thoughts o' pondering

I'm thinking....have been thinking...about returning to school for my master's. That being said I'm not quite sure I want to get my MSN or go another route, but still in health care. I've thought about public health with a focus in epidemiology, healthcare administration, and then as far as MSN: admin, public health, and I've even considered education. Its all very confusing, as I'm not solid on one particular track thus far. That, and, different schools offer different programs. I'm pretty sure I don't want to choose a program that is all face-to-face classes, as I'd like to have the option of taking some courses online. Ugh. Decisions... Back to reality... Tonight I return to work after being out for my surgery for nearly a month. I'm excited to go and get back into the swing of things. I've missed caring for patients and some of the people I work with, as I am a social creature. Staying at home is no longer something I can do fulltime! I've healed up quite nicely. My only problem has been the lingering pain in my right side, which has gotten better, but at times - especially after twisting just so - its more uncomfortable. I do have a peek-a-boo suture. It's most likely an internal suture that decided to surface from one of my five abdominal incisions. Every so often I give it a gentle tug to see if it has loosened enough from it's internal resting spot and so far, nope. I look like I have a shopping tag sticking out of me. You know how you get a stuffed animal and when you clip the tag it remains sticking out until you pioke it back in? Yep, mine doesn't budge either way! I go back at the end of the month fo rmy next post opfollow-up and will point it out to my surgeon. That's if it's still there by then.

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.

sparking creativity

One of the things I plan to do during my upcoming break is scrapbooking.

I was just paying a visit to one of my dear blogfriends, Nursapalooza, and she was talking about making a December daily-album. Check it out! Check out Nursapalooza's blog too! She's a fellow student nurse.

This website has tons to offer to the scrapbooking enthusiast! Tons of links for other sites as well!

maybe this will stick...

...for a bit? I constantly get bored with the appearance of my websites and blogs, so it's quite often you might find them changed up.