This won't hurt a bit...at least we hope not!

Yay Nurses!

2010-09-22T22:53:00.002-04:00

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!

Babies!

2010-09-09T20:10:00.004-04:00

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...

2010-09-02T20:03:00.002-04:00

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

2010-06-28T10:30:00.008-04:00

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

2010-05-03T20:10:00.002-04:00

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

2010-05-03T19:49:00.002-04:00

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!

2010-04-14T19:12:00.004-04:00

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!

2010-03-18T20:45:00.010-04:00

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!

2010-02-26T17:08:00.003-05:00

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!

2010-02-12T16:15:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-02-05T12:18:00.003-05:00

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

2010-02-01T22:08:00.004-05:00

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

2010-01-22T16:55:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2010-01-22T15:55:00.002-05:00

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

I Know, I Know

2009-12-22T00:28:00.011-05:00

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...

2009-10-20T17:28:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-19T00:26:00.003-04:00

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

2009-10-18T17:48:00.005-04:00

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!

2009-10-11T21:36:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-05T22:09:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-10-01T09:46:00.005-04:00

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...

2009-09-20T14:21:00.002-04:00

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 ...

2009-09-17T23:17:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-14T15:53:00.004-04:00

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."

2009-09-10T16:30:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-09-04T12:18:00.001-04:00

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

2009-09-02T22:05:00.004-04:00

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!