Yay Nurses!

So I'm a week off - this is a quick little tidbit from my maternity clinical last week.

I saw a C-section and tubal ligation (getting her tubes tied! Except at REX, they actually just clamped them shut with little metal clamps that they leave in you...interesting) of a Mom - 4th baby, 4th boy, 3rd C-section.

Needless to say, we're in the recovery room; the nurse is doing assessments and taking vitals and doing lochia checks (ladies, check THAT one out! pregnancy is SO much fun), and the doctor walks in for the first time to talk to the Mom after he finished the surgery.

Doc: "So while I was in there, I found some blood clots in the veins that lead to your uterus, so I'm going to start you on a medication to help with that. Okay?"

Patient: " Is that normal? How long will I have to take it?"

Doc: "Not a big deal because when you're pregnant you're more likely to clot, but still enough of a problem that I actually saw them. And I'll have you take it for a few days. Okay, have a great day! Congratulations!"

[Doc leaves room]

Patient to Nurse: "Soo.....what? I have blood clots?"

In nursing school they're always talking about how patients trust the nurses and rely on nurses for clarifying information, explanation, education and the like. Not that I have anything against doctors, almost all that I've worked with so far have been fabulous. But this particular exchange wasn't done in the most tactful manner I'd ever seen (quick, pretty vague, etc), so it was cool to kind of see this seeking for clarification/revealing a sense of trust in the nurse in action. I mean, he hadn't been gone for five seconds, and the patient looked to the nurse for answers. Since they put such a stress on patient education and creating rapport with patients, it was nice to see it carried out. (By the way, the nurse's explanation was more thorough...and calm, so it calmed the patient and husband down a bit).

So...yay Nurses!

But yay for the doctor too, since he, despite his lack of bedside manner in this instance, performed the C-section and brought her handsome baby boy into the world!

Peace Out Cub Scout!

E

Babies!

Well Folks,

I'm starting the year off right by blogging (not just in general, but in a timely manner also) ...and instead putting off my maternity reading! (I'm sorry 100 pages in one night? Not gonna happen.)

Anyways, I can already tell that this blog, at least for me, is going to get more stories from my maternity clinical than my public health clinical, but nonetheless here are 4 terms to describe my public health clinical this week:
1. headaches
2. sore throats
3. itches
4. one SUPER obvious faker!

Even though it was a lot of the same as last week, I'm still really enjoying it. The kids are so cute in their (real and fake) misery. That sounds bad, but you know what I mean.

Maternity Clinical - first day on L&D, and it started out with a bang! I "helped" deliver a beautiful 7 lbs little girl to a set of first-time parents, and it was wonderful. For those of you who are close to me, you may remember a time not so long ago where I had sworn off maternity forever because it seemed...well, totally gross. And it is gross, let's be honest, but it's beautiful too. And coming out of it (this being the second time I've witnessed/participated in a vaginal delivery), still the major thing that I'm taking away is not the grossness of it all, but the miracle of life! It sounds silly I know, but man, when you actually see a baby - a real. live. baby. come out of another human - it's totally incredible. I mean that baby is alive! And it's crying! And it's tiny! And these two people in front of me MADE it. It's incredible. God's incredible. I mean, nursing school has taught me that in pregnancy and in childhood, a whole lot of things can go wrong so easily. But to see this little piece of perfection entering the world is truly amazing. So...I've been converted, maternity isn't too bad after all. I'm still trying to figure out if it's what I'd like to pursue (assuming it worked out with the Navy of course), but I like it so far!

And men reading this blog (or women who can tell husbands/sons), be supportive of the mom! The husband yesterday was SO supportive and encouraging, and it was really great to see. She pushed for less than an hour (first time moms usually actively push between 1.5-2 hours, so this was unusual in a great way), and I think the support of the dad had to have been part of it. And they both cried when the baby came out, and I have to admit that, again, I had to blink back a few tears.

So a great start to my maternity clinical, stay tuned for [hopefully] more interesting stories in the future.

And a funny picture to leave you with: a sign hanging in the bathroom on the L&D floor.

Erika!

Back to school, back to school...

Well folks, it's that time again. Except now we're all trying to figure out, "wait is this our senior year? are we really going to be practicing RN's this time next year?"...the answers are yes, and hopefully!

Anyways, this semester is looking to be an exciting one. And since this was our first week of clinicals, hopefully we'll be getting back into the swing of blogging.

For my public health clinical, I'm working as the school nurse at St. Mary Magdalene catholic school in Apex, NC once a week. I had my first day on Tuesday - my preceptor is so great and I think we'll get along really well. The majority of what I heard on Tuesday: "my tummy hurts....my throat is sore, can I get a cough drop?" Lots of cute kids and, no surprise here, a fair amount of fakers!

For my mother/baby clinical, I'm working at REX hospital (with MK) in Raleigh. This week was just an orientation week for us, but I got my schedule for the semester and my first four weeks are going to be on the labor/delivery floor - I'm sure stories will abound!

I'll let MK and Katie let you (our 3 faithful followers...) know what they'll be doing this semester, but hopefully we'll be able to share some fun/interesting/gross experiences from this semester!

Until then :)
E

PS - Can I just say how great it is to be back here with MK and Katie? Because it is! Ok, great.

Summer Update

So this summer the three absolutely fascinating ladies who run this blog have been off doing our own things for the summer. It's either sad OR a testament to our friendship that all of us were a bit nervous about doing nursing apart. I mean, when I have no idea if my patient should be looking that way or not, who can I ask to come look real fast before I make a big fool out of myself if Mary Kelly and Katie aren't around!?

MK is working as a Labor & Delivery NA at a hospital in Winston-Salem, Katie is a home health NA back in Chapel Hill (but I'll let them tell you about their experiences...hopefully!), and I'm fresh off working a month at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

For me, I loved the month I spent at Bethesda. The Navy gives rising (nursing) seniors the chance to go to one of their big three hospitals to give them a glimpse of what working at a Naval/military hospital will be like, and to help them gain an idea of where they might want to work once they graduate. Unfortunately for me, I think I came out of the experience more unsure of what floor I wanted to work than when I started! I hit every unit at Bethesda except for the ER. So I visited: Medical, Surgical (where most of the wounded warriors (Marines) are recuperating), Oncology/Hemotology, Telemetry, ICU, PACU, L&D, OB Clinic, NICU, Inpatient Psych, TBI (more wounded warriors are here), APU/OR, and the USNS Comfort in Baltimore.

I'll update a little more on my favorites, and the wounded warriors later, but here are a couple quick thoughts I have coming out of my month at Bethesda.
1. I still would never want to do psych nursing
2. L&D was actually really cool, could be something I'd like to do, and according to everybody is a "ticket to Europe" in the Navy...hmmmm!
3. I loved all the other nursing midshipmen that I worked with - the Navy Nurse Corps has a pretty great group of nurses getting ready to join it in a year or so. And the officer that was in charge of us was fabulous!

Erika

Dear Katie and Erika

So Ladies,
I was thinking of giving you guys cards today, but then I thought you might feel badly for not doing something or I would forget or we would be too busy or whatever so I thought the blog would be a better option. This way, a year and a half from now, when we're done with nursing school and you're feeling all nostalgic, you can look back on this letter with smiles and laughter (at me or with me is your choice). First of all, I love you guys. I really mean it; I love you, even if we don't stay in touch until 40 or stay in the same area or whatever. You girls have meant so much to me this past year, and I hope I've done a fraction for you what you have done for me. We had lots of fun and laughs and insides jokes, yes. But, even we our conversations were pretty boring or we didn't have much to say, we were there for eachother. We vented, we stressed, we yawned and complained, or we just studied and worked together. But, there's something really great about not feeling alone in the whole process, and I'm just glad we had each other through everything: summer school, stressful registration, clinical, evals, head-to-toes, boring lectures, creepy boys, awkward teachers, stressful work situations, etc. I'm so glad we have another year of BLISS left! There's not much better. You two are beautiful inside and out. I can already see how lucky your patients will be; I would love to have either of you as my nurse. You know when to listen, you know when to respond, you know when to advise, you know when to give a reality check, you know when to agree and disagree. Plus, unlike our other friends, we actually think Erika sending pictures of meconium is actually funny. And, we can talk about VD and other related issues without squirming with awkwardness. And I can ask my incredibly inappropriate questions without being ashamed. Well, let's be honest, I do embarrass myself quite often. So Katie, pretty much you're the only normal one. Haha, Erika, help me think of something embarrassing that Katie does. I'm blanking. : ) We each had our moments. All of them fun, in their own way. To all of you reading this, especially if you are their family, these girls are two of the funnest, brightest, most intelligent girls you'll ever meet, and you are truly blessed to know them.... as am I. I wish you two the best summer, and I hope to hear from you often. Thank you for your friendship, your patience, and your willingness to put up with me ... both my good and bad days.
Love Always,
MK

The last of the beginning

In one way, today was very uneventful; in another, it was pretty momentous. Katie, Erika, and I finished our last day of our first year of nursing school. Escaping relatively unscathed, we all agreed we're glad we have 1 year left. AHHHH! Katie, cover your ears. It's funny but seriously, scary, that next year at this time we'll be interviewing for jobs and studying for the NCLEX.
Since I'm super behind, I'll just give a quick recap of my semester. We started out on peds of course, which we finished up far too quickly. Then, moved on to Dorothea Dix. I actually enjoyed the first few weeks there and established nursing relationships with a couple patients in particular. It was really enlightening, because every time I walked out of the building I thought, "If I had to stay there, I'd go crazy too." It's a balance. Yes, that population is unstable; but just remember, environment really does make all the difference, and I and everyone reading this have been so so so blessed to have grown up the way we did and to live the lifestyle we now lead. That's one thing I love about the nursing profession; we are constantly reminded both in the classroom and in the clinical setting, of how terribly blessed we are. It's a shame too though, because I always forget that some how; I let things like 2 hours spent in pointless information sessions and hard tests discourage me. However, I do hate pointless info sessions... and hard tests. Luckily, I always had Katie to remind me (with the tests), "You don't even know you're grade yet." hahaha the face that followed is one of my favorite memories of nursing school. And, now, all the memories Katie, Erika, and I have shared are flooding back. Bahaha LOVE IT! By the way, for those of you who have not seen Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging... watch it! Other than clinical (if you want stories, just ask), the Research project went well, as did Genomics, and final exams ended today. Also, my job at the Yogurt Pump is still great as well, and I'll be back there next year.
I learned so much this year, academically and otherwise.I gained insight into pathology, patient care, empathy and understanding of mental illness, and confidence and independence in the work force for myself. Actually, it was probably one of my greatest years of growth and when I reflect on it, I can't believe how far I've come. I thank my second patient on 3A, who I called "Angel," for teaching me about the fragility of life and the imperative to be grateful for each day. I thank my first clinical instructor, Louise, for her breadth of knowledge and patience in guiding us through such an intimidating process. I thank "Danny" at Dorothea Dix for showing me how extremely fun and interesting even those with disorders like schizophrenia can be. I thank Dr. Grimm for calling a couple of my flaws to my attention; I'm working on it. There are so many stories I wish I would have shared, but I'll just say, with each experience I've learned so much, and I've enjoyed most every minute. I hope to do better with this blog in the future and will be updating it in the summer. I'll let Katie and Erika fill you in on their plans but as for me, I will spend this summer at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem working as an extern in labor and delivery from 7 p.m to 7 a.m. 3 nights a week. I'm actually really excited but of course, would greatly appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers (I'm sure Erika and Katie would too!). So, essentially (that's for you E!), I'll be better about writing in once a week to give you a glimpse into my extremely un-glamorous life. Thanks for the interest. A separate blog will follow that is to my dear friends. I am writing it on the wall to make it easier for them to look back on - scrap booking of sorts. Feel free to read it though because without these 2 girls, my first year of nursing school wouldn't have compared.
Looking forward to the summer and hope you all are too! <3 MK

Whoops!

Okay, we've been slacking...sorry!

I'm going to try and keep this one [fairly] short and sweet.

For the first clinical rotation yet, MK, Katie and I are all on the same unit - the men's intermediate stay at Dorothea Dix Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Raleigh, NC. The primary diagnoses we see are schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.

I've learned that psych nursing is definitely not the area of nursing I want to pursue, but I also think that this has been one of the most enlightening rotations yet.

At DDH, we also have patients called "forensic" patients - those who have been committed to DDH because they were judged "not guilty by reason of insanity." Maybe more to come on that later, but they've got three levels of security: minimum, medium, and maximum. Depending on their behavior, forensic patients are given certain privileges - like going to "the mall" for group time.

Yesterday, instead of doing group time on my floor, Mary Kelly and I went down to the mall and attended "Horticulture." After a little lesson on horticulture, we transplanted watermelon plants with the help of some patients. When we left, we even got souvenirs! I got a morning glory plant and MK got a tomato plant. I can't wait until my plant flowers! I've got to pot it in a couple weeks. After horticulture, we headed over to "Arts and Crafts," and I colored next to one of the fmax (forensic, maximum security) patients! Haha, too weird.

The fruits of my visit to "The Mall"!

Ch-ch-check it out!

So my sister-in-law Katie told me a while back about a blog that she thought I might like. It's written by an nurse on the M/V Africa Mercy. One night when I probably should have been doing homework, I spent like 2 hours backreading her blog (seriously) and I came across this post. I wasn't really familiar with VVF, so I did some research online.

Real fast: VVF (Vesicovaginal Fistual) is what it's called when a fistula (abnormal connection) forms between the bladder and vagina after a long, hard labor. This leads to a constant leaking of urine through the vagina. In the US, this rarely occurs, as most doctors would (because they have the capability to) step in, and prevent such a difficult labor. If it were to occur, it's a fairly easy fix with all the medical technology we have at our fingertips in hospitals. In third world countries, VVF is much more common as the women giving birth tend to be younger, and are thus smaller, making their bodies less capable of pushing the baby out. This leads to long, difficult labors, where the baby often dies, and the mother ends up with a VVF. In the rural areas they live in, a fix is almost an impossibility. Because they cannot "keep dry," they often become social outcasts.

It's heartbreaking to learn about a problem that is quite prevalent in third world countries, which has such drastic physical, and thus social and emotional implications, especially when it's something that would be mostly preventable were they only blessed with the capabilities and resources we have here.

So anyways, I was reading about it, and came across this website, A Walk to Beautiful. It's a documentary film which follows several women with VVF who are given the opportunity to go to a VVF clinic in Ethiopia. I rented and watched the documentary over winter break, and it was fabulous.

So: If you're interested in learning more about VVF, or you like a good documentary, or you're interested in watching a story of hope and healing for these women - you should check it out! Warning, I cried watching it... :)

Also, if you just like reading medical blogs, or are interested in Mercy ships and outreach in Africa, Ali's blog above is a good read too!

Code Brown!

Ok, that title is for my brother, Chris. So without further ado...

"Code Brown" was something my clinical instructor last semester jokingly referred to as when a patient has a case of diarrhea. Chris was very upset that I never experienced one myself, and it's only fitting that on my last day of pediatric clinicals, when I was just HOURS away from making it through two full clinical rotations without having a "code brown," that I'd have one...not once, not twice, but THREE times! Clearly, after some cleanup and a couple handwashings later, I texted him to let him know the big news. He was very excited for me.

On to my patient for the week: He was an 8 year old, precious little boy with "high-risk ALL" or acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Actually, he was the little boy who held my hand while playing mini-golf on the computer that I mentioned in my last post. ALL is the most common type of cancer in children, and while cancer is cancer, and little can really address the hurt, confusion, sadness, and the downright unpleasantness of being diagnosed and treated, ALL actually has a very good prognosis when caught early in children.

My little boy wasn't actually coming in due to his cancer, but had gotten sick as a result of his cancer leaving him neutropenic (essentially, without immunity). He came in with neutropenic fever, vomitting, and...diarrhea. Initially they thought he had the flu, but after testing, they discovered that he tested positive for C. diff, a particularly virile bacteria which can cause severe diarrhea. So, if I'm being honest, I knew what I was getting myself into, although I had hoped to avoid said "code brown."

He turned out to be quite the handful, and didn't really want to spend any minute alone, especially since he wasn't allowed to leave his room (think virile bacteria on a floor where almost every single patient is neutropenic and at a high risk for infection). So I spent time blowing bubbles - he was very impressed with how big I could make mine, playing Candyland (I won the first game, despite his cheating. He won the second...probably because of his cheating), and playing ball in his room - a makeshift game that used his emesis (vomit) basin as the basket. Don't worry, it was clean! He won the ball game too, 25 to 23 :)

It was a fun morning though, I always enjoy a good morning getting to step back and act like a kid for a couple hours. Of course, what I've learned in nursing so far, is that the morning will be going slow - you've given your meds, your totally on top of your charting, patient is content - and then all of a sudden everything happens at once. In my case, it was a firedrill occurring at the exact moment that he says, "I just dookied all over myself" - hilarious...except that he wasn't kidding. Several minutes, and one more code brown later, we got him all cleaned up, in a new gown and pants, back to his game of Candyland, and the floor taken care of. The perks of nursing ;)

It was a fun last day, and I have to admit, it really was fitting that it had some code browns. Plus, my patient was adorable, and the source of a major ego-boost. He most have told me, "you're purrrdy" and, "you're nice" at least 50 times throughout the day. And I got a hug!

So now I'm officially done at 5 Childrens. The 7 weeks of clinicals absolutely flew by. I really wish they'd make our peds rotation longer than half a semester. I've been so enthralled by the different ages and cases that I've had, that I feel like I could easily do another half of a semester (heck, a full semester) and still feel like I'd barely scratched the surface. Nothing's set in stone in my mind, but peds is definitely something I'm leaning towards for my future practice. And now, when we get back from spring break, on to our psych/mental health rotation, where stories are sure to abound!

Until next time!

PS - Went home last weekend to surprise my mom/aunts for their birthdays, and was talking to them and Jonathan about food aversions in kids, and how to get past them, and my aunt (who is a nurse) started crying because she was so happy I'd chosen the nursing profession. It was pretty funny, but I'm glad that she's proud of me! Jonathan was a little confused, but I just had to explain that crying outbursts are quite typical of the women in my family (no offense (mom)!).

hello again!

So not too much has changed in the world of Chapel Hill or Carrington Hall...

We've successfully trekked through more exams, both Psych and Pediatric nursing. Now that those are behind us I think we can relax a little bit more. As of now the three of us are planning on a date/chick flick night on Sunday. We are considering "Dear John" and "Valentine's Day." Any suggestions?? I just know that I'm looking forward to the break.

I'm also starting a countdown with my roommate to SB'10 because we're going on a cruise (my first) and it will be sooo warm!!!

Since I've last talked to everyone I've had three more patient in the pediatrics floor. I think I've already talked about my adolescent, so I'll move on to the others.

My second week on the floor I had a 9 month old little girl who was born with a congenital anomaly, one that created a connection between her esophagus and her trachea. She is now suffering with feeding problems and struggles with normal growth rates. However, she was a doll baby! She was so peaceful and calm. Her mother was there the night I went to get my assignment and seemed very involved. However, her mom had to leave unexpectedly the day I was actually caring for her baby. When she got back I was able to talk with her for a little bit. I could tell that she and her daughter were very close and shared a loving relationship...something we've all learned is one of the most important parts of growing up healthily and to full potential.

My third week was a much more overwhelming. We got our assignments the morning of, because of the snow, and caught up on our patient and their stories on the fly. So I guess we were acting more like real nurses! I had 4 year old boy who knows the staff by name and the hospital is considered his second home (at least according to the unit staff...). He has a very rare mitochondrial disease, it's actually amazing that he is still alive. He stays in a room by himself most of the time, so he treats it like his kingdom. He wanted to help me out when I was giving some of his medicines, which surprised me! But he was funny about it! He really kept me on my toes, especially the time he started hitting at my hands. I just thought he wanted to give some high fives so I played some games with him. No. That wasn't the case. He just kept hitting my hands, then arms, then he hit me in the face. "Pause." That's what went through my mind in a split-second. Then I had to pull out the firm-tone-don't-mess attitude. Face hitting is not acceptable, he's just lacking the consistent discipline to actually know that. And when I figured that out, it made me kind of sad.
Funny story from this day: I went to take lunch for about 15 min and came back to the nursing station. The secretary looked at me and asked if I still had his room. I said yes and she just laughed. "Well whenever I can smell it from here....I know it's your boy." GREAT. So, I changed my first dirty diaper ever... gross.

This past week I tried to get a school aged kid, because that's the age group I haven't had yet, but that didn't happen. I got another little girl, 2 months old (adjusted for her prematurity), who was suffering from Short Bowel Syndrome after having about 25% of her intestines removed from chronic NEC. Soooo, I was dealing with GI problems in a little girl again, but I did get to practice some new skills with a great nurse! She went through everything step by step and explained why things were done the way they were. She was also always open for questions. That's really the first time I've seen this from the floor nurses. Anywho, I learned all about TPN (total parenteral nutrition...basically food that's infused into your blood stream) and central lines and changing lines and GI issues. I learned a lot, but it was kind of a slow day because she didn't require much care...just monitoring and loving.
Sad part of this day: The very first thing I did was carry my little baby down to x-ray / fluoroscopy so they could give a barium enema and look at her bowels. I can see why parents are emotionally unprepared for watching things like this. It was hard for me to see her suffering, and I only knew her for one day! Basically, they infuse this chalky white substance into her bowels through her little bum and then take multiple screens of it to check out the status of her GI tract. They had my poor little baby strapped to this wooden plank and restrained (that's the least invasive way to put it). I understand why it's necessary (so she won't squirm and mess up the process) but seeing / hearing her like that was crushing.

Ahhh so it's busy around here but I just try to take it all one day at a time.

I'm Up!

Mmk, well it's my turn to do the blog this week! I haven't had one experience that has really stood out more than others, so I'll just talk about what's been going on so far...

Like Mary Kelly, I'm working on the hematology/oncology floor at the UNC Children's Hospital. We get cancer patients, patients with blood disorders, and those with pulmonary diseases. We've been there three weeks, and I've had a precious 2 year old with aplastic anemia, a super friendly 19 year old with cystic fibrosis, and a VERY independent 9 year old, also with cystic fibrosis.

Quick recaps for those girls:
My 2 year old: I was nervous going into that week - it was our first one, and all I could think was, "I've never done an assessment on a 2 year old!" She has aplastic anemia, which means her white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets are all severely depleted. I walked into her room, and she'd graduated from a crib, so she was sleeping in an adult-sized bed, totally horizontal. I took her vitals, and was totally confused as to why she wasn't waking up while I was moving her arms to take her blood pressure and temperature. I found out a few minutes later, that in preparation for the platelets she was to receive that day, they gave her benadryl - and it had knocked her OUT! A good thing too, because she was NPO (couldn't eat) until 12 when she went to have a bone marrow biopsy, and was an UNHAPPY camper when she awoke at 11 and wasn't allowed to eat! She's waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunately, she was back in this past Tuesday - they thought she had appendicitis and a perforated bowel. I watched them put in a NG (nasogastric) tube so they could give her the contrast they needed to before they did a CT scan. That was definitely the most traumatizing thing I've watched yet...but it had to be done I suppose. It was sad to watch though.
My 19 year old: Because we were so close in age, I went into it thinking, "This could either be really good...or really really bad." Luckily...it was really good! She was a sweetheart and--apart from when I had to be the nurse, and do her assessment, take vitals, give meds, etc--we had a fun time just talking and hanging out, watching food network and talking about boys, makeup, school, and plans for the future. Cystic fibrosis has touched my family, so working with a patient with CF was a special experience. As my patient, staff nurse and I discussed, CF is a disease that sort of flies under the radar. It receives far less awareness than other chronic illness (like cancer), and is one disease that still faces no cure. At the same time, the life expectancy for patients has risen dramatically in the last few decades due to great advancements in treatment/therapy, which is really encouraging.
My 9 year old: Like I said, VERY independent! She wanted to open her own meds, she wanted to push her own IV pole, and wouldn't let me help her tooooo much! She is actually a cancer survivor, and has a complex history, but despite her fairly recent diagnosis of CF, she knew what she was doing! She was very bright, and ready to get out of the hospital - which she did at 12! Which left me a very bored student nurse for the rest of the day :) So what did I do? Various oddjobs that people asked me to - weighed some dirty diapers, took some temperatures, met some new patients, talked with a girl recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, played mini-golf on the computer with a 7 year old boy with ALL (a type of leukemia) while he held my hand, witnessed a girl with CF give her number to a boy with CF two rooms down by yelling it out to the secretary standing in the hallway, and tried on some spongebob masks to appease another patient!

Working in peds has been great so far. I love how different each week has turned out to be - from playing with babies, to talking about life with patients practically my own age. We've only got 3 more days left on that unit, but I'm hoping that they'll be just as enlightening!

I've got to agree with MK though - God is good! And one of the benefits of a career that has you in the hospital often is that you can't help but feel acutely blessed for your own personal good health.

So: babies are cute, nursing is fun [albeit challenging], and God is good!

Live, love, laugh, LIFE

I never cease to be amazed at the grace the Lord has poured out on me and what an amazing gift that is. To all of my friends and family that don't share my faith, I hope that you can at least recognize that, for me, the Lord is my strength and my assurance in my past, present, and future. With each day and month that passes, I only gain more and more faith in the fact that my past, present, and future all serve some purpose, and I love watching it unfold. However, let me just say, I have my down days just like everyone else. For example, Friday was just one of those days. I was absolutely exhausted (like every other nursing student), I felt like everything I said and did was getting on someone's nerves, I came home to a parking ticket for $100 b/c I parked within 50 feet of a freakin' fire hydrant, and then I had to work which meant I didn't get to go home at all to visit my mom. Days that end in tears. They're wonderful. However, the weekend turned out just fine. Lots of studying and rest accomplished. So, I got the bad day out of the way. The rest of my days since Christmas have been pretty wonderful overall, actually. I am now working on the 5th floor of UNC Memorial, with a focus on oncology and hematology. It's been interesting to adapt my style of nursing to children who are so sick. They're in such an illogical place - 13 year olds with cancer? I don't even know how to touch that, and it brings me to tears just thinking about it. Not all of the cases are so severe, but it is those cases that remind me how amazingly, amazingly blessed I am! I am so grateful to be in the position to be able to help those not so fortunate to have their help. If only my attitude could be that wonderful everyday at 6:00 when that alarm clock goes off. As far as school goes... it felt so wonderful coming back to familiar faces! Katie and I talked about it right away; the feeling of being back amongst students that you know and love is pretty fantastic (as opposed to 400 student lecture halls in regular undergrad)! Speaking of, let me just give a shout out to my 2 fellow bloggers. These girls are BEAUTIFUL- you have no idea how jealous I am of both of them. And, I'm not joking - well not jealous haha but definitely in awe. They are so encouraging, each in their own ways, and they are just going to be (I guess, they already are) the two most kick-ass RNs and women ever! Thank you ladies for the laughs, the inside jokes, and the united venting fronts. And, the sex jokes. Sorry, Katie.. I'm 5... I had to throw that in there : ) While I'm on this light note, I should mention that I am now officially an employee of the YOGURT PUMP. My freshman dream has come true. I'm pretty "pumped" about it for sure though. If you can believe it, I'm this witty all the time. And yes, only if you know me, will that illicit even the slightest smile. So anyway, life is beautiful, even on my most depressing of days, and this blog helps me remember that. So, thank you Erika, for the motivation! For now, I will so adieu (which makes me long for rain drops, and roses and whiskers on kisses), but I promise to be much more faithful from here on out. Keep us in mind this week- we have our first test! Until next time, love to you all! <3 MK

Haiti in Our Hearts

I forgot to include this in my not-so-brief synopsis...
The School of Nursing at UNC-CH has a few brilliant students, namely Mary Kelly, that have initiated a weekly Bake Sale in Carrington to raise money for the Doctors Without Borders Haitian Relief Fund. The girls putting it on received baked good donations from Panera Bread and hosted the first sale this morning from 7:30-8am and from 11am-1pm. It was just announced that we raised $592.07 today alone!!! Way to go everyone :)

and we're back!!!

hmmm......where to begin since we've returned to school?! well since I tend to run everything by my best friend I'll turn to it (my planner). jokes. but really I do write just about everything down in it...
ok first of all i have to start with the fact that i returned from an amazing 10-day trip to London and Ireland to visit and travel with my cousin, MK, on Jan 8. It was such a great experience and I absolutely loved it! A few things I picked up on while I was abroad: 1) everyone wears boots 2) everyone says "cheers" to mean pretty much anything they want to...something i really liked 3) it is soooo cold 4) the sun sets super early because of it's northern location 5) buses and trains are not always reliable 6) shopping can be really really expensive :) 7) doing tourist-y things on purpose is really fun 8) old architecture is just as gorgeous as i remembered...and so much better than the pictures and 9) everyone smokes.
Ok so that was longer than a few, but I ended with the smokers for a reason. Smoking, health, healthcare, nursing.... and here we are starting our THIRD semesters in nursing school! Follow my drift??
Monday the 11th (Nate's 24th birthday!) started off like all of the wonderful Mondays of this semester...NO CLASSES!!! I think we can get used to this!
Tuesday the 12th we had orientation to our Psych and Mental Health class and clinical rotation, even though the rotation won't start until after Spring Break. Our professor seems very down to earth, open, and knowledgable on the subject matter. I have picked up that she is quite the feminist, but that's just entertaining! Our clinical instructor is Abby and she really made me look forward to our work at D. Dix Hospital! She has a great attitude towards her work and manages to stay sane and keep her sense of humor. Her stories were off the wall...I think that's the best way to put it. Our work there should be a great experience!
Wednesday the 13th started my downhill fall for the semester. We had orientation to our Pediatrics rotation all day and I found myself more dreading my next few weeks rather than feeling even somewhat motivated. Please note that I am on a different floor from Mary Kelly and Erika for this one, so this is all me. I'm not sure they had these same reactions. Anyways, that day really gave me something to think about and ponder over the next few days before going back into the hospital.
Skip the next few days...classes. Really, who wants to hear about that?!
Then Monday rolled around again and who doesn't love Mondays off?! Remember?! ok, yes, I know I'm rubbing it in to all you who have to work Mondays :) However, this Monday was different because Tuesday was looming over my head. Tuesday: the day I was most nervous about, the day I would spend from 7am to 7pm in the hospital working with kids, the day I would see no sunlight. That is the most nervous I've been in a LONG time. I slept terribly, but made it to the floor with time to spare (thank you coffee!). I had a 15 year old girl who was relatively pleasant to work with, but became quite the little diva when she wanted to. Her mom said she's like that even when she's not sick...I liked her mom! :) Anyways, long day short, it went by pretty quickly! I followed her down for a procedure, ate a quick late lunch, we charted every hour and passed meds, and then I got to help out another nurse on 6CH with a newly admitted patient from the ED. That was pretty cool to see how the beginning processes with patients and families work up once they're on the floor. I think next week I'm trying to get a littler kid (like 4-7) and see how that goes and gradually work my way down to the little bitty babies :) seeing them all and reading about them just makes me want one for myself! no worries though, that will still be a while.
So the "dreadful" day turned out pretty good and I had one of the greatest nights of sleep of my life afterwards! Classes went just fine again. We have research groups and a project in one of our classes and it's interesting to see what everyone will be studying.
Updates on UNC basketball for everyone: Ed Davis sprained his ankle, hopefully will be back soon. Tyler Zeller is out again, I'm not sure for how long. We lost to Wake at home Wednesday (which was a total bummer) putting us at 1-3 in the ACC. "treach" (for the few of you who know what that even means). but...DUKE LOST which was a highlight for that night!!!
Friday, Jan 22 (holy cow how did that happen!!) is today and has been a great ending to what turned out to be a surprisingly good week! May another 3-day weekend commence! :)
Hakuna Matata