I'm Loving It

I am LOVING my time off. I get to sleep in (compared to 5:30, 7:00 IS sleeping in), surf to my hearts content, and then try to get something accomplished so that the day isn't a total loss. Right now I am finishing up Christmas shopping. There wasn't much to do, just getting around to the places without loosing my mind was an accomplishment.

I went to school yesterday to help unpack and sort books for next semester. I was thrilled to note that I only have one new set to worry about this semester. We get all of our reference books in first semester and then everything after that are the books specific for the semester (for me, Med/Surg). We got our tentative class schedules yesterday too. During the first week we learn how to start IV's...

It is finished

My 1st semester of nursing school is complete. I received a great evaluation and was told that I am in good shape to go into next semester. The rumor mill is that 4 people will not be advancing with us, far more than I expected.

I can't even begin to describe the feelings of relief I am experiencing at the moment. I think this picture sums it up...

My Own Little World

I participated in a study group for our final. I knew the people in the group, but really haven't worked with them during the semester, so it was a bonding time.

For most of the semester I have kept my head down, ass up and kept out of all the typical squabbling/cliques that go on in this type of environment. I mostly did it because I immediately knew who in the class I wanted to stay away from, but didn't know their circle of influence.

So naturally in this study group I got to catch up on the class gossip and acted shocked at the appropriate times when classmates antics were talked about (but in reality it was just a confirmation of what I had already surmised).

That being said I received several comments this week along the lines of, "Where have you been all semester - we didn't know you thought that way?" and "How did you stay out of all of this mess?" Each time the answer was, "I was in my own little world." The best reply I got was, "That sounds like a good idea. Can I immigrate to it?"

Down to the final hours

Tomorrow morning I take my final for school. This time tomorrow I will be breathing a sigh of relief or they will be cleaning up the classroom because my head exploded during the test.

That means on Tuesday I go in for my final evaluation with my clinical instructor and I get my grade for the class. I figured out that I need a 5% on this final in order to pass the class, which means I only have to get one question correct. That makes it nice because I won't be feeling the pressure to do well on the exam in order to advance to second semester. Unfortunately, I can't say it is that way for all of my class. Some really nice people who will become great nurses are struggling. The main problem they are having is learning how to think the way they want us to think.

Oh and on Tuesday night... the husband and I are going out for dinner to celebrate!

Squatting at Borders

I have this whole week off in order to enjoy the full experience of studying for my final. Today I'm going to meet up with some of my classmates at Borders. We plan on raiding the NCLEX books in order to practice question answering. While I feel slightly dirty for doing this, there's a very good chance that I will walk out of there with some random book - therefore a win-win situation in my mind.

I'm in love with the man at the liquor store

Last Saturday I stopped by our local state controlled liquor store to pick up some vodka in order to make some vanilla. Anywho, I go up to the counter to pay and the guy asked for my ID. I instantly fell in love. I don't care that he has to card everyone who appears under 35 - he carded ME. I think it had to do with the major local university sweatshirt I had on more than my youthful appearance. Either way, I wanted to kiss the man on the lips, tongue - no tongue, which ever he preferred.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Three clinical days and a final exam are all that stand between me and the end of the semester. I start today studying for the final. There is a huge amount of material to review, so it is going to take me several weeks. I plan on breaking it up with cleaning out the room that will be our guest room. Over break I plan to redecorate it, since I will have the time. I will also be studying for the Nurses Aide I exam.

I've been doing clinical at a local VA rehab facility. I've had two clients who were absolutely delightful. This last week was the first week for giving medication. My client sometimes is reluctant to take his meds, and he tried to get out of them, but in the end I prevailed. Just before we went to lunch I had to give him some Tylenol and he missed his mouth. He performed quite a dance for me trying to find it (it was stuck in his clothes).

Shoot Em Up

Now all that is left for skills check off is the injection. School policy doesn't allow us to stick each other, so we have to do it on a mannequin. I SO don't get the policy. We can't practice on each other, but it was acceptable for our first stick to be an elderly person. You would think that we should have given each other our flu shots.

While on the same subject, I got my flu shot today. The hospital conglomerate associated with my school gave us free flu shots. I was especially thrilled that she didn't activate the needle safety device while still in my arm. If you notice on the picture below, there is a button on the end of the shaft. You have to press it pretty hard to get it to work, plus it can pinch the skin when it retracts. Now, I'm not a fan of getting immunized, but I'm not afraid of it. The nurse today told me about a hospital employee who had to have two colleagues hold her down in order to get her flu shot, the employee was an RN!

Cathy can Cath

Today I had my skills check off for placing urinary catheters. I had to place an indwelling cath into a anatomically correct model. I was thrilled that when I opened my kit it didn't smell like grapefruit. I didn't want to have to explain that to my instructor.

Fruit Violations

Last week we had our elimination lab, which means we got to learn how to put in Foley and In & Out catheters. You really have to watch keeping a sterile field during these procedures and to remember that once you put your non-dominate hand in the field (nice way of saying - grab the penis) that it is contaminated and you can't use it until you are done with the insertion. This is a skill that I need to practice, so I had the husband buy a grapefruit for me yesterday. I figured I could carve it up to approximate the labia and urethra. I will never be a pornographic fruit carver.


Oh and the orange next to it... It had been shot up the previous week in class when I learned how to give injections. No fruit is safe in my house.

Penises For Everyone!

This should have been the name of my last lab. I was such an adult and didn't laugh when I walked into our lab room last week. There, on the table for each of us, was a plastic penis. No, this wasn't a porno, we had to learn how to put on condom catheters.

Yeah, Yeah It has been a while

Fall break got in the way and then I just never got back into the swing of writing. But, it has allowed me to stock up on some stories.

Student Nurse All Thumbs

I think that needs to be my nickname. The past two days have been very challenging to my ego. I have quickly discovered that I am a whiz at theory and a klutz at practice skills. Clincials this week dealt with bathing our clients. Let's just say I think there was more water on me by the end than used on the client. Let's just not go into the first time experience of putting on an adult incontinence product... thank goodness we had a client with a great amount of patience.

During lab we learned how to give intermittent tube feeds through a nasogastic tube. It was a great learning experience for all my classmates... they saw all of the things you shouldn't do while giving a tube feeding. I will be practicing that skill next week on my own so that I don't a) pull the NG tube right out of a clients nose and B) cause them to blow up like a balloon from all the air I allow into their system.

Well, off to take a dosage calculation retest. You have to get 100% on it and I did fine with the math (you know - the HARD part)... I just couldn't remember how many milliters in an ounce. Luckily I only have to take a portion of the test again.

Plus this afternoon I have my assessment skills check-off. I feel pretty good about it, so hopefully my partner won't be catapulted out of bed when I start adjusting it for the exam.

It Depends

I have some very funny and creative classmates. For the Rat's Ass class we have to read journal articles and present them, which we do in groups. One group today did a little skit about the various causes of bed wetting. Two people played the parents and the remaining four were children representing the various reasons. The four came into the room wrapped in a blanket and then the parents woke them up and the blanket was removed... they were all wearing adult diapers. Now that I type it, it doesn't seem as funny - but let me tell you - I will remember the article.

Dr. Nurse

Last Friday, Dr. Whirlwind (the head of our program) came into class to go over the many educational choices we will have after we graduate from the current program. You see, I am attending a school where I will get a diploma from the school and an Associates in Health Something or other from the school where we did the pre-req's.

She covered the RN-BSN route - which she said was good if you don't have another degree. She recommended that if you already have a degree, such as myself, then going into an RN-MSN program is the better choice. I was already leaning in that direction until she mentioned that there are more RN-PhD and RN-DNS (Doctor of Nursing Science) programs starting up. Naturally that got my attention since I eventually want to teach at a nursing school.

Time will tell which route I will go, but the Husband said, "Hmmm... Dr. Nurse - I like the sound of it."

Meltdown Avoided

Since we had Monday off it has been a short week for us (like almost everyone else in the country). I anticipate that my normal Friday 11 am meltdown won't happen. It seems that I just hit the wall on Friday's around 11 am. At that point I have had enough and all I want to do is crawl under my desk and cry. Nothing sets it off - I'm just overloaded by then. I thought I was the only one doing something like that, but a classmate yesterday mentioned that by the end of the day on Thursday's and Friday's she and the people sitting in her row get really giggly and can't stop. I'm not in a "giggle kind of row" so my sign of being overwhelmed is the intense urge to cry for no apparent reason. I'm hoping that this Friday will be different and I can make it at least until 2 pm before it hits.

Don't worry, I'm fine - this is just the reality of nursing school. We have so much information thrown at us that after a while it gets a bit too much. The head of our program, Dr. Whirlwind (not her real name, she is just like a whirlwind - always around and doing something) said that if we can get through this program, everything else will be much easier to us.

The Uniforms are Here! The Uniforms are Here!

OK, so it doesn't have the same ring as Steve Martin exclaiming, "The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!" in the movie The Jerk - but we did get our uniforms yesterday. Mine are proudly sitting right were I left them yesterday when I got home. I like my lab coat and am not that thrilled with giving it up to look like a glorified hotel maid. Once I get them out of the package and iron them I'll post pictures.

Talk about angst

We had our second test today. Testing procedure means that when we finish the test we hand it in and then leave the room. Naturally, we congregated in the break room comparing answers. I wasn't too thrilled with my performance and became concerned when I had a number of answers that were different from other students. We got our tests back in the afternoon and I was surprised to find that I got an A-. Apparently, those answers that I thought I had screwed up were really correct. Instead, I screwed up others :) Our next test is purely memorization. We have a list of abbreviations to learn and regurgitate.

A week in review

Each day this week I tried to sit down and write an entry about something funny or unusual that happened in class this week, but nothing seemed to stand out.

I think off handed things my instructors said were more funny than anything. My favorite was:

"Don't do that, you will kill the patient."

We also had our first test this week and I did really well. It was a relief because I had no idea how the questions would be worded. Rumor from the second semester class is that the first two tests are easy and then they turn up the fire.

They weren't kidding

We were told that each day will seem really long, but then time will seem to fly by. That is exactly how this week felt. We learned so much this week I can't believe it. By the end of today I will have learned how to do a full nursing assessment. That's a lot of info to absorb in a week. Now we have to start practicing our technique. I have to go find an eyeliner so that I can mark up BB's chest with the various landmarks I need to listen to his heart.