DATE: 25 Apr 2007, 5:09 pm / MOOD: Happy

While it may not sound like much to some of you, my weekend was packed! On Friday, I met up with a friend from college (yes, from the first time I tried that whole education thing) who I last saw over 10 years ago. She was in town to celebrate the birthday of a friend, and they were kind enough to let me tag along. I had a good time — I got to catch up a bit with my friend, meet some new people AND I learned how to make sangria at home. Can’t beat that

On Saturday, SK and I took Toby to spend the night at the lake house. Since the drive is through hill country, I was looking forward to seeing the wild flowers in bloom. The sky was overcast for most of the weekend, but because of all the rain we’ve had recently, everything was green and in full bloom. Springtime is a wonderful time to drive around Texas. I guess we weren’t the only ones to think so — at one point, we stumbled across what seemed to be a VW convention! There were Volkswagons all over the place! SK even pointed out one that was painted like Herbie the Lovebug. I didn’t realize there were so many different kinds of VWs out there.

After we made it home yesterday, I did some studying, and then had dinner with Jac. I’m trying to be good this week and get in a lot of studying. I have a test on Friday, and my final is coming up soon! My first nursing major careplan is due this week, and I’m a bit nervous about it. We did get some feedback on our mini care plans, but there’s such a big difference between a major careplan and a mini careplan. This major careplan counts for 20% of my grade in my clinical class. 30% comes from the various skill checkoffs, and the last 50% is the subjective evaluation by our clinical instructor. I sure hope she’s in a good mood when she does mine! I wonder if she likes chocolate chip cookies?

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DATE: 13 Apr 2007, 10:56 am / MOOD: Dont know

We had our last checkoff of the first semester of nursing school today — inserting a Foley catheter. After next week, we are done with our lab class. The nice part is that we’ll have two weeks after the end of clinicals to concentrate on lecture. I don’t know about other nursing programs, but our lecture class is killing us! It seems like every time we get together, we’ve lost a few more people. It’s scary to see that happening to people I thought would make decent nurses. Just shows that I shouldn’t be the one judging 

And, I have a decision to make. The campus I’m attending now is my second choice campus. I was told that if I asked for a change to my first choice campus for the second semester, I’d probably get it. But, I’m not so sure I want it now. Since I’ve already established friendships with some of my fellow nursing students, and I know that I have people I can count on if I need a helping hand. I’m sure I’ll meet new people, but will it be the same? However, the other campus is closer to home and has free parking. The clinical sites should be closer, too, which will be really handy when it’s time to start job hunting. Ah, decisions!

Easter weekend was really nice. We went to Florida to visit SK’s nieces and nephew (and their parents happened to be around, too!). I know you may not believe it, but I actually wore a dress to church.

Are you done laughing? :p

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DATE: 08 Apr 2007, 1:08 pm / MOOD: Happy

After three shifts of my hospital clinical for nursing school, I finally had a good day. After I picked my patient on Tuesday, I heard that she might be going home, but I didn’t have time to pick another one that day. Since I like to be prepared for the day, I made it a point to show up early on Wednesday just in case my patient had been discharged. Sure enough, she had been discharged. While flipping through the new admits, I saw that there was a lady in for suspected Crohn’s disease. My aunt, who is also my namesake, had Crohn’s disease, so I was very interested in learning more about this condition. I spoke with the patient, and she agreed to be my guinea pig for the day.

While doing her physical assessment, it came up that she worked in a hospital.

“That’s neat. What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m a nurse. I graduated from the same school you are now attending 15 years ago.”

Oh no! As I new student (and someone who struggles with self-confidence), this could be a very.bad.thing. I was worried she would be critical and expect me to be further along with my skills. But, I took a deep breath, and continued with my assessment. When it came time to palpate the abdomen, I was very hesitant because Crohn’s disease targets the digestive system. She asked, “Do you mind if I give you some advice?” It turns out I wasn’t pressing hard enough. She was really kind about teaching me and it helped a great deal!

Since my patient was NPO (nothing by mouth) and we aren’t allowed to push IV meds yet, it looked like I wouldn’t be able to give any medications. However, as my shift was ending, the doctor ordered a one-time oral medication. After grabbing my instructor, we went to the patient’s room. I made the introductions, and my patient said, “She’s been really great today and such a sweetheart. She’s going to make a great nurse.” In front of my instructor! Then my instructor said, “She’s one of my brightest students. She does a great job!”

I’m not sure how I made it through the medication administration after that, because I was in a daze. It was awesome to hear the feedback, and really made me feel good about what I was doing.

Floating on the high of that positive affirmation, I didn’t even cuss the horrible traffic on the way home

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