WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER...

THE SOULS OF SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, NEWTOWN, CT

12 / 14 / 2012

MAY THEY NEVER BE FORGOTTEN: 

      Allison Wyatt - 7/3/06                       Ana Marquez Greene - 4/4/06
      Anne Marie Murphy - 7/25/60              Avielle Richman - 10/17/06
      Benjamin Wheeler - 9/12/06               Caroline Previdi - 9/7/06
      Charlotte Bacon - 2/22/06                  Catherine Hubbard - 6/8/06
      Chase Kowalski - 10/31/05                 Daniel Barden - 9/25/05
      Dawn Hochsprung - 6/28/65                Dylan Hockley - 3/8/06
      Emilie Parker - 5/12/06                      Jack Pinto - 5/6/06
      Grace McDonnell - 5/6/06                   James Mattioli - 3/22/06
      Jessie Lewis - 6/30/06                       Jessica Rekos - 5/10/06
      Josephine Gay - 12/11/05                   Lauren Rousseau - 6/8/82
      Grace McDonnell - 2/11/56                  Madeleine Hsu - 7/10/06
      Noah Pozner - 11/20/06                      Olivia Engel - 7/18/06
      Rachel Davino - 7/17/83                     Victoria Soto - 11/04/85

GOD BE WITH YOU TIL' WE MEET AGAIN !

FAMILY TIME and more...!!!

Howdy! I just got back after a 5 day vacay in CT; spent lots of time visiting family and friends and had a wonderful time.  This past Saturday was the 2012 Mark Hoffman Immediate family Christmas and, as expected, was a little bit o' fun, little bit o' crazy and definitely a time to be remembered by all !!!  As I have mentioned in previous posts, family is something that I have come to largely appreciate and Saturday did nothing to disprove or disappoint that!! :)

Tuesday night, after a short 45 min flight, I arrived back to my "other" home on the Inner Harbor and found things exactly the way I left them....with the exception of warmer weather and lots of christmas cards and pictures - keep em' coming... !!!.  I was never sooo happy to be returning to a place where I could call 50 degrees warm, but I'll def take it...I think I'm cut out to be lifelong south of the MASON DIXON snow bird :)

AGAIN...THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE REMEMBERED ME WITH CARDS, LETTERS AND PICTURES!!!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is back to the grinding grindstone; much of this week will be spent in an advanced airway management class, where we will learn to secure a patient's airway....the highlighted moment of the introductory class was "you guys...air goes in the lungs, not in the stomach" !! After spending over 10 years in nursing school and professional practice, sometimes, the most basic is the most relevant.

I think the picture (from work) below accurately represents three essential dynamics of a good time: education, teamwork and happiness!!! :)

I am looking forward to John and Erin + 6 to come visit this weekend!!!! Harborview Community better break out the umbrellas cause' there's a storm coming... LOL :) !!!! can't hardly wait to see all of u!!

Until the next time...

advanced airway management simulation...LARYNGOSCOPY GALORE !!!
" GET THAT MANDIBLE UNDER CONTROL "

family christmas....good time had by all !!! :)

Brother - Sister portraits... :)
at least my eyes are open, but where's the smile... dude??

funny faces... two of my favorite nephewssssss

stick dat' tongue out.... three more wicked cool kats !!!

Dear CT, I miss u...

Hey!!

One more day of work until I can jet back to my hometown for a few days...I'll be in CT for an extended weekend, celebrating the Mark Hoffman family Christmas; a time of fun, food, family, rest and relaxation PLUS a side of pure chaos!!  Certainly something to be looked forward to each and every year... it always makes me think about the many people that do not have the privilege of close family - i have come to know it is one of the truest joys in life!

I have also come to appreciate the awesome apprehension of finding letters in my mailbox; especially this time of year.... I have received sooo many cards, letters and pictures of people from all over...THANK YOU TO EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!!! When I lived back in CT, I would let my mail pile up for weeks (unless I knew I was getting money or a check...lol) to the point where the mail lady once asked the front office to do a welfare check on me...!!! I am please to say this has not been the case in Baltimore!

As much as I love living on the Inner Harbor and all of the newness, exploration and discovery that comes with it, I definitely miss my CT peeps and am so glad that I can trek back every now and then!!

John and Erin, my brother and his wife, recently went to HOT TABLE PANINI and sent me a picture of their lunch, prior to its immediate consumption!!!  I was salivating all the way down here in BALTIMORE; I asked them to bring me one...they said they'll see what they could dooooo...mmmmmhhhmmm - They need to build one of those down here !!! I would be a regular...ahhhh; i can hear my stomach calling for a panini....but I just ate...ugghh!

Til' the next time...

CHRISTMAS CARDS / LETTERS AND PICTURES....LOVE IT !!!

HOT TABLE PANINI..!! :)

One month down...

Hey all; one month down and still lovin it!!! life has been composed of...well; learning...a lot of learning (which is totally fine with me).  The academic semester is swiftly coming to a close and and is chewing up my free time with final exams, research papers, etc; one thing is for sure...there is very little time to get into any trouble...

Work is great! spent several hours in the simulation lab doing advanced clinical skills and loved it!  The simulation center is huge and one of the best centers I have ever been in.  Assessments, advanced hemodynamics, multi-system trauma care, airway management, ventilator management, etc....so much fun!

This past Friday night, Lifeline Transport celebrated 20 years of being in service.  They had a nice dinner and presentation at Tabrizzi's, which is about 100 feet from where I live...so for once in my Baltimore history, I could describe my commute as "simple and hassle free"; key phrase being "FOR ONCE"!  Below is a picture of the CAKE they had made and decorated at a local bake shop here in downtown B-more; it was true testament to someone's cooking talent!  I really wanted to eat the helicopter...but they said NO...wwwwahhhhhh!

Until the next time...

"THE CAKE"

VENT practice...arrrggggg - - - -
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this...

#whyamIstillastudent

Love my job!!!

Sunset from the other pad... lol!!! rooftop parking at JHH :)

Contemplative...

Jack Kornfield once wrote:

"Letting things go does not mean to get rid of them.  Letting them go means to let them."

Why is it so hard to let something go? whether it is a desire, a personality trait, a human quirk, a good friend, a dying family member, a habit, a resentment, a relationship, a cherished piece of clothing, a lack of faith, a style of communication or a (fill in the blank).... and the list goes on and on...

I found this historic, but relevant analogy helpful when thinking about the behavior involved in not letting something go...

"Tie a coconut to a tree, hollow it and put some rice in it. The hole in the coconut should just be large enough for a monkey to put its hand in it. The monkey will grasp the rice but meanwhile its hand has gotten so big, that it can’t pull it hand out anymore. But it wants to hold on to the rice no matter what and thus it remains captured."

A conclusive comment by Havelock Ellis seems appropriate: "All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."

Until next time...

Ecola State Park, Oregon - one of my favorite places!

Almost December....SERIOUSLYYYY??

hey there; sorry..I'm not sorry.. for the blogging hiatus; there was turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and WECKA (? spelling, but I think you get the point) to be devoured, family company to be endured (totally joking), and several days off from work and class to be enjoyed!!  These all seem to be perfectly good reasons to lay off the world wide web for a bit and enjoy a spell of R & R (a little bit of my inside Luella coming out).

Professionally, the past two weeks have been an enjoyable conglomerate of classroom lecture, simulation time and some actual, physical work!  If the amount of provided education correlates, in any way, shape or form, to the expectation of clinical care at the bedside.... then I believe there is adequate reason to be suffering from self-diagnosed ATP syndrome (Anxiety, Terror and Paranoia)!  This syndrome is temporarily relieved by the occasional humor injected into these presentations; ex. during our lecture on sedation, analgesia and paralysis, the presenter informs us that "occasionally, from East Baltimore, there are the patients that will pre-medicate themselves before a procedure"; and AMEN to that; because man, you see it all over the place down here...i thought open, day light recreational drug use was illegal; apparently that memo hasn't reached Baltimore yet?

On a lighter and personal note, the Mark Hoffman family celebrated its first thanksgiving on the Inner Harbor! Mom, Dad, Sister Deb and Little Louie arrived safely Wednesday night, after enduring the unwelcome company of I-95 traffic the whole way south...ugggh!  Thankfully, they had a nice place to unpack and unwind.  Apparently, a two bedroom place is still too small;;;; how did I end up on the couch again??? After enjoying a phenomenal meal, compliments to the mother and sister, the lazy, post turkey, afternoon commenced.  A what a commencing it was; seriously...some people's restful breathing borders on an aggressive airway management intervention; literally; i thought i was going to have to break out the intubation kit....good grief! #bettergetthatchecked

until the next time! :)

the view of a scholar....and a gentleman
p.s. look at 'dem shoes...those be runnin shoes, ya'll

the face of a....de-caffeinated, de-energized,
double chinned yet hopeful Bruceellosis! ugggghhhh...

#cantwaittostuffmyface, #thankfulformomscooking

sunrise from the guest room...my mothers favorite!

 

the executive chef's :)

Week #2 UPDATE

hey all; another quick update from the Inner Harbor!

I hope all my NorthEast friends and family survived the 'NorEaster... the citizens of Baltimore truly applaud your ability to survive in such, and I directly quote from one of my co workers, "horrendous and inhumane weather conditions"...i think the wintery mix created more of stir in Baltimore than it did it CT!!!

I still love my job...lol; I spent my last two shifts working the overnight (its been while since I worked a full night shift....#YAWN, #sleepytime, #Iwantmybed, #caffeineisnecessary, but, nevertheless I DID IT and LOVED IT.  Oh, and after a particularly long and intense transport, we jump in the back of the "AMBO" ready to go back to base and the truck was "DEAD"...literally - we needed to have a patient's family member bring their "jumpers" and give us a JOLT; the other nurse and I both brilliantly recommended CPR, EPINEPHRINE 1 mg IE (intra-engine) and ? TCPacing...all at 430AM; you gotta love it!

Despite having worked previous transport jobs, my current role has taken my experience to a whole new level.  These patient's are crazy SICK; everything from 3rd / 4th degree burns s/p house fire in and out of cardiac arrest, G1P0 regular and frequent contractions at 28 weeks requiring constant fetal HR monitoring, bilateral lung transplants with chest and mediastinal tubes with 3 vasopressors and full ventilatory / endotracheal support, facial degloving s/p fall with oro/naso reconstruction, and the list goes on and on...I believe I may have seen more over three days than I have in several years of prior clinical practice.  Despite my urge to jump in and "do", I have, with uhhh...moderate success, had to pull back and simply watch the "flow".  A lot can be learned when you step out of ACTION CIRCLE and survey the entire "scene".

My preceptor is phenomenal; I truly believe this can make or break a new job. She is very smart, comical and most importantly, very CHILL.  What I lack in calm and cool collectivism and sarcasm, is more than made up when we are together!

My orientation has been established to course in the following manner: intra-hospital CCT (critical care transport), ground CCT and Helicopter / Fixed wing CCT.  In between are plenty of days in the NICU, PICU, Cath Lab, OR and simluation lab time.  YEEEHHAAAAAH!

Until next time....

"the book...."

In the back of the mobile ICU with a patient - tubes, wires, lines, etc...everywhere!!! ahhhhh.

One of the non-invasive / invasive monitors and a 3-channel IV Pump (so slick...)

the in house "PURPLE TEAM" taking an IABP s/p CT Sx patient somewhere....

work week 1: status COMPLETE

After a full 36 hour, 4 DAY work week, I finally made it to my three day weekend....ahhhhh! This whole "working 5 day a week" thing needs to cease, immediately. I can not remember the last time I worked more than three days in a full week or in a row and thank goodness for that, because I'm not sure I could hold out much longer..! LOL;

The week starts with two days of hospital wide/central orientation! As mentioned previously, I am very thankful for the opportunity I have been given to work with such an amazing team! Wednesday started with 4 hours of nursing orientation, followed by the initiation of LIFELINE orientation; and HOLY MOLY...after seeing my orientation packet of all the things I am to learn over the next six weeks, I am officially - VERY, VERY NERVOUS, but wicked (...i know it's a CT thing) excited!

I hemmed my scrubs for the first time by way of scissor and steady hand; so far only a few people have noticed and commented on, what I believe to be, one of the truest signatures of bachelorism!

Thursday started with me asking where I punch in, my attempt at making myself feel extra good by punching in 15 minutes early...AGAIN (and having it documented..LOL), and was delightfully told "oh, don't worry about that, we don't punch in or out here; just show up early all the time and leave whenever you are done"; #BITTERSWEET; 

So far, clinically, I have encountered a wild array of life altering diagnoses.  The cases that this hospital becomes involved with and sees is beyond anything I had ever imagined; and I LOVE IT.  There is also a very sad component to working in an institution like this; for many customers, patient's and families, they believe Johns Hopkins to be the only light at the end of a very dark tunnel and their only hope for medical diagnosis, treatment and LIFE.  However, regardless of the name or institution, healthcare providers work to lessen the anxiety and fear, and attempt to bring healing to where it is needed most! 

Until the next time....!

The scrubs are purple; making us an easy, although respected, target!

My dear mother sent this photo of the wintery mix in CT - makes me miss home more than ever; SNOW, HOT CHOCOLATE, FIRE PLACES, SLEDDING, TUBING, and most of all NO SCHOOOOOL!!!

Another mystery solved!!!

I now know why the ID Bage Officer was giving me the hairy eyeball...!!!! LOL; I should probably inform HR of this... good grief!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!

Day #1: I'm off to a running and partially winded (but so far successful) start; I was about 15 minutes EARLY to work.  For those of you who don't know me, look to the sky, because it may be starting to cave in...! Me being on time, and further more, EARLY...uhhh, for anything is completely miraculous...here's hoping that this may be a lasting streak!!...you know, at least until I'm off probation :)

After a self directed, unintentional, breath taking - LITERALLY - tour of about 5 miles of the hospital's main campus, I arrive at orientation PART 1.  History, Mission, Vision, Past, Present and Future; what an awesome LEGACY and STORY! So far I'm psyched and (simultaneously) humbled, to have joined myself to such an amazing group of dedicated, hardworking professionals who are lending their lives to building one of the world's greatest healthcare systems!

Plus they've only had three muggings this week...(for those not familiar with JHH, it is in less reputable part of Baltimore - however about every 50 feet there is hand sanitizer and a diligent member of the security team; attempting to calm the frightened nerves of the poor souls trying to make the JHH difference!!!  All kidding aside, the whole security force at Hopkins is excellent (so far) and does the best they can with what they have to deal with!  However, to accurately quote the the Chief of Security, I repeat..."if you're gonna run away, RUN LIKE YOU MEAN IT"....it is with such pleasant thoughts and memories of Part #1; that I call it a day... until next time!

lets do this... :)

ONE OF THE MANY WONDERS OF MY WORLD!!!

Good Morning Baltimore!!

farewell party...what a gathering!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO SUPPORT ME FRIDAY NIGHT! 

It was a truly humbling experience to say the least...I expected a few, but was pleasantly surprised by the numbers that showed!!!  I mentioned to several people that night what an experience this has been.  You never quite understand how rooted, involved and connected you are to a community, until you leave it.  Here's to best ahead...

the creative thank you card !!! :)

Finishing touches...

Its on Facebook, therefore it is official....?

Hey all! I am happy to announce that I am officially moved in and settled (for at least the next year...) in Baltimore, MD.  After a six hour Starbucks fueled trek, 2 hours of hard, back burning, man-making lifting/moving, a 500$ Flemings Steak/Primehouse cheque, evening stroll along the boardwalk, 1 gorgeous sunset, perfect weather, and 4 of the greatest young men on the planet to facilitate the process and an amazing sister to help me arrange/organize, I officially reside on the 12th floor at Harborview Community....and so far I LOVE IT!!! The sights, sounds, smells...etc.  It has been a dream of mine, since a young boy, to live on the water near a city... childhood dream #X - CHECK!

A huge thanks to Dave, Sam, Tom and Seth who provided the majority of the muscle power and comedy during the moving process.  YOU GUYS R THE BEST - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

And to my family (especially my sister - DEB)...I'm not sure where to start; the love, help, support, laughter and help is overwhelming! I LOVE YOU MORE THAN U MAY EVER KNOW!

Below are some pictures of the weekends shenanigans!

SETTING SUN FROM HARBORVIEW COMMUNITY... :)

THE MOVERS...:)

"THE CAP RACK"

SELF EXPLANATORY...

and the Schneider tradition lives on...in BALTIMORE!

LOVE THIS PLACE!!! :)

Night Lights of Inner Harbor!

Hey all! These are some pictures of my first night in the new digs...love this place!!! :) more to follow...stay tuned!

South East View from the balcony! There is a huge Domino Sugar plant across the marina.

North West View from the (other side of the) balcony! Looking back on downtown Balti and Harbor East... :)

Early morning hospital call = SUNRISE!!!

INVITATION!!

Hey All!  Below is an invitation for a fall festival / farewell toast to my much anticipated endeavor in Baltimore, MD..If you are around and you want to come, follow the instructions listed below! :)

Welcome!

Welcome!

Hey all! Welcome to my blog; a spot where updates on my life happenings can be found and read...I've been told that sometimes I drag on and on when trying to explain something, so I'll cut this short and get right to the point.  For the past several years I have worked at two large hospital systems in Hartford, CT (close to my hometown in Ellington, CT) as a critical care nurse and paramedic.  Recently I was offered (and accepted) a position with the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD.  I will be working with their Lifeline Team (a critical care transport service supported by the Department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins).  You can learn more about the service here by visiting: http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/lifeline/ !  I am now in the process of moving all of my "stuff" from my apartment here in CT down to a condominium that I have leased for at least the next year in Baltimore.  I will be living in the Harborview Community in West Baltimore, just outside of the Inner Harbor, very close to Federal Hill.  I have included some pictures of my "new" home.  More information on this place can be found at: http://www.harborviewcommunity.com/ !  As much as I have enjoyed the opportunity I have been given to work and live in CT, I am very excited about this move and look forward to diving in headfirst and soaking it all up (professionally, academically, socially, physically, spiritually and personally, etc.).  It is worth a large "shout out" to those that have crossed my life's path, in any dimension, and want to thank you all; my family, friends, co-workers, students, etc. for all of the help, positive energy, thoughts, prayers, support and good times in my life to this point and look forward to whatever lies ahead!  Until next time... :)

red arrow shows the balcony/corner unit...

another view!!! black arrow shows the balcony/corner unit...

inside view from the guest bedroom....looking southeast'ish..over da' marina