I Know, I Know

Ok...so it's been over 2 months since any of us have blogged. Clearly, I will not even try to make any excuses, other than to half-jokingly postulate that maaaaybe it's better that the three of us were hitting the books (saving future lives!?) instead of blogging all the time, right? Well, that's at least what we'll tell ourselves...

So obviously too much has happened in the past two months to give a play-by-play: you'd be stuck here reading it--if you had the patience, that is--for far too long. So a reflective post is what you'll get...

So as not to sell ourselves short, we just finished up our second semester of nursing school. But in many ways, it was kind of like our first, because this was the semester where book learning met practical experience via clinicals. It was a full semester with classes, labs, evaluations, exams, clinicals, and more. I don't think I've ever been so busy, but looking back, I wouldn't trade it. We learned SO much, got to experience so many things, and finally got to APPLY all that learning we did in all our 3-hour lectures!

A few quick personal highlights...and lowlights (in no particular order):
1) H: All of the sweet old gentlemen that I got to help take care of this year. I just always hit it off with any and all men above the age of 65. Good thing too, because I'd say 99% of my patients this semester were 65 or older!
2) L/H: My 87 year old MEAN and ORNERY woman I blogged about before. Despite her antics, I learned a lot from her about taking care of patients, and a lot about end-of-life care as well - highlight. I also had to write a 12 page research paper off of her case - lowlight!
3) L/H: I had this old gentlemen who fell in his bathroom and laid there for 2 days with no food or drink before he was discovered. Which also meant that his 97 year old mother who he took care of also went without food and water for those two days - lowlight. His story really bothered me and stuck with me. But he was SO cooperative, and sweet, and eager to take the tiny baby steps needed to get him feeling better. He was one of my favorite patients, what a sweetheart - highlight!
4) H: My clinical group and instructor. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved my clinical instructor. She was so knowledgeable about anything and everything cardiac, but she could convey all that information to us in a very understandable way. Plus, she was so laid back. I just love her. And my clinical group! What a fabulous and unique group of people. We had some great times on 3 Anderson, yay for friendships formed in nursing school.
5) L: There was a patient that every single one of us (on 3 And) took care of in some capacity. She had a multitude of comorbidities, and was with us shortly after having a craniectomy (removal of half her skull, to decrease pressure). Unfortunately, after many complications and a move to the CICU, she passed away. It was very sad, especially because I remember being so excited the day that she went from being hardly responsive to sitting up in bed and eating her breakfast the next.
6) L: Tests, papers, open labs, and evaluations! AHHHH! At least we're done with evaluations this semester :)
7) H: Passing (with a few re-dos!) all of my evaluations to include: handwashing, standard precautions, sterile gloving, oral med administration, temperature, pulse, respiration and blood pressure taking, IV push medication, IV med piggyback, sterile dressing change, hanging TPN, CVAD push and dressing change, tracheostomy site care and suctioning, G-tube med administration, and urinary catheterization! WOO!
8) H: Watching a femoral-peroneal bypass graft from 2 feet away. When the doctor pulled the sapphenous vein out (which was being used to bypass the poorly-working peroneal vein) to check its patency, he said "Doesn't it look like a big piece of spaghetti!?" Yes, yes it did...gross. But also fascinating.
9) H: I had a patient who presented to the ER in atrial fibrillation (bad), and after going through a period of a systole (VERY bad), converted on his own to a seriously low pulse in the low 30s (sinus bradycardia - still bad in his case). They took him down and did a cardiac catheterization, then an ablation study to pinpoint the part of his heart causing the irregular rhythm (a fib). After inducing the irregular rhythm, they let me shock him with 200 J to convert him back to his normal rhythm. I also got to draw up the atropine they used to stop his heart momentarily, but don't worry, I didn't give it - one of the nurses did! They fixed the irregular rhythm with the ablation, and then put in a pacemaker to fix his really slow rhythm. It was an awesome experience in all, and the nurse, Brian, who took care of me during it all, was SO helpful and the one who was suggesting I do all that they let me do. The picture at the top is my patient's EKG strip (from telemetry) that caught his heart going from a fib into a systole (also known as "flat-lining")!
10) H: Realizing that I love what I do already, and that I picked the right career :)

It's been a really great semester - I can't believe how much I've learned. Next semester is promising to be even better, and I'm sure stories will abound, especially once we start our psych rotations...hopefully we'll be better at updating!

To my family that reads this blog and whom I happen to live with: maybe this end-of-semester post will bring with it an end to my random outbursts of information in response to anything and everything that could remotely relate to something I learned in nursing school this semester. I'm sure one or two more will slip out, but thanks for putting up with them so far!

Merry Christmas Everyone :)

settling...

i know, i know... it's been a while!

First I'll reflect on a couple of weeks ago. I only had one clinical day and went into the OR for our required "OR experience." We got up and met with the lead OR nurse educator and she let us pick our surgery from a refined list (ones she thought would be good for student experience and not overwhelming for the staff). I chose the liver resection and was amazed! Although I was able to see the beginning of the anesthesia induction and well into the surgery, I had to leave early before it was all finished. I spoke more with the anesthesia team and the surgeon than I did with the circulating nurse, because she was mostly documenting procedures. I really enjoyed seeing and hearing all the different perspectives in the room. If only we had already been evaluated on starting IVs, that could've been me over there with the needle! If it were up to me, I would try to spend more days there...I loved it! And I can't forget the words of the young Anesthesiologist who told me she would have been a CRNA had she known about it before she went to med school. She said "it's the best career you could ever have." That's keeping me motivated.

After that and before this past week everything seems like a blur. A quick summary would include lack of sleep, clinicals, tests, work, and eating every now and then. thrilling life i know...

Last week is a different story: Started it off right with no lab (thank you, University Day!) and clinicals were back to full-tilt. But there was something about this week that made it different from all the rest. I had a lot of firsts and felt a lot more involved in my patient's care, but it was more than that. My patient was an older lady whose rare form of cancer had returned 6 years after she had it removed. She was having complications from the most recent surgery to have it removed again, and was back in the hospital. I think the thing that amazed me the most was her strength and her husband's love and care. Each time I went in the room, trying to keep it to a minimum for her own comfort, she was so pleasant, even if you could tell she was in pain. We worked together to finish all our tasks for the days and made it work for both of our schedules. One of the tasks for school is to complete a teaching care plan for our patients; I worked with the patient and her husband on both days. Just to see his involvment and care and love through all of her needs was touching. He was there by her side for it all...thick and thin, sickness and health.

This past weekend involved the state fair, as you can see from the pictures! so much fun! After that all day affair, I snuggled up in my warm living room with my roommates and watched movies. Not just any movies, but "Fried Green Tomatoes," since I did just spend a day dedicated to eating them, and "Rachel Getting Married," one that I really enjoyed the first time around, plus it was on sale at Blockbuster.

Yesterday I think we all realized our dislike of the front row in lectures...and then had a few labs regarding central lines, and now, finally, thank goodness, it's FALL BREAK!!! it's about time. enjoy!

Tempus fugit

I'm lying on my couch as we speak with my only two comforters, attempting to stay warm. Now, my mom is probably shaking her head right now because she's been telling me for 3 weeks to turn the gas on for the heat. However, I would just like to say it did save money so it was a win/lose situation. So anyway, this is an attempt to fill some time between now and exhaustion. This week was ...... interesting. To be honest, I started off really excited about where the week was headed, then it sort of crashed and burned, but that's a whole other story that doesn't belong on my weekly blog. I'll start with clinicals. My first day I had a women with dementia who started off singing me "Mary, Mary quite contrary." Then around 11:00, she told me I had an innocent look about me, but she knew I was up to something. By 12:00, she was refusing all of her meds. It was an adventure. I guess it was a good experience though, but it was strange to think about reaching that point where one completely loses touch with reality. She's lost who she is which has to be extremely frustrating and confusing for her. Just something to think about. The next day, I took care of a man with end-stage renal disease who was undergoing a heart cath to ensure he had no obstructions, before undergoing a liver transplant. He was so kind, and his wife was also inspiring - she is a 10 year cancer survivor whose stuck with him through this entire process (as he did for her, might I add.) That's a pretty powerful thing to witness, even for just a day. I think it's pretty spectactular how humans can step up to the base in situations that could make others run for the dug-out. I asked her where she got the strength to do it. She told me she couldn't do it without the Lord. I told her that she had an incredibly impactful story and should share it with as many people as possible. I found on also this week that an old high school friend's mom died. He's 2o years old, and he had to decide to leave his current school to come home and get his family's affairs in order. Can you imagine? I just started crying at random times during the week because I can't fathom what he must be going through right now. If you're reading this, I love you and am praying for you.
Ok so the heavy stuff is out of the way - now for the fun stuff.
Thursday night I decided to go out with some friends. The night ended with - my first pumpkin carving ever! Lydia (my mother) deprived us of Halloween (a.k.a. Satan's holiday) when we were younger so I've had to sort of make up for it since high school. Don't worry mom, falls close to the bottom of the list of failures. Anyway, it was a great time , thanks to fantastic friends. I only got 4 hours of sleep, but the pharm test the next day went great so now complaints. OH AND ... I went to Late Night With Roy Friday night- yea, I did. I'm getting into the sports this year- I've decided. It's on my list of goals for this year (and yes, there is a literal list). This is quickly becoming way to lengthy though, but in conclusion, my goal for next week is to keep in mind that I have far more than I deserve, that I am owed nothing, that my life is full of blessings and those things that I don't have are missing for a reason SO happy Monday to everyone- have a great week! <3

Matthew 6:25-34

We Don't ONLY Study

Sometimes, we have fun too!

A bunch of us nursing students celebrated the end of a long week by going to the State Fair this weekend. SO much fun. It was a day of a lot of firsts for a bunch of us, but me especially, not being from the south! All my firsts: first ferris wheel, first tractor race (observing), first fried green tomato, first fried snickers, first chocolate-covered bacon, first frozen cheesecake dipped in chocolate, first petting zoo, first state fair!

Pictures:

1- What we probably looked like by the end of the week ;) 2- The group just after we got there. 3- Eating fried green tomatoes and fried pickles! 4- My thoughts on fried foods, despite their being super delicious. 5-Ferris wheel!

Nursing Humor Part 2!

You gotta love Nursing Humor - we watched this in our pharmacology class this past Friday.

Warning: the song WILL get stuck in your head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbt_PuVAVTU

Enjoy!

Every Nursing Student Has a Story

I was listening to the radio the other day and a caller asked the host, "How are you?" With each caller that asked that, he replied, "Better than I deserve, how are you?" I'm doing so much better than I deserve; I hope you can say the same : ) The past couple of weeks I have been on "cloud 9." I'm enjoying nursing school far more than I ever imagined; clinicals have been especially uplifting. Today brought the enthusiasm down a notch; the "concepts and skills" test and I went at it ... we didn't end things on a good note. Luckily Katie, whom I can always count on to be honest and say it like it is, replied, "You haven't even gotten your grade back so you don't know..." I shut my mouth immediately and am back to being positive - thanks Katie! So this week is off to a fun start.. Recap of the last 2 weeks:
Ok, so 2 weeks ago I had a beautiful patient in her 20s with congestive heart failure who, if I hadn't already been in nursing school, would have inspired me to apply. She was an absolute treasure, one of those people that's beautiful inside and out. She was the type that you just want to take care of because every word out of her mouth begs for attention and understanding. Like most of us, she just wanted someone to listen. She's so sick, and in her 20s, faces death (most likely) in the next 5 years. She wondered allowed about her purpose; I told her that for those 2 days, part of her purpose was to encourage me in the Lord's purpose for my own life. She said that meant a lot to her. She gave me her phone number at the end of our time together. I'm hoping Louise (our preceptor) will let me check in on her. God, be with her, hold her, and keep her; giver her peace. I'll never forget her.
This past week I had a couple of interesting patients. One was an illegal immigrant and the other was a Diabetic who "knows how to control her diabetes." which means she knows how to have her cake and eat it too.. but nevermind. I would just like to say, I hope I look forward to more in life than Moon Pies when I'm old.
Last week also marked a year since the passing of Rose Carline who passed away at 13. She was a young girl a met in Haiti that meant so much to the "Mammas" there and had such a bright future. It brought even more thoughts of Haiti; I can't wait until I go back. Those children are my inspiration!
Last week was also good in that I got to spend more time with my friends like JMatt and Jessica and LB. Happy Birthday to Holly as well! The only real drawback to nursing is that I miss the outside world; I miss campus and being outside. So, I made time for that a spent Thursday and Friday basking in the sunshine with the girls. GLORIOUS!!! The weekend was fun; I saw my family. It was especially good to see my brothers . . . as ill-developed as they are (My father is so ashamed.) I love 'em though. AND I have plans to go to my sister's on Halloween - sooo PUMPED!
All right, so go enjoy the week, especially this beautiful fall weather, read your horoscope, picture yourself in Africa with some handsome tour guide (those 2 are for you ladies), or just walk around Carolina while the sun's going down like I did today. . . Love always <3

The Nice, The Mean, and The Crazy!

Whew, we're back! Warning: this is a novel. Sorry!

Past few weeks have been totally crazy between midterms, clinicals, open labs, and more. But I finished my exam this morning earlier than anticipated, so I'm giving myself a break to finally update on the blog!

Biggest thing going on lately: clinicals. And I've had some interesting experiences! The first thing I want to say, is that being in nursing school and being fascinated by health problems creates an interesting dilemma. When I get my patient (henceforth, pt) and I look up what's wrong with them, it's hard not to be totally fascinated by their many diseases and multi-faceted health complications, not to mention, the prospect of going to any number of procedures with them which would be totally crazy to observe. At the same time, you feel bad about being excited about all this, because the fact of the matter is, the pts are still people, and you feel bad that there are so many things wrong with them. And then you feel bad that you're excited to learn about their many problems. It's strange. Especially on a cardiac unit, where a lot of the pts look and act totally normal, but may actually have less than 5 years to live, though they're only 24 (one of Mary Kelly's patients). I think we're all definitely gaining a new appreciation of the meaning of life and good health.

Ok story time!
Last week: my pt was a 70 yo man, who was recently diagnosed with coronary artery disease (in addition to congestive heart failure). They found out that he had 3 vessel disease and wanted to do open heart surgery (CABG) but he also had Factor V leiden disease, which is a clotting disorder. If you're heterozygous for the disease you are 4-8x more likely to throw a clot post-surgery, if you're homozygous you are 80% more likely. So they wanted to figure out what he was before going ahead with the CABG. They determined he was heterozygous for it, and so he spent pretty much all last week waiting for the surgery. I get along GREAT with old men - we always hit it off so well, so I had a lot of fun with him. He was SO nice and cooperative, and really sweet about working with a student. I got to go with him for his ECHO (like an ultrasound for hearts, looks at the heart valve functionality) and it was SO cool. You could see clear as day on the screen, his heart valves flapping open and closed. He ended up having his surgery on Monday and from what I can tell (he's no longer on our floor), things are looking good for him.

Tuesday: I had an 87 yo female, who had CAD, CHF, gastroesophogeal reflux disease (GERD), and stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD). Her CKD was really her biggest issue, but she was admitted to our floor (cardiac unit) because she came in with shortness of breath and chest pain. Her labs showed critical high levels of her cardiac enzymes, meaning either she had a minor heart attack or is very likely to have one. The strange thing is, both she and her family have opted to not pursue any treatments for anything. She's a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) pt, and they're looking only to get symptomatic relief, no treatment. I understand the decision, but it's still strange for me. Either way, most interesting thing about her? She was...ORNERY! She refused a bath in the morning, and was yelling at me and my clinical instructor (Louise). The first time she raised her voice with me, I was totally shocked. I was like, you are 87 and dying of several diseases, where is this coming from!? Then I thought about that statement, and figured that's probably exactly where it was coming from. Either way, I got yelled at a lot on Tuesday - every time Louise and I left the room, we just looked at each other and had to laugh. She also refused to let me remove her IV stating, "I don't want to be a guinea pig!" Haha, it was definitely an experience. After I changed her gown and sheets, and got her juice though, she was just as pleasant as could be. And she gave us great reviews...what!?

Wednesday: This wasn't my pt, but when we got to the unit yesterday, we kept hearing this yelling coming from a room. Well it turns out there was a pt there who had gotten in an altercation (broken jaw) and was taken to the ER, but he was threatening nurses and other people. They wanted to take him to an ICU, sedate him, and then get him to an OR to fix his jaw, but there was no ICU beds, so he came to our unit to wait for one. Because you can't really sedate people and monitor them closely on the floor, they couldn't do anything until he got taken to the ICU. He was in 4-pt restraints (all 4 limbs, tied to the bed) and was fighting it and yelling the entire time - SO loudly; he was not only crazy, but going through delirium tremens (really severe alcohol withdrawal). When they finally had a bed for him, one of the girls in my clinical group, Elizabeth, and I assisted Louise and other people on our floor in the transfer. I was using my full weight to hold down ONE of his legs, he was kicking so hard. Because he was flailing around so much and kept trying to take off his gown, I saw a lot of things I didn't want to - but hey, I guess that's the life of a nurse, right? They gave him Haldol (anti-psychotic) and Ativan (anti-anxiety) and it was chore trying to get it into the IV. They gave him A LOT: Louise said if they'd given me the amount of drugs they gave him, it would've killed me, without a doubt. Either way, it only helped a bit, but was enough to transfer him without TOO many problems. It was so crazy. But it was sad too.

So those are my crazy stories for the week. At least I didn't have to help with a "Code Brown" like one of the girls in my group did! Yes, that's exactly what you think it it. Clinicals are fun!

Sorry for the length!

here goes...

As I'm sitting here trying to catch up on my Pharm. readings from last week I can't stop thinking that I still haven't written my first blog (ever) about my nursing school life. I'm actually pretty jealous Mary Kelly and Erika have been so diligent about this, and now I'm really looking forward to it! So here goes...
Last week was one of those that just completely overwhelms you before it even begins. I was just so busy with class, registration (that rarely goes as planned), first two days of clinicals, work, volunteering, quizzes, and then, of course, studying. Now that it's over it doesn't seem so terrible, but I'm still lacking in the sleep department.
Tuesday and Wednesday clinicals were not what I was expecting. My clinical instructor, Joan, is very relaxed, funny, understanding, informative and entertaining. Almost everything is laced with a bit of humor, which I enjoy. I thought it would be more of a drill team deal without a moment of rest. We went in to meet our patient for the first time with Joan and she made it so simple. Later I figured out that you can let the patient do most of the talking (you know, trying the active listening and therapeutic relationship stuff), but then you may be stuck in their room for almost an hour. I'm pretty sure that won't be happening when I'm trying to manage five patients instead of one. After listening to some of our fellow students' stories about their clinicals I realized I still haven't had much hands-on care. No bed bath, no linen change, no assessment. Only vitals, which is a machine. So there's a lot of firsts still to come. Oh boy!
So I mentioned that Joan kept us going with entertainment, here's a fun tid-bit: Our clinical group had a competition to see who could hold their bladder the longest and then we used the bladder scanner on each other to measure who held the most. Devin won with more than 1000ml (the max the machine can read). This way we had some friendly rivalries and learned to use the scanner all at once. I'm pretty sure only nursing students would find such a game entertaining!
Getting together for quiz time with Mary Kelly and Erika was much more successful this week. It called for a little celebration and definitely lowered the stress levels!
Friday was our first exam of this semester. Seeing as I had quite the busy schedule and have a procrastinating attitude towards school work I did not study until Thursday. And now that we only have class once a week our professors like to use all the time they can. So after not sleeping much during the week, then studying all night Thursday, trying to make it through a full lecture after an exam was a little much for me. Distractions abound on Fridays!
The greatest part of this week had to be the "ice cream and banana split social" Friday evening! Props to the organizers because there was some great bonding and planning for our trip to the State Fair in October...something else to look forward to!
If this is rambling, I'm sorry. If you would like a summary of my week sans drama, you just read it. I can't think of any good quotes, but I'll usually try to have some!
first blog ever. check!

A second, a minute, an hour, a day, a week ...

2 + 2 =4. 5 x 5 = 25. d = rt. These lessons all sound really simple. I don't even have to think about them anymore. Still though, I know at one point, they didn't seem so simple. At one point, they were confusing to the point that my mother let me practice by counting with forks and knives in our drawer. This week, I had to learn a lesson again that I've learned more times that I can count; still, it trips me up every time. This week started out looking like it could potentially be a complete nightmare. I had to deal with my first ticket Monday; I woke up at 6:00 to go to court. I waited in line for over an hour and half and got out of the ticket. Simple, right? My first day of clinicals started on Tuesday; I had no idea what I was doing. My clinical leader looked at me during a practice run and said, "OK, start the assessment." I had no idea where to start. We had been taught a FULL physical exam; I only had to do 1 body system. It turned out to be really simple. The next day, I would meet my patient. Stress. What would that be like? Well, actually it was fantastic. Wednesday was one of the most fulfilling days I've had in a while; my time, each minute, each hour felt purposeful, even though I didn't actually do that much. Nursing allows me to incorporate the value I place on life and living into action which I just find so exciting! I hope I keep that in mind because I know how idealistic it sounds but still, it never hurts. I am so aware of my flaws (of which I have many), butI also believe that God graces me with days that I feel like He designated just for me, to show me that I am part of His plan. Yes, surprisingly, I got all of this out of putting on scrubs, taking vitals, and measuring urine. Now, I'm sitting here with my bestfriend of over 10 years, cuddled up in blankets, watching Grey's Anatomy Season 5, and I would just like to say on the record, this week turned out much better than anticipated. Everything came together. Lesson learned - again. Still, I'm scared. I have this life in my mind that I have always wanted, that I still want, and it seems much farther off than I thought it would by this point. You would think though that after I saw, yet again, that things turn out just as they should, that I wouldn't be anxious about the future. Maybe one day it will actually sink in. I love quoting others because they often say it better than I (I tend to ramble) so here's the quote of the week," Essentially, we spend too much time trying to figure out where we're going. We should be trying to figure out WHO God wants us to be, rather than WHERE God wants us to be." So, I'm going to try to do just that; I encourage you to do the same <3

I Love Nursing School

For multiple reasons. Here's a few, in no particular order:

1) Nursing Humor: We're all nerds, and I love it. In lab today, we were practicing moving patients from the floor to a stretcher with these crazy inflatable beds. And John, one of our few male nursing students, was like "I'm clear, you're clear, we're all clear!" going back to our BLS [basic life support] CPR class we took this summer. They were crazy about making sure we say that every time we practiced with the defibrillator. Either way, we all started laughing, myself included, and all I could think of is, "Wow, we are nerds." When you're surrounded by these things all the time, it's hard not to revert to talking about it all the time. But then when you tell these "funny" stories later on, everyone else looks at you like that was the dumbest story ever (maybe it's just me actually, if you know me, you know that I am TERRIBLE at telling stories). But when I get those blank looks from people, I just go..."oh, nursing humor."

Which reminds me, I don't think we fully explained the name of the blog. When we were trying to think of a title, we turned to trusty Google with this search: "things that nurses say a lot." Well we found this list of [mostly funny] sayings that nurses tend to say, and one of them was, "This won't hurt a bit." Well I think we can all say that we've heard that before, and usually when they do say that, it does actually hurt! So we though that was funny. I tacked on the "at least we hope not" because let's be honest, we have very little knowledge and we're about to be thrown into this crazy world where people's lives are in our hands - we definitely HOPE we don't actually hurt anyone! Especially when it's school and we're just students...

2) Our crazy labs: Today we lifted each other off beds 5-6 feet in the air to move them to chairs to practice safe patient handling for immobile patients. A few weeks ago, we actually restrained each other to beds. Next week we're doing injectable medicine...on each other! In a few weeks we have our Venipuncture lab; they sent out this notice this weekend regarding that lab: "We recommend not wearing light colors that day. You will be in a lab environment with copious amounts of fake blood and with the potential for exposure to real blood and body fluids." Haha, whaaaat. My favorite part of that was the adjective "copious."

3) The people: This week is going to be a tough/busy one. We have our first exam on Friday, and it's also our first week of clinicals, and thus our first week of patient interaction. What are we doing Friday evening? A bunch of us are getting together to have a Banana Split and Disney movie night. That's my kind of night! The invite to this get-together read, "For the love of bananas and our sanity." :)

Two other quick things:
1) Katie is a slacker, and better post something soon!
2) Our friend Whitney is joining this blogging team, so get ready for one more awesome perspective in our journey through Nursing school!

"It's a long semester; you don't have to do everything at the beginning."

On my way to Carrington Hall (the school of nursing building) on Tuesday, I stopped at the Health Affairs store to buy a snack and drink; the guy who normally checks me out asked how my labor day weekend was and how school is going. I told him I was really enjoying it but that this week was going to be a clincher; I was on my way to do my first Eval (nerve racking evaluation of Clinical skills) and glucometer training. On Wednesday, we had our first clinical meeting and a calculations test we had to get a 100% on to pass. Needless to say, it was a little intimidating to be walking towards. How did he respond? "Remember, it's a long semester; you don't have to do everything at the beginning." I said "Ya know, you're right; thanks for the encouragement." Now, in actuality, I'm not sure how much sense that statement makes, but nonetheless, I really appreciated his encouragement. Life is a beautiful thing, in its entirety and its pieces. He's right, in that, I need to remember to take one day at a time and keep the big picture in mind. I look back at this week and everything fell right into place (except for that 50 on our quiz in adult care, but that was a fail for everyone). That's one reason I'm so glad Erika thought of this blog; I love looking back and seeing how everything unfolds just as God intended. Just to give a little detail, our clinical instructor seems so very nice and seems genuinely excited to be working with us. We'll be on 3rd floor Anderson of the Cardiac Unit at the UNC Hospital; we'll be exposed to many patients with Heart Failure, MI, heart transplants, etc. We're all so excited but so nervous so be thinking about us next week when we actually head to the hospital to start with our first assigned patients : ) That will be next Wednesday. Another thing that really stuck out to me this week was how much more fun I'm having being in school, solely because I'm surrounded by people that I know and feel comfortable with everyday. In my classes, I'm surrounded by people that I know and admire - it's a pretty good feeling. It's weird though; I feel myself becoming more and more independent which I'm so happy about. But ... it makes me miss my family. I miss my sister and my brothers most of all; I would miss my mom and dad, but I see them pretty frequently. Anyway, all this being said, I'm just so excited to see where my life is headed, the turns that I'll take, the destinations God will take me too, and the relationships I'll have along the way. And yes, I am this cheesy all the time. And yes, I tend to ramble. Like everything else, I choose to see that it's for a reason : ) Hope all of my friends and family are finding themselves just as blessed as I am <3

so that's why they do that!

So one of the cool things about nursing school so far is learning the reason why health care professionals do the things they do - you know, the things that you see all the time whether from personal experience or the wealth of tv shows and movies out there, but you don't really know why they do it...or at least never stop to think about it.

Example one: Whenever a tv show shows doctors and nurses preparing for a surgery they always show the doctors holding their hands out in the air, even after putting gloves on. I always thought that was just so they wouldn't accidentally touch something. Nope. Well actually, that's part of it, but any area below your waist is considered non-sterile. And clearly in this case sterility is necessary. So if you drop your hands below your waist, even if you touch nothing, you've got to start all over and get new sterile gloves. When we learned that I was like, "ooooh so that's why they do that!"

Example two: I've never really stopped to think about why sometimes you take antibiotics and the first dose is greater than the rest of them. I just do what the bottle says, right? Well in pharmacology today we talked about "loading doses," which is when they give you enough of a drug to push you quickly into the therapeutic range (where you'll see the effects) and then after that give you maintenance doses which are smaller, to keep you in the therapeutic range. I mean, that's actually intuitive, so maybe I just was being lazy and not actually thinking about it. But I didn't really know the whole concept of the therapeutic range and maintaining that level and what not. So there's my second, "ooooh so that's why they do that." And now you can know that for the next time you take some antibiotics.

And last but not least, a few observations from my skills and concepts lab:
1) Having your teeth brushed by somebody else is pretty strange
2) Sponge baths - not so bad; it kind of felt like you were at the spa...I've never actually been to a spa, but you got to be lazy while somebody else did the work! (I only had my arm washed though.)
3) Bed pans - UNCOMFORTABLE! We had to lie on them in bed to get a feel for what it's like for the patient.
4) For handwashing being something I've done for as long as I can remember, doing it right is more complex than you'd think!

It's Friday!

Life is a journey, not a destination

That had to be the title of my first blog post, no question. My brother, whom I love dearly, responded to this earlier today with "and remember, when life gives you a lemon make a cheesy motivational poster....." To which I responded, "And remember... never act in anger. Instead, calmly flip the person off." I love my family : ) You might think that last statement is sarcastic, but no. Cruel and mocking comments are our love language. Erika created this blog for she, Katie, and I to document our journey through nursing school. The title reflects her goal: to give us an outlet to relieve stress and also to let our family and friends get a picture into the experience. So far, the experience has been far from painful. In fact, I find that my stress level has only decreased 10-fold since starting nursing school. I fully embrace the fact that this again reinforces that I am a complete nerd, but I love it: I love everything that I'm learning, I love that I've met someone new every day, and I love the interaction. Most of all, I love that yesterday when I played with a baby on the bus , I knew that the capillary angioma on her face was totally benign! The Lord has shown me each step of the way that I'm on the right path, not just in nursing but in general. So far, every morning when I wake up, I know that I am where I'm supposed to be and that exciting things lie ahead. So, maybe it's cheesy, but life really is a journey, not a destination. Otherwise, my Creator wouldn't have put me here.

Hopefully, this blog will allow my friends and family who are interested to get a glimpse into my ADLs (nursing lingo for Activities of Daily Living). Enjoy!