin Hilderbrand 

11.  One plus one.  Jojo Moyes 

12.  True colors.  Kristin Hannah 

13.  The Kommandants girl.  Pam Jenoff 

14.  When breath becomes air.  Paul Kalanithi

15.  The drowning girls. Paula Trieck DeBoard

16.  Distant shores.  Kristin Hannah

17.  The Time Keeper.  Mitch Albom

18,  Stone soup.  Marcia Brown

19.  The Curious Incident of the dog in the night time.  Mark Haddon 

20.  The things we do for love.  Kristin Hannah 

21.  An abundance of Katherine's.  John Green 

22.  Dark places. Gillian Flynn 

23.  Summer island.  Kristin Hannah

24.  The Last a letter from your lover.  Jojo Moyes

25.  The Husbands Secret.  Liane Moriarty

26.  The McCullagh Inn in Maine.  Jen McLaughlin

27.  The Way Life should be.  Christina Baker Klein

28.  After you.  Jojo Moyes 

29.  Tuesday morning coaching. David Cottrell

30.  The silent wife. A.S.A. Harrison 

31.  Until Friday night.  Abbi Glines 

32.  Learning to ride.  Erin Knightly

33.  The trial m.  Maxine Partro

34.  A Girl named Connie.  Carol Perkins 

35.  Rogue lawyer.  John Grisham 

36.  The night trilogy:  night, dawn, day.  Elie Wiesel 

37.  Sacking the quarterback. Samantha Towle

38.  Comfort & joy.  Kristin Hannah 

39.  A Christmas wish.  Joseph Pittman 

40.  113 minutes. Max Dilallo 

41.  Little black dress. Emily Raymond 

42.  The Christmas mystery.  Richard Dilallo 

43.  The Christmas secret.  Wanda E. Brunstetter

Nurse Week 2016

Proud to be a Nurse

I am proud to say I have been a RN for 20 years.  I have had an amazing career so far, and I have plenty of years ahead of me.  I graduated from Indiana University when I was 22 years old.  I knew I wanted to be in the ER.  I spent my first year working on the med/surg floor in an inner city hospital on night shift.  That job taught me everything I needed to know to be a great nurse.  I went to the ER after a year.  It was a very busy inner city trauma hospital.  At the end of a year we had some life changes and we decided to move back to our hometown.  It didn't take long and I was back in a trauma ER.  I spent 10 years in that ER.  I truly loved what we did there.   I loved the feeling of helping people when they needed it most.  I really can't put into words how much I loved working in the ER.  It's either something you love or hate and I loved it.

 

I have spent the last 8 years as an administrative nurse, behind a desk. I love what I do but I do miss taking care of patients.  Today I get a taste of just how much I miss taking care of patients.  I had been sitting on the interstate for almost 2 hours while it was closed down for a multi-car wreck.  I  was feeling a bit rushed and annoyed once the traffic finally started moving.  I was coming close to my VA when I saw a person mid-air in front of me.  I pulled over and ran to the person, there was a car between me and the person laying on the ground.  As I closed in on the car I prayed it wasn't too gross.  How could I possibly be thinking that, I am an ER nurse.  I was and I will always be an ER nurse, its part of who I am.  When you work in that environment you condition yourself for anything that walks in the door.  After 8 years away from it I had let that wall down and I prayed he was intact!

 

Thankfully when I came around the car he was a man lying on his side having spun around a corner much too fast, on a wet road, on his bicycle.  Immediately the knowledge came to me.  I say, "I'm a nurse", and oddly the few people that had jumped out of their cars backed away.  I did what needed to be done without thinking, I logged rolled him onto his back, I held his neck, I talked to him.  He was confused, he hit his head hard on the ground, enough to break his skin, break his glasses, and damage the helmet he had on.  He had some road rash when his shirt and pants and ripped.  I kneeled in the middle of a busy road holding his neck, not thinking about anything, until I heard the sirens approaching, which thankfully were very quick.  As the Firefighters stepped out of their truck I watched as the came to the patient and slowly traded me places and quickly did their work, moving him on the a backboard.  Then EMS came and placed him on the stretcher and wheeled him away.

 

As I drove away I smiled as one of the firemen waved to me.  I knew some of the firefighters and EMS crew from a life that now seems so far away.  The man was fine, just a little confused from snacking his head on the ground.   I miss being that nurse, but it makes me proud knowing I still have the ability to take care of a patient.  I also, loved seeing the Police, Fire and EMS at work.  They worked so smooth and flawlessly.  I know that if I am ever in the situation I will be taken good care of.  Although I don't work at the bedside anymore I am still a nurse and always will be.