UNOS and floating

I am done with school for the summer and am pretty thrilled that I have a mental break of a couple weeks ahead of me to recuperate from the busy weeks behind me. A highlight from the last month was a trip to visit the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which is the organization responsible for arranging transplants within the U.S. It was incredibly interesting to hear how they organize organ donation, transportation, and transplantation. They are also responsible for linking donor families and organ recipients post-transplant if that is wished on both sides. Currently there are over 100,000 Americans waiting for organs, so if you haven't registered to be an organ donor and feel like that aligns with your values, please register (in Virginia, you can register at save7lives.org). UNOS also has a memorial to remember some of the past donors out in their gardens. It was very touching to hear some of the donor and recipient stories.

(Part of the fountain at UNOS. The stones say "mother", "father", "brother", "sister", etc.)

I also have been able to pick up more hours at work the last couple weeks as things with school have died down. I got floated to one of the PACUs (post-anesthesia care unit) a week or so ago, which made for a pretty interesting day. This PACU had a lot of children (it was ear, nose, throat surgery day, so a lot of kids were getting tubes in their ears) and I was surprised to see how different recovery from anesthesia is in kids than adults. The kids are much more disoriented and distressed, but still pretty cute and can mostly be cured of their distress with popsicles. It also made me appreciate my job a little more because I only have to hear crying kids when I have to take a little one's IV out instead of all day. Though I have to say, the kids are a lot cuter as patients than adults :)