So what do you do, actually?

During this past months of blogging, I have had a few dear readers request that I write about what I do. What is it that brings me up to Fairbanks to work?

Simply put, I have a contract with Banner Health to work as a nurse at this hospital.

Banner provides me with housing as long as I am working a 42-hour week.

I'm glad I took that previous picture on Sunday afternoon because, since the time change 2 days ago, I no longer see any sunlight on working days. I leave for the hospital at 6:30 AM and walk out around 5:45 PM. I took the following pictures at 5:20 PM today.

This is the entrance where I go in. I work in the Outpatient Dept of Special Procedures. This area includes Wound Care, Endoscopy, Interventional Radiology, Pain Treatment Center and Infusion Therapy.

Here is the main entrance of the hospital. It includes an attractive and spacious new Emergency Room, separate building for the Imaging Center, incredibly modern and impressive nursing home called the Denali Center, and Chief Andrew Isaac-a clinic that provides care at no cost to anyone with Native American blood, whether Alaskan or from the other 49 states.

I like working here. Ever since I was a young girl, my heart beat a little faster whenever I passed a lit up hospital at night. I always wanted to be part of the goings-on within the walls and I don't mean as a patient!

Due to patient confidentiality, I really can't show you anything active.

This is a boring picture, I know. What you are seeing is the recovery area of the Pain Treatment Center where I spend part of my time recovering patients who have just had injections for pain, usually somewhere in their spines.

I also work often in the Infusion or IV room. It has a similar look with just more chairs and infusion pumps (but no window, unfortunately). I administer just about anything you can imagine that goes through an IV line, except illegal drugs. Some examples include blood, chemotherapy, antibiotics, clotting factors, iron, steroids, TPN and assorted specific drugs. I take off blood like the blood bank on certain people, as well, and give various injections. It's a room full of needles and that probably doesn't excite you nearly as much as it does me...

but what I enjoy most, after the clinical part, are the relationships. Most of the patients come on a regular basis or come once in awhile but stay all day. My patients become my friends and that's the best part of nursing for me! I am inspired by each of them.

Like I said before, I like my job here.