Catch up on last semester

So I thought I'd write on the best and worst of last semester.

Lets start with the worst (in no particular order):
1. Doing badly on the first patho test & the final. I got a B. I would be fine with this if my mother wasn't so obsessed with A's.
2. Tearing my ACL. It interfered with things like clinicals. That first clinical back was bad. My patient that week had a bed alarm. So I was often walking really fast to get to him. That must have looked funny. I was lucky that the week I tore my ACL was a holiday, so there were no clinicals.
3. Paperwork and nursing care plans. It's crazy. I'm still having a hard time remembering I need to write with verbs and stuff when I'm not writing for class. Paperwork just seemed to go on and on and I know it'll get worst with every semester.

And now the good stuff:
1. Getting an A in fundamentals. Any A felt good.
2. Getting a 98% on that one test in patho.
3. Getting an A on the critical reasoning paper. This was our first big care plan/case study/paper that we had to write. It didn't help that the patient I wrote about was not the easiest. You would think that would make it easier to write about, but not when your patient is confused and you need info from him for the paper.
4. Clinicals in general. I loved them. I liked doing new skills and seeing new things. I also felt really good when I was able to connect to my patient and talk to them.
5. Being able to say that I now have only 2 more years of nursing school.

I have to admit that I'm already getting bored with break and having nothing to study. But I was inspired wonderfully going to the "recognition" or pinning ceremony to help out as an usher. Only two more years and I'll be there. I was disappointed that they did not do the actual pinning. Apparently it was hard to find a place to pin people at last semesters ceremony, so they went with the lei presentation. I can't wait.

Do you like Discworld too?

You scored as Carrot Ironfounderson. You are Captain Carrot Ironfounderson of the City Watch in the greatest city on the Disc – Ankh-Morprok! A truly good natured, honest guy, who knows everyone, and is liked by all. Technically a dwarf, but only by adoption. You’d rather not be reminded that you are the true heir to the throne, but that does explain why people naturally follow your orders… Carrot Ironfounderson 94% Lord Havelock Vetinari 69% Commander Samuel Vimes 56% Rincewind 56% The Librarian 50% Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 38% Death 31% Cohen The Barbarian 25% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 19% Greebo 6% Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics) created with QuizFarm.com

Update on Knee

So I've been bad and haven't written at all. I was just very busy and then very brain dead.
I'm trying to decide if I want surgery on my knee. I can even write this up like I was giving report.

Pt tore lt ACL 1 month ago. MRI confirmed diagnosis. Pt developed allergy to Celebrex & Aleve. Has regained 90% of ROM. Current exercising 2-3x week and walking 20 min/day. Pain currently rated as 4-5/10. Pt states pain usually occurs in the morning on waking and when "overuses" or "injures" knee. Pt describes" sliding" movement in knee and medial joint line pain. Takes 1-2 tab of Tylenol when pain rated over 6/10. Uses "white flower" and ice to relieve pain.

Ok, that wasn't perfect, but I'm learning to write "medicalese." But you get the idea.
So my main problem right now is that sliding thing my knee does and that joint line pain. Basically the joint line pain is probably torn cartilage, but the sliding is definitely from the torn ACL. My MD says that I will probably adapt and learn to avoid movements that cause pain. However, my knee will continue to be unstable. I can choose to have the surgery, but have to be absolutely willing to do a lot of rehab afterward. I'm thinking seriously about it.

And have you ever noticed that there are a lot of exercise machines that you have to get off on the left side? Even when I can get off on the right, it's sometimes easier to get off on the left. Sigh.

And then I head something pop

So I was coming back from the bathroom during a break in class. For at least the second time I twisted my ankle and fell down. This time I twisted my knee and I heard something popped. I spent about 5 minutes in extreme pain. It doesn't help when someone asks if you can move your leg and you can't even contemplate moving your hand. Argh! So it felt ok after the initial pain went away, but started to get worse once I got myself home. Luckily my Dad had the car, so he took me to our friendly orthopedic surgeon. We're lucky to have one that is a family friend. He said I probably have torn my ACL. But since I'm not into sports (not even vaguely) I don't need surgery. But I am having a MRI on Thursday to check out my injury. That will be exciting.

Now I just hurt and am limping around with crutches. May I just say those are hard to use. And thanks to them I have discovered that I did really tweak my other ankle. Luckily no clinicals this week so I have some time to heal. And I'm never going up those stairs again. I don't know how I'll get to the bathroom, but I'll think of something.

I'm back

So I haven't been blogging. I like to think I have a good excuse, but mostly I've just been sick.

I've also been busy with school. Started clinicals 4 weeks ago. That keeps me busy. We have a fair amount of paperwork to do, but I think I'm stressing less then some of my classmates. It helps that we're not being graded, but clinicals is a pass/fail class. I do spend a lot of time working on the patho part. Though it helps that 3/4 pts have had cancer as their main diagnosis.
Clinicals are fun, but sometimes boring. The thing is that we're limited in what we can do. I'm enjoying having pts and learning new things. I realize that as I'm typing this I keep on wanting to abbreviate everything. And I feel funny adding all the verbs in. It goes to show that all the writing I've been doing lately is for clinicals.

I did much better on the last round of tests. It just generally improves my mood. Though I barely passed the medication calculation test. Ugh. I'll work on that.

Not the greatest post, but I just wanted to update the blog.

How's 2nd Semester

So far I can say that 2nd semester is very different from 1st. Both of my classes require time to study and lab is much more involved. I had several students from other semesters, plus on of our 1st semester instructors saying that 2nd is a lot harder. I didn't believe them that it could be that much harder, but what they said is true.
Just think about what I've been through the past week. Last Tuesday I had my first Fundamentals test and Wednesday was my first clinical skills test. Then Friday was action-packed. We went over the template for the care plans we will be doing every week for clinicals. Plus we got to play with Sim Man for the first time. Everyone was telling us how much fun Sim Man would be and none of us believed them. It was fun, but it required a lot of critical thinking.
This week we had our first Patho test. That went well. I realized I like this semesters classes a lot better because it seems logical to me. We're finally getting some of the background of why we're doing something. Last semester we learned all these assessment techniques, but didn't know why. Then at the end of this week we have orientation to the hospital for next week's first clinical.
I think I just need some sleep, and then I can start on this week's work.

Nursing School Bloopers 2

So it is now required that when I have some kind of orals/skills test that I become a total klutz. I dropped the NG tube twice. Plus at the same time the tape went rolling out of my hands, under the bed. I think it stopped before it went under the bed at the next station. Luckily my instructor was very nice about it. It helped that as soon as I dropped the tube I would say, "I dropped the NG tube and would need to get a new one." I can't believe that I blanked out about washing hands after taking off gloves. It's just when we practice we don't always go wash our hands. And I forgot clean gloves. Sigh. At least I remembered pretty much everything without any prompting. And I passed.

Another Allergy

I don't think I've written about it before, but I have asthma and allergies. Believe it or not it was adult-onset asthma and it was only after I as diagnosed with asthma did I realize how bad my allergies were. I have the general allergies to dust, pollen, etc. And I have recently discovered (last summer) that I'm allergic to peanuts.
Now I've added another allergy to the list this week - latex. You're wondering how I survived one semester of nursing school without figuring this out. Well the only time we used gloves was when we were checking patient's mouths. And I usually used non-latex gloves and if I used latex it was on and off within minutes. So we were practicing putting on sterile gloves and my hands started itching. No rash, but I never had them on that long. I really need to see an allergist. Who knows what else I may be allergic to.

Lab is going great. We had a lot of fun today practicing our wet to damp dressing changes plus NG tube insertions for next week's skills test. I'm not as nervous as I was, but that may be because I have a test to do before I do my skills test. It was disconcerting the first time I did the dressing change. It was so awkward pushing the wet dressing into the wound.

Back to studying.

Skills Testing

It's been longer than a week since I last posted. But I actually have an excuse. I'm fighting some kind of virus. Not really bad symptoms, except I'm really tired and have been having the full body ache.

This week we are learning about wound dressing. We're supposed to know this and NG tube insertion/feeding for skills testing next week. I was really nervous before we did NG tube insertions. But I've come to realize that it is not really hard to do it on the mannequin. The problem is to remember to do everything in the right order. And we have know why we do something. For instance, do not pack the wound too tightly, because it prevents wound contracture and capillary growth.

Plus we the first two tests for Fundamentals & Pathophysiology coming up in the next few weeks. Ugh. I'm going back to bed.

Loving 2nd Semester

I'm enjoying 2nd semester. I'm starting to feel like a real nursing student on my way to being a real RN.
What I love:
1. I'm really enjoying our "Clinicals." They are now just all in dry lab and we won't go to the hospital for a couple of weeks. But we're doing real "nursing things" like toileting, bed changes and moving patients. Next week we do our first real procedure - NG tube insertion and tube feedings. Everyone is having fun. Even though we're three sections, we're all doing lab together. It's great because we all feel that we're getting the same education. (This is compared to last semester, when there was a difference between what the different clinical instructors were teaching.)
2. Fundamentals class is interesting. Our instructor is really knowledgeable about nursing. She doesn't teach a clinical section, but is often in lab giving us her "pearls of wisdom." She can be really intimidating, but is very nice about telling you what you're doing wrong. And she has a great sense of humor.
3. Finally I'm taking pathophysiology. It's still at the stage where it's all overwhelming. But it's nice to finally learn this stuff.

Next week we learn about nursing diagnosis. Some of it seems silly, since we were told right up front that hardly anyone uses them anymore. But I think I will find it helpful to help organize my thoughts.

Note: If you have a skinny butt, sitting on a bedpan isn't that uncomfortable. But if you butt is bigger like mine, they do start to cut into your butt.

Advice for 1st semester students

So every semester, the 2nd semester students host a lunch for the 1st semester students. And last semester, for our lunch, some of the SNO officers came by and talked to us. They all gave us advice. Unfortunately I had lab this morning during the lunch, so I wasn't able to give them my two cents. This is what I would have said:
1. Clinicals are what makes it all worth it.
I loved clinicals. I found them very stressful, but it reminded me weekly why I'm in nursing school. It was amazing at the end of the semester how much I had learned. I felt comfortable doing all the skills on that long list. But more importantly, I felt comfortable talking to patients. I didn't realize this until after my final for clinicals: Even though I get so nervous, I've gotten good at developing that rapport.
2. Nursing school is more than studying.
I'm not just saying this because I'm my class president. I'm saying this because your classmates are your support system. You're with for 3 years. You'll be studying together, doing those horrid group projects together and eventually working with them. So now is the time to get to know them.
I doubt I would have said exactly that, but you get the point.

Nursing Bloopers

At the of November, I took my clinical exam. This was in two parts. During the first part, we examined a "real" patient, and then for the second part we wrote up our findings. We were in the new medical school, with their nice new examination rooms. You know those stools that you see in doctor's offices that roll around. Well, I tried to sit down to take a health history and fell down - twice. Both times my equipment fell out of my pockets. I finally got smart the second time and took out the heavy stuff. It also helped that I put the stool further down and did my best to keep it from rolling. Those are dangerous.
The exam itself went ok. My patient did have a leg cramp when I was doing the abdominal exam and I was running out of time. I was trying to be nice and let him recover. But at the same time I wanted to get him up so I could complete the exam. I did run over time in the end.
The story does not stop there. I was writing up my results, but had not thought that I should be writing in black pen. So my pen ran out of ink. I then borrowed a pen from someone else and her pen ran out. Luckily the 2nd pen I borrowed lasted until I finished. It's a good thing, otherwise my instructor would have gotten a report in her choice of pencil, blue or red.

So what have I been up to?

...other than not blogging at all.
I've been enjoying my break. Saw 3 movies, went to lots of Holiday parties, and generally caught up with life. I'm finally at the point where I stopped clenching my teeth all the time. My one New Year's resolution is try to start running again. I'm using coolrunning.com Couch to 5K plan. I'll let you know how it goes.

Classes start up again tomorrow. I'm taking Pathophysiology and our fundamentals class with the accompanying clinical. One of the reasons I was clenching my teeth was because I was stressed out with registration for clinicals. We get to choose our section with registration, and for a variety of reasons I'm one of the last to register, so I get no choice. I was so worried about choosing the right clinical, but then realized I had no choice. That realization helped me get over it, but still upsets me.

So I'm thinking of starting reading for tomorrow. I checked the class website and we're starting Pathophysiology with fluids & electrolytes. Ugh. I did ok with that in A&P and chemistry, but it's not my favorite subject. But don't think I'm some kind of great student reading before classes start. I had some classmates, who said they were reading as soon as exams ended. Crazy.

2nd New Year's resolution - to blog once a week. We'll see how that goes.

How's nursing school?

So I've been neglecting my blog. It's been months and I haven't posted at all. Part of it I can blame on blogger moving over. I was playing with Writely and have some posts there that never went up. But the truth is that I've been so obsessed with school, I haven't even thought about the blog.

I'm loving nursing school. The 3-year program is slow enough that I'm not totally freaking out all the time. (I never would have slept if I had gotten into the accelerated program.) Most of the time I love my classmates. And I'm doing well in all of my classes.

Highlights:
1. Clinicals at the local prison. I know that no one would think this would be fun, but this was our best clinical experience yet. The prisoners are very cooperative and let us practice all of our physical examination techniques.
2. First clinical this past week in a hospital with real patients.
3. Last exam I did really well. I got a 94%. It really helped that I went 2 different study groups. It was really tiring, but I think I understood stuff a lot better talking it over with my fellow students.

That's all for now. I'll try to post more often.

Why Nursing? part 2

I have tons of anxiety as the countdown continues to the first day of class. It's not a bad anxiety, like thinking I can't do this. It's more, "what should I bring for the first day of class?" "Will we just go over the syllabus or will the professor start lecturing?"

So to help calm the anxieties, I've decided to revisit my list of why I'm going into nursing.
1. Love to help people. (This is still so true.)
2. Love the science. (I just hope I haven't forgotten everything I've learned over the summer.)
3. Love the Social Science. (I'll find out if I still do since one of my first classes is Psychosocial nursing.)
4. Want to be hands-on. (Restating this positively. And my butt is wide enough as it is.)
5. Like to multitask. (It would drive me crazy if I only did one thing all day long.)
6. Think I would be a great nurse
7. Great opportunities
-Career-wise (lots of directions I could go in.)
-Travel-wise (I would like to live in different places.)

I'm trying to stay positive, and doing lots of fun things to distract myself before classes begin.

Computer Problems

So I planned to work on my blog this summer and get it into shape. I procrastinated as usual and ended the summer with computer problems. Totally my fault. I apparently had spyware on my computer that I did not clean off. Ugh. I had to reinstall the OS, but now my computer is as good as new.

I did submit my last post to Change of Shift. (Actually the July 13th one, not the most recent one. ) I love the blogging community. Just when I'm totally stressed out about WTD (What the Duck) am I doing going to nursing school, a new Change of Shift comes up. It totally reminds me of why I'm going to nursing school. I'll have to come up with a post for the next one.

From my childhood

I was meant to go to nursing school. As a child, I loved nothing more than to lay on my Dad's tummy. I loved to listen to the burps and other noises his stomach made. He would also let me play drums on his tummy. I think he hoped that that I took after him and would become a musician.

I also loved to listen to my Mum's tummy. And I liked to look at my Mum's scalp. My Dad's scalp was there to see (he was already losing his hair before I was born.) Her hair was so dark compared to her white scalp.

And I was fascinated with my Grandma's ears. I spent many days over at Grandma and Grandpa's. After lunch, Grandma would take a bath and then put pincurls in her hair. Once I was old enough to wield a pin, I was allowed to help. Her ears were rather large, and she had these large lobes. Her ears were different from Grandpa's ears that stood straight out from his head. I definitely have Grandma's ears.

So doesn't it sound like I was meant to be a nurse. Who else would care about the sounds someone's tummy makes?

Back from DC

It's been over a week and I still haven't posted about the DC trip. We all had a great time. Dad's only complaint is that we were up from "dawn" to get going and we did way too much. But every time I wanted to do something that was not a museum, Mom would say that Dad's never been to DC before so we have to go to this museum. So we went to pretty much every single museum on the Mall. I wouldn't have minded seeing things off the Mall like Georgetown, but oh well. And I was disappointed that I didn't get to eat Ethiopian food.
The best part of the trip was seeing Spamalot and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Spamalot was hilarious and I recommend it to everyone, even if you're not a big Monty Python fan. The Natural History Museum was so interesting. I especially liked the skeletons and other displays where they showed the insides of the animals. With A&P I actually recognize the body parts.

And in other news... I went in for my advising session. The good news is that I don't have to take any other courses than regular nursing classes. I have all the required corequisites and don't have to take any more general education classes because this is my second degree. Yeah!!! That leaves me a lot more time to study for nursing.

Off to DC

Will be off to DC this afternoon. I'm flying with my Dad and meeting my Mom there. I've been the one planning our itinerary and I already have complaints. It's all focused on what Dad supposedly wants to see, though he won't say what other than he doesn't want to see the Capital or White House. So this is going on what Mom says Dad wants to see. Anyway, complaints from all sides that I've overscheduled us and then Mom tells me all the other things she thinks we should go see. Sigh.
Anyway, I'm sure we'll have a great time, and I'll have some stories to tell when I get back.

What I've been up to

So I finished all the Health paperwork last week. The worst part was the shots. I got the HepB in one arm and the DIPHTHERIA/TETANUS/PERTUSSIS (Whooping Cough) in the other arm. Boy, was I sore for several days. And I think the DTaP gave me a bit of a fever too. I read that the Whooping cough part makes it worse, but I guess it's helpful, just in case. Who know's what I'll be exposed to.

I got to sign up for what sections I want next semester. Our reward for finishing the paperwork early. Still have to wait until August to official register.

I'm currently looking for a second part-time job. Preferably in a hospital. Went to a job fair, and think I have a good chance. Will need to call and follow up on the resumes I submitted online. Ugh, that was horrible. After all that work on my resume, I then had to fill out the application online.

Also looking forward to a trip to DC with my parents. More on that later.