Spring Break was a Bust

Well, I got the flu. I was in denial for days but grandma was right, I was really sick. I was fine until Wednesday night when I became suddenly ill. I finally started feeling better last night after eating a real meal. The constant chills went away and I even slept through the night. I feel pretty good today, except for a little lightheadedness. That didn't stop me from doing a million errands that had to be done today before I have to go back to school tomorrow.

Things that were accomplished on spring break:
1. Weeded the front yard.
2. Studied my EKG strips for my next test.
3. Visited my friend in Richmond (with the cutest little baby! and dog! and parrot!).
4. Completed 2 out of 3 interviews for my geriatric project.
5. Transitioning Turnip to previous diet after two months of chicken and rice hell
6. Became deathly ill (was NOT on my "to-do" list however)

Things that were supposed to be accomplished:
1. Weeding the backyard garden.
2. Buying and planting flowers and veggies.
3. Studying.
4. Starting my paper due next Wednesday.
5. Finishing Marissa's wedding present (almost done I swear!)
6. Make and freeze some food for the rest of the semester.
7. Getting some good sleep.
8. Go to the beach.

I guess the good thing is that I got my sickness out of the way for the next two months. I feel like I'm on the home stretch with the next month (until April 25th) probably being the hardest yet. I know I always say that, but there is so much to finish up before I start my preceptorship (I still don't know what unit I'll be working on).

By the way

I love when you leave comments...hint hint.

I guess I just want to know if anyone is reading this besides Grandma.......

Taking a day off

I told my instructor that I need a "mental health day" tomorrow as one of my two sick days days for the semester. I've just been stressed and overwhelmed and I don't think I would practice safe and competent nursing care tomorrow. It's a little lame that I'm taking a day off right before spring break, but I really think I need it to get through the rest of the week. When I told my friends this, they couldn't believe I was overwhelmed because I always look so confident and focused. And I've never even taken an acting class!

For my clinical today I got to go to the ER, which I love. There were so many minor traumas coming in by ambulance that I lost count. All but two were motor vehicle accidents (MVA). Apparently, this is very common around daylight savings time because people aren't as alert when they have to be up an hour earlier. I totally understand. This has been one of my hardest spring forwards I've had to deal with them. I've never liked them, but it's really hard when you have to wake up at 4:30 am knowing it's actually 3:30 am. I also got to do a lot of patient teaching (signs and symptoms of heart attacks in women) and practice my cardiac assessments. I called family members to tell them their loved ones were in the ER and talked to the families that were waiting in the lobby. I pushed lots of IV pain meds and watched my nurse start a lot of IVs. Soon I will be able to do that! Anyone want to volunteer their nice juicy veins?

Overwhelming.....

Sorry I've been out of contact for awhile. I bet you can guess why! School is completely overwhelming right now. The lectures are difficult (currently studying cardiac disorders and learning about EKG strips), the tests are really hard (can't get above a C), and my patients are incredibly sick. Even though all this is all really hard, I got a great evaluation from my instructor on Tuesday. When we're evaluated mid-semester and at the end, we fill out this form and we give ourselves a 1-5 score on many different categories. 5 is the best and I give myself a few 3's, a lot of 4's, and a few 5's. My instructor gave me mostly 4's because she said that I need some room for improvement for the end of the semester! I thought that was a pretty good complement. Lately organization has been what I'm trying to focus on for clinical. From 7am to 10am there is so much to do - first check on everyone to make sure they are alive (no one wants to start off a shift with a dead patient), deal with any immediate problems like beeping IV pumps and pain management, do head to toe assessments on each patient, take blood sugar readings for the diabetic clients, give insulin (which takes 2 RN's to check, very time consuming) when the meal trays arrive, give 8am and 9am medications, then chart everything. This doesn't account for other problems that take up lots of time such as missing medications, extra meds for nausea or pain, meds that have to be given through a naso-gastric tube, hanging IV bags....the list is endless. And as a student, we have to have our instructor or nurse around to get meds and to administer IV meds - which sometimes they can be hard to find. My instructor is a nurse at this hospital and she was telling us the other day that when she was working on Friday, one of our floor nurses saw her and asked her where the students were because it is hard for them to get all their work done without us! I'm glad the nurses see us as helping instead of annoying students who can't do anything.

So that's school stuff. Otherwise it's the same - Jake's busy and Turnip's annoying. I have spring break starting the 17th. I already have a million things I need to catch up on during the break. Some school stuff, but I also want to do some major gardening and visit a friend in the east bay who will have had a baby by then.

I hope this all made sense. I needed to type fast so I can get to my work!

By the way, our home phone is not working for a few days due to some internet thingy I'll never understand. Cell phones are fine.

Oh, and here's a cute puppy: