open says me

My eyes can barely stay open and they're just watering like crazy. If this post makes no sense whatsoever chalk it up to pure exhaustion.

Monday we had off (yay!) Tuesday was a bit of a waste of time. We practiced taking health histories. We partnered up and asked each other a bunch of questions off of a health history form, that was pretty redundant in a lot of places. Then we were dismissed. Yesterday for clinicals we went to a neighboring county's health care campus and toured the long term care facility, which includes an Alzheimer's unit, sub-acute care unit, rehab unit and a couple of other units. After our tour we played balloon volleyball with about 8-10 of the female residents on the Alzheimer's unit. Then we were dismissed. The five of us that had to participate this week in my clinical group (I LOVE my clinical group!) went to lunch. Today we had to be at the same campus, but this time at the small community hospital, and we had to be there at 0630.

Did I mention this was about an hour away? I've been up since 0415.

When the instructor arrived she informed us that one would go to the ED, one would go to OR, and the other 3 would go with her up to her med/surg unit. I lucked out and got the ED!!

I saw some really cool cases including a person that was HIV positive who had had seizures; a person who was having mysterious neurological deficits (mysterious because all the tests were coming back negative/normal); and a few other minor cases. It was awkward because I knew that me being there only one dday, and a half day at that, that not much would be invested in my learning experience. The nurse I was assigned to observe was actually great to work with though, so overall it was a pretty good experience. I would elaborate a bit more but I am spent and will now be taking my tired eyes...and body to go relax...after making dinner. Thankfully spaghetti is too easy.

lucky number thirteen

September 6th, 1996 Wichita Falls, Texas....in the heat of the summer I gave birth to my second child. It was love before first sight!













A year later we were living in Virginia and celebrating his first birthday. Daddy wasn't present since he was overseas in Kuwait. We were surrounded by friends who had become surrogate family and my mom and dad had come out for the occasion.









Today we celebrate AW's thirteenth birthday. When I asked him what he wanted to do, as I was willing to let him have 10-15 of his friends over for a small party, he declined and said he just wanted to have a couple of friends spend the night. That's exactly what he did. Last night he had two friends stay over, and this morning I made them, along with LB and two of his friends, a big breakfast. AW and his friends are spending the day relaxing and watching movies. This evening we'll take him to a restaurant of his choice for his birthday dinner. So far he hasn't told us of his choice. It's kind of funny how we've gone from the big Chuck E. Cheese parties to low key celebrations where he's happy just hanging out with his closest buds!

Happy 13th Birthday AW!

curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy

Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy. ~Walt Disney

Plentiful, boundless amounts of curiosity.

A little short on the rest.

My confidence needs to improve and it will, as I have the courage to push past my fears of the unknown. Constancy will soon be had.

Today we had our "first" non-orientation day of clinicals. It was supposed to be our first at least. We weren't able to do any patient care because we weren't assigned passwords yet--big hold up in the staff education/computer access/gatekeeper part of the hospital.

Someone said recently that the first few weeks of the third semester are really hard to get through, but once you do it's smooth sailing. It's still touhg as it is nursing school, but it's doable.

I guess it's kind of like the first five years of marriage.

Well, I've made it through nearly seventeen years of marriage, life in the military and being married to it, and some other things that make people stronger.

I should have skin thicker than any elephant's or rhinoceros's!

When you face your fear, most of the time you will discover that it was not really such a big threat after all. We all need some form of deeply rooted, powerful motivation -- it empowers us to overcome obstacles so we can live our dreams. ~Les Brown

how freakin' fabulous!!

One of my newest Blogworld friends has honored me with this wonderful award!! How freakin' fabulous! Raspberry Scrubs is pretty freakin' fabulous herself!

Rules of the Award:

List five current obsessions.
Pass the award on to five more fabulous blogs.
On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.
When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well.
Don’t forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm going to have to keep this short and sweet, because I have some serious hours of reading in my textbooks to put in, but here goes...

5 obsessions
1. my guys
2. chocolate
3. flowers/gardening
4. medical/nursing shows
5. photography

5 freakin' fabulous bloggers:
1. Chasing Myself
2. Running Wildly
3. Nursapalooza
4. Life is Full of Blessings
5. Lorie's Corner

I really could have listed everyone on my blogroll, because everyone on there is freakin' fabulous--so if you don't find yourself on here, know that because I've placed you on my blogroll I think you're amazing...however, I really have to get reading!

how about some kibble with that neosporin?

I walked into the house to a small mess of a shredded up sandwich bag, bandaids and some other unidentifiable something-or-another. I knew it had to have come from my clinical bag sitting innocently on the computer room floor, and I knew who the culprit had to be.

Nope, not Sandi. Sandi goes for truly edible items or garbage from food. Nope, it wasn't Sandi.

This had to be a Minnie mess. Minnie rummages through the upstairs bathroom garbage and pulls out anything she finds tempting. I won't mention the unmentionables she's dined on a time or two.

The "unidentifiable something-or-another"? A massacred tube of neopsorin.

Lovely.





Aside from that mess the earlier part of the morning was a success. I went and paid for and picked up my ATI books. Bottom's up: Med/Surg, child, maternal/newborn, and community health. We don't even take the med/surg ATI test this semester, but considering the girth of the book it behooves one to start reading...yesterday.

I passed the dosage calculations test. I did have trouble with the IV calculations, just as I thought I would. So, obviously I"ll be emphasizing on that area in my studies of pharmacology.

As I sit here typing I can say my bottom is quite comfortable on my new cushion. It's actually a neck massager, with vibrator. I'm not using it for that though, just sitting on it makes me feel better! It took forever to find it in Walmart. I looked in the baby section for a Boppy and came up with nothing, then went to the fitness sections--still nothing, then onto the pillows--zippo, and then it occured to me that they might have something near the pharmacy in the medical equipment section. Wrong, but on the next aisle over was the selection of massagers and such...voila! Best part is, it was on sale!

Although I have, figuratively speaking, pain-in-the-butt dog(s) and nursing school exams, my hiney is feeling more finey!

on a mission

After class today I'm heading straight for the nearest Walmart to buy a Boppy or butt cushion because I can't take the "study butt" any longer! Even in class I'm sitting there in agony. Maybe I'll just get one of those airline pillows that goes around your neck. That way it's a little more transportable than something larger.

Yesterday we took our first exam in maternal/child nursing and I passed (barely) with an 82. That's much better than I thought I was going to do, so I'm happy. I did promptly after a day filled with lecture, go to my local Borders and bought the Prentice Hall Maternal/Newborn Reviews and Rationales book. Our textbook is monstrous and just too hard to weed through, so I figure this will be a good supplement. I'll probably have to buy the one on child health as well. Whatever it takes to make the grade!

I have to go pay for ATIs this week. Yeah, we do have to pay $183...still not understanding how it jumped to more than double what we paid the past two semesters.

Today we have our first dosage calculations test of the semester. I think I'll do ok. I have trouble with the IV drips that call for meds. I really don't have all that much trouble, but it's more like when I sit down with the test I'm going to mix it all up in my head as to what I'm supposed to be doing. Extraneous information confuses me!

whiskey tango foxtrot

Make an acronym out of the the title and you have the kind of expression I thought to myself as I looked for my car this afternoon upon leaving the hospital after orientation.

I was extremely excited. We'd had a great day, and I was off to go have my Tb test site checked, then on to get a much needed pedicure. After changing in the bathroom I set out for the parking lot. To understand my story you should understand that the hospital sits up on a hill, surrounded by other buildings and there are parking lots at varying levels. The roads leading up to the hospital wind around so you don't have a straight shot at viewing a whole road in its entirety.

When I arrived this morning I made the first right and parked in what was probably illegal parking as it was, but as I still wasn't sure about where employess are supposed to park I thought it better than the spot where I parked yesterday. Leaving the hospital after orientation I walked down, and turned left into what I thought was the same lot from this morning. As I'm approaching where I was quite certain my car would be, I realized it was not there. I spent a few minutes searching, to include with the use of the alarm button on the car remote. Nothing...

It occured to me that I'd really messed up, parking in an illegal spot, and had been towed. Back to the hospital I went, where security was called to come and help me. The security guard walked back out with me. He asked if I was sure I'd parked there and not the lot below. So as we're walkng he asks what kind of car I drive, and I respond with the make and model. Sure enough it's not there!

So we keep walking down to the other lot.

He saw it first.

I thanked him and apologized profusely and off he went back to the building.

Really, I'm thinking I now know what dementia is like first hand! At the very least I know how Jessie and Chester felt..."Dude! Where's my car!"

Ahem...

So that topped off my first week of second year! I left after regaining my composure from laughing at myself, and went and had my Tb test checked. Then went for a much needed pedicure and it was one of the best I've ever had!

Speaking of first weeks, it was pretty good I'd say!

Monday was exhausintg. Tuesday was a lighter day, but I felt stressed as I thought I would never catch up on the reading. Yesterday we were oriented to the unit we will be doing clinicals on in our first rotation. Today turned out (aside from the parking lot debacle) way better than I thought it was going to upon realizing students from the other local CC would be doing clinicals right alongside our class! This is the first year they've had two schools doing clinicals at the same time. They've had externships where schools were mixed, but not clinicals.

Now, if you've followed my blog you know I'd thought about transferring. This other CC, where these other students are from, is the one I would have transferred to. I thought for sure they were going to be a bunch of know-it-alls making us look bad. We learned that that wasn't the case. After the hospitalschmospital orientation and a break the staff educator had us group up, after counting off by 6s. Therefore we were forced to integrate. I'm so glad they did that! It ended up being a great experience! Our group worked well together and came up with answers to our scenario without any problem. There was some stuff that they knew better, and some stuff we knew better.

I, of course, took the opportunity to ask some questions and am now even more happy with my decision to stay put. Sure there may be some things that are better about their program, but we have our own strengths as well.

Nobody is perfect!

seriously in need of a butt pillow

seriously...


All this sitting, and studying...sitting, and reading....sitting and doing drug calculations, leaves my hiney not feeling so finey!

My butt-tocks (think Forrest Gump) are screaming for some extra added cushion, which I don't understand. I didn't name me arse "Colorado" (it used to be "Texas" before I lost the weight) for nothing! The total lack of muscular tone probably has something to do with that.

Now we've come full circle. If I wasn't sitting on me arse so much maybe I could be working on toningi it up.

Have I mentioned I am in nursing school???

Seriously. It's a PITA! (pain in the a$$)

So, I'm thinking of getting a boppy (they're not just for breastfeeding, ya know!)...or maybe a bonafied butt pillow.

first day, second year

e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d.

Put a mortgage closing (because that's about how many papers we signed today), carrying at least 15 lbs in books, a steam roller, and shell shock together and you have moi, today the first day of my second year of nursing school.

Ever heard the phrase "I feel like I've been rode hard and put away wet"? Yeah, that about covers it!

We had clinical instructors come in and speak briefly on clinicals. We went over clinical schedules. We had our regular instructor fill us to bursting at the seams with information for this semester. We were yet again notified of the $183 we'd be paying for the ATI tests for this semester. We were notified that ATI tests would count for 5% of our final grade. Some of us were given letters of notification of vaccinations that were due. I have to do my PPD. We went over this year's edition of the nursing student handbook. We were told that board scores are up 10% from the last year's. We'll be the class to bring it even higher, we were told. We sat for lecture. We did get a few breaks, and an hour for lunch.

All in all, although it was an exhausting day, it was exciting. I was up at 0240, and it took a while to get back to sleep, so that doesn't help with the fatigue. I have to do some reading and signing papers I didn't get signed in class, along with the stuff the boys brought/bring home.

I can only hope to stay awake long enough to go to bed at a decent itme, and then maybe I'll sleep through the night...

...then on to day two!

last friday of freedom

Wouldn't ya know it, I logged onto Blackboard yesterday morning and low and behold there glaring back at me from the screen was the line-up of this Fall's classes. Instant panic, mortification, excitement, anticipation, all those radical emotions, consumed me like Cookie Monster eating some chocolate chippers. Because I share so well, and truly am a team player, I immediately logged onto Facebook and posted the news as my status message. Knowing some of my classmates are not on Facebook (for shame) I texted them so they could share in the morning's delight.

After next week, Labor Day Monday will be the only Monday that we do not have an exam until after final exams the week of December 14th. (Is it Christmas, yet??) We have two exams our second week. Mondays are our Principles & Concepts and the Maternal/Newborn class. The Monday exams flip flop between the two classes. There are five weeks where we'll also have an exam on Tuesdays, in our Health Assessment class. Dosage calculations will be combined into those exams. We have two case studies due later in the semester for P&C, as well as two assignments each for the other two classes. There is reference made to care plans in the syllabi, but nothing giving any specific information as to how many we'll have to do, or any other requirements.

I'm pleased with my clinical group assignment. The nineteen in my class from this past Spring are all returning and there are 7 LPN transition or wash back students joining us. One of them is in my clinical group. I hope all the new people mesh as well with our original group as we all have so far. We still have one male classmate, amongst all of us girls.

The clinical schedule looks like it will be interesting and provide us with some really good experience and learning opportunities. This semester we'll rotate through our local hospital as well as one that's in a neighboring county. My group only spends one week there (that being two days), which is fine with me since it is an hour or more away. We'll rotate through med/surg/telemetry/ortho and OB units where we'll receive hands on training. We'll also do observation only training in the ER, OR, PACU, radiology and other such places. We also do a peds rotation at a local pediatric clinic. It is also observation only.

As it is, today I am excited, yet still very anxious and nervous about this semester. I'm choosing to go in thinking as positively as possible. I'm even going in giving our instructor the benefit of the doubt. The primary second year instructor is the one from my mental health class who pretty much "taught" from PPTs that were straight from the book. I'm hopeful that she'll expand upon this year's material more than the MH material as she has more experience in the other areas.

Today I'm off to do some grocery shopping at my favorite place in the world (ha!), a military commissary. This evening the guys and I are going to see Inglourious Basterds. Tomorrow I'm not sure what we'll do early on. LB has try outs for a local showcase type baseball team in the afternoon. Big B is going to Crue Fest. I was originally planning on going but have decided against it (I may have mentioned this before--early senility...). Instead I'm having some friends over for a last hurrah of summer, a "ladies night in". We'll eat, drink, be merry and just have a good ole time. Sunday I plan to get a head start on my reading, and do some last minute home/family organizational type things.

Then Monday we're off to school!