settling...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tempus fugit

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

Matthew 6:25-34

We Don't ONLY Study

Sometimes, we have fun too!

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

Pictures:

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

Nursing Humor Part 2!

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

Warning: the song WILL get stuck in your head.

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

Enjoy!

Every Nursing Student Has a Story

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

The Nice, The Mean, and The Crazy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sorry for the length!