Thursday, August 6, 2009

all in one piece



There they are, my new plates and bowls. We received them the day before yesterday, all in one piece, which is much better than how the original shipment arrived. When I picked out the Parisian Fruit pattern I figured it would come with a variety of fruits. Evidently the variety must lie with the entire dinnerware set. The salad plates are apples, and I'm figuring the dinner plates are something else and so on... No biggie, as I like them anyway.

And in other news...

I've received my grades for Nutrition & Diet Therapy (an A) and Developmental Psych (a B). I could have gotten an A in psych except that one week where I had taken Ambien and fell over the elliptical machine I'd had such a hard time that week altogether. I turned in an incomplete assignment and received a very low grade on it. Had it not been for that I would have gotten an A. I even had the opportunity to resubmit, but with the other classes and life in general I just couldn't. It's frustrating because I normally hold myself to higher standards.

C'est la vie.

I'd like to give a shout out to Heather over at Nursapalooza. She is one of our newest full-fledged RNs!! Go over and congratulate her. I so can't wait to share such exciting news!

I'd also like to say a big "hello" to a blogger I've just come across, Nursing Anatomy, and thank her for the link to the Top 50 Nursing Blogs. Some of the blogs you and I read regularly are listed, along with what I'm sure are other great sources of everything nursing!

In just a few short days since posting that I would love for summer to last forever I've come around and have decided that heck no! Let's get this nursing school show on the road! There's still a sort of ambivalence within me concerning going on with nursing school. I heard just yesterday that there really isn't a nursing shortage in Northern VA, which just so happens to be where I live. I'm also fearful, of failure, and of generally what lies ahead.

My ride along with my friend/RN/Case Manager went well the other day. She, like I mentioned previously, works as a liaison between physicians, clients and insurance companies, but more specifically her work has to do with workman's compensation. She advises insurance companies whether a client's case is compensable or not. There were three appointments originally scheduled, but one had just been denied and the other had to be postponed. The one we did go on I thought was pretty interesting. The client happens to be a nurse who was injured while working with a combative client and ended up with a rotator cuff tear. After having surgery and undergoing several weeks of physical therapy this nurse was ready to return to the job on regular duty. There are a few layers to the case itself, but what I found fascinating was this nurse has been working as a nurse for about 30 years. This nurse absolutely loves nursing. The energy level and excitement to return to work was somewhat inspiring, if not astounding. We're talking someone nearing 70 years of age people!

During our conversations one subject that was brought up was--surprise, surprise-- the nursing shortage. It's cyclical. In thirty years this nurse has seen shortages come and go.

Later that day we went and saw my friend's husband who had just had surgery and was an inpatient at a local military hospital.

The day I walked out of the hospital I had been working in as an active duty medic I swore I would never go back to a hospital again, at least to work. That was in January of 1993. In 1997 I enrolled in a medical assistant program, with the intentions of doing clinic work. In 1999 I initiated my journey for nursing school. It was put on hold while we went overseas, and I flip-flopped with career choices. Since it had been an ambition from early on I decided to restart the journey toward becoming a registered nurse.

Here I am heading into my second year of nursing school. The other day as I walked through the halls of that military hospital a flood of emotions and insecurities I have tried to squash drenched me.

I almost wanted to fall to pieces.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hang in there. Like I said the other day.. I have been a nurse for 12yrs and this is the first time I have not been needed!! Not even the nursing homes around me are hiring but I am sure this too will pass. I just have to wait it out! We can always commute together to a further hospital!

AtYourCervix said...

I must say, I love your new dinnerware! Where did you order them from?

Order & Chaos said...

Lorie-As always, thank you for your support and your friendship!

AYC- Pfaltzgraff.com Here's the link to my original post, that explains the patterns, a bit:
http://kalamityjane71.blogspot.com/2009/08/todays-day.html

Order & Chaos said...

and thanks AYC!

It's just me :) said...

Hang in there girl! You are almost there. You obviously know that this is what you want to do. Keep on keepin' on. Things will fall into place.

P.S. I love your new dishes! Glad you got them all in one peice this time. :p

Order & Chaos said...

It's just me--thank you, I really appreciate it!

Jami said...

NPR had a story a couple weeks ago about the nursing shortage easing up...I missed it because i had an appointment, but you can usually find those stories on their website. I've been searching ever since and haven't been able to track it down.

Love the new dinnerware. And I'm a little like you--I want summer to go on forever, but at the same time I'm ready to just start school to keep things moving along.

Courtney Ann said...

Thanks for the link! Love your blog...like you, I also can't wait for school to start--fall can't come soon enough!

Azmomo2andcounting said...

You can do it I have total faith in you. After all, if you can pull off a summer session like you did, with a full boat load of baseball games, and raising teenagers, I am positive you can tackle this last year of Nursing School with honors! Or a the very least with all of your hair! Many blessings! Christine

Order & Chaos said...

Jami--I'll have to check that story out!

NA--I love yours too! Thanks!

Christine--I'm hoping for the hair then!! Thanks so much for the pep talk! Moms of teens unite!

L&D said...

I am so impressed with your drive and determination. Please know that I continue to cheer you on....and on and on and on. Yes, the shortage is cyclical, so for now we are on the far end of the pendulum swing and we may as well take advantage of it. Smart girl getting into nursing when you are.

Order & Chaos said...

RW--I would simply just like to say "thank you".