Good News

My guy(from last week) was discharged a few days ago. Yeah!!! He must have been doing well or they would not have sent him back to his assisted living facility. I'm sooooooooo happy he's okay.

Day surgery--ummmmmmmmmm, not my thing. Standing for long periods of time. Surgeon who sort of explained what he was doing but grudgingly. Nurse I was following around~more caustic than House and not anywhere near as good looking. Wink.

I will get another shot at these rotations next quarter. I'll most likely do med/surg and geropsych the next two weeks. Right now all I can say is WHATever.

Still tired and I still need to read for my pharmacology test.

Headaches the past two days. My PA gave me toredol to try. It works okay with first dose. The second dose four hours later pretty much kills it. HOOYAH! Non-addicting, non narcotic, not nauseating. Now if I could fix my severe negative reaction to light with these headaches. I mean, besides covering my head with my comforter...LOL. Of course it's been sunny this week. Snort.

Now I'm off to be a bookworm/study/pharm geek. :D

Love, hugs and giggles. Just laugh, you'll feel better. I promise.

Kryptonite

Super Janice must have run across some kryptonite. I came home today and slept.

My presentation went well.

ER was dead. It was fun learning the different things they have for traumas and critical emergencies.

Out patient surgery and recovery tomorrow.

Studying for pharm test tomorrow night.

Studying for acid/base, electrolyte balances, IVs, various other miscellaneous Thursday night for Friday's test.

Weekend plans=SLEEP!!!

I wish each and every one of you a wonderful Wednesday. Enjoy yourselves, life is too short.

Love and hugs. :)

Chicken Tuesday and Halfway Done

This sweet chick is for Uncle Speedy who is INSANELY funny and will make you smile.

I have aced one test and finished my case presentation for tomorrow's clinical. I'm psyched.

I'm presenting my guy from last week, his diagnosis, the disease process, a related medication and relevant lab tests. Poster board and sharpie markers is all I need to say. Wink.

I'm in ER tomorrow. Way fun. I can't wait. Outpatient surgery and recovery room on Wednesday where I'll follow a patient from pre-op to recovery care. Again I say PSYCHED! Fun. Medicine is so cool. I also get extra time to study for my pharm test Thursday morning because these departments don't need the extensive work up one does in PCU and Med/Surg. The nurses are supposed to excellent and kind to students.

Two tests and a case study to do by Friday. I can do it.


Because I'm.............................. SUPER JANICE!

Don't You Just Hate It When...?

DYJHIW...you have three tests in 3 days?

DYJHIW...You don't have your clinical assignment yet meaning I have no idea if I have to research a patient Monday evening or not?

DYJHIW...you see snow in the forecast?

DYJHIW...you have a presentation due Tuesday along with the 3 tests in same week?

DYJHIW...all your instructors pretend you don't have 20 credits piled on your shoulders and they all assign projects, case studies, tests, extra reading, care plans, the actual 8 hours per clinical day (Tuesday and Wednesday), not caring if you need sleep?

DYJHIW...your extra new special order scrub pants don't fit your HUGE ass?

DYJHIW...it's 30 degrees out and there is still the usual yearly amount of tree pollen? Aaaaa-chooooooooooooooooooooooo!

DYJHIW...your back is sore for no obvious reason?

DYJHIW...NO ONE leaves you comments? (Broad hint)

Newest Study

In the latest Journal of False Medical Studies the lead article proves that studying kills more brain cells than previously thought.

--dateline January 24, 2009

Students Lose More Brain Neurons While Prepping for Exams.

In a vast study of college students at Harbard University, neurologists discovered that students of any age significantly kill off neurons by studying too much. The implications of this are frightening. uh..............wait, I mean, derrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.............

Quick Note

So many things to do in the next 5 days. Finish care plan for my patient. Finish physical assessment for pt. Finish all related paperwork. :P

Prepare a presentation about same patient. Needs to be 20 minutes long. OY.

Study for test Monday. Mental health issues and wound care. Fun, fun, fun.

Read many pages in pharm book for test next Thursday.

Watch House with my pal Patty tomorrow after class on my dvr here at home.

Go pick up extra special order scrub pants. This helped me avoid hemming them. Janice don't sew. She just don't.

SLEEP IN past 7a.m.!

Mentally prepare for week #3 of winter qrt.

I wish you all a fantastic weekend. May all your dreams come true. ;)~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sweet and Sad

An 81yo man.

Fragile. Ex-marine though hard to imagine meeting him now. Tattoos on his arms claiming his pride in having served his country.

Monday evening when I first met him to see if he'd allow this student nurse to take care of him for a few days, he was alert, sitting upright, eyes were bright, and he had a great sense of humor considering his state of health.

He was a man frustrated. Admitted for one thing, ended up with several serious issues unexpectedly. He wanted to go home. Said the hospital was killing him.

Tuesday morning he was still alert. Greeted me with a big smile though I could see pain in his eyes. Pale blue eyes that were so tired, so weary. Swallowed his meds well. He was still social even though I could see what an effort that was.

He told me about wanting to see the movie Valkyrie. He was so happy to learn I was a history geek. We discussed the movie that is out now telling of escaped Jews setting up in the forest a camp where they protected other refugees from Hitler's army. These Jews set up this camp and used it as a base to fight the Nazis and lead a small but effective resistance movement.

I was slightly sad to learn he had been up most of the night and was sleeping this morning. No bright smile today.

The change could be felt. He was trying to give up.

Blood pressure was very low. His eyes would not stay open. For his chest x-ray he could hold his head up only with immense effort.

He had not had any visitors.

His lungs were filling with fluid.

I was sad to say good bye as I would not be back in the hospital until next week and then on a different unit.

As I delicately brushed his sparse hair back he opened his eyes.

I asked if I could add him to my prayers. He looked at me gratefully and answered, "Please do. I appreciate that very much."

I thanked him for allowing me the privilege of caring for him. Allowing a student who knows very little to do his care.

I waved good bye from the doorway. His eyes drifted closed. I hugged him in my heart and knew our short time together would remain with me for a very long time.

Holy Moly Frijoles!!!

Today was first day of clinicals this quarter. I'm in the Progressive Care Unit which is a step up from Intensive Care but not as healthy/healed as Med/Surg. Nice folks, very good at what they do and kind to students.

I picked a patient to focus on. Wrote all info up Monday night. This was before I ran into the Russian whirling dervish of a BSN.

I literally ran my arse off from 7am~11am when my clinical instructor saved me with a lunch break.

He's not from Russia, was born here but he has an accent and speaks fluent Russian and English. Dervish is a BSN and this guy can multitask like no other!

He knows EVERYTHING about pharmacology, pathophysiology, how to deal with patients, doctors, other nurses, CNAs, the pharmacy, every one, every where.

Instead of focusing on my one patient, I shadowed Dervish and had six patients to which I gave meds, oral and sub cutaneous(heparin, insulin). He had me draw up all iv and sq meds. He told me how the meds worked and what to do if I don't know if two meds are compatible. I helped him move patients up in bed(Dervish let me know I need to do upper body weight lifting and get better core fitness, but in a good way.)

I listened to him get report on 6 seriously ill patients, clean up patients and untwist the ones who had slid down in bed. He talked in Russian to one man who's mentally not all there, check ivs, spike new in bags, do meds for all 6(multiple meds), calm patients, and on and on.

Dervish is the nurse I'll never be.

He was clued into every patient, planned ahead for possible problems, knew if something was off, just by instinct.

My head is still spinning. I did more shots, meds, procedures, than the other two students together on the Unit with me. WAY COOL. WAAAAAAAAAAAAY SCARY.

Dervish works at 95 mph and I at 50mph. I now know where the supply rooms are, the dirty linen room, the room where we keep juices and crushed ice, jello, pudding etc. I am quite adept at drawing up meds in syringes and giving the sqs. He taught how to give sqs so that bruising in minimized. Taught me more in 4 hours than 4 days in lab.

Amazing nurse. Simply amazing.

No time to be nervous just out of breath, trying to keep him in sight. ;P

Holy Moly

This lil chicken is for Speedcat Hollydale

I start my two a week clinical rotation bright and early tomorrow morning. I am going to try and fall asleep before 1am. My alarm goes off at 5:ungodly hour45am.

Stopped by to post the chicken and wish every one a faboo day.

3 day weekend

It's been a quiet weekend. I've been able to sleep in and nap. I know it seems as if all I do is sleep. Sleep is my way of recharging mentally and physically. I also use sleep as an escape.

I woke up yesterday slightly confused. I had been dreaming of a healthy Brennan. I do not think I have ever dreamed of a healthy Bren. I haven't dreamed about him for a very long time.

I was holding him and could feel the weight of his soft, squishy baby body. It's a feeling I can't describe. Joyful and confused, I think. A bizarre disassociated sense.

I hope you have Monday off.


I start my clinicals at the hospital Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm slightly nervous.

Enchiladas For Dinner

The spouse and I went to dinner tonight. We went to a Mexican restaurant that we've eaten at several times before. Ever since I found out about my high cholesterol and hypertension I've been quite careful about whay I eat. Both conditions are controlled well by meds but there are many things I have stopped eating.

The waitress brought my chicken enchildas smothered with cheese and my taste buds cheered. Seriously, they could hear the cheers at other table.

Oh my goodness it was a tasty meal. Perfect. Yummy.

Remember eating whatever you desired and never gaining weight? I do. I miss that.

Hope your weekend is going well. :)

I Miss My Clinical Group!

glitter-graphics.com

Today was clinical day #2 with my new group. They're just nowhere near as fun as my group from last quarter! Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I MISS MY PEEPS!
There were 4 groups last quarter. My group was the only one broken up. We need another clinical instructor so they had to go to three groups. My group was picked to be destructed. Maybe that ice cold director is mean and hates me. Nah. It was expedient.

I am so NOT looking forward two clinical start at 6:45a.m. days in a row. :(

Then I hit my car on the side of the garage door. Sheet. I decided to eat pie and take a good long nap. Figured I could not do anything bad whilst asleep.

This Won't Hurt A Bit

glitter-graphics.com

The joys of giving shots to one's peers.

Yup. It was injection day at nursing school today. It was fun, honestly. Especially when I squirted saline solution into my pal Patty's face. Don't worry, she got me back by squirting saline across my glasses so I was blinded. This was all behind our instructor's back, of course.

You'd be amazed how far one of these suckers can shoot saline...LOL.

I learned how to give oral medications, injected meds S.Q., intradermal, and intermuscular. Then we gave each other SQ shots. Subcutaneous is injecting meds just under the surface of the skin. Every one (not including me)was all nervous. It did not hurt all all. We used teeny tiny little needles and shots in the arm, snicker.

Much more enjoyable than packing pressure ulcers on ugly fake butts!!!!

Diagnosis: At Risk For Psychotic Behavior

This little picture is written in the vernacular we are being taught to write our nursing diagnoses. R/T means related to and AEB means as evidenced by.

Yes, we are being taught more lingo that seems silly and overly wordy but I'm just going with the flow. Nursing students are taught to go with the flow. In other words~you don't get to have your own opinions. ;)

I've been studying my Mental Health Nursing. Freud's coping methods are the first topic for Monday's class. I thought I might put my spin on a few of these.

Denial~what a teenager does when you catch them red handed while breaking any rules. They can have their car keys in their hands and have just walked IN the front door. Their denial response-"I am not late. You're wrong!"

Transference~when one teen blames another teen for all his problems. "It's my BFF's fault that I flunked art. He MADE me miss class 22 times last semester. I think you should talk to his mother."

Rationalization~The use of logical sounding excuses to explain undesirable results. "I studied super hard for my english test. She asked the wrong questions and made them harder than any other teacher in school. It's her fault I got a D."

Projection~Blaming others. "It's your fault Mom, I never asked to be born. If you were nicer to me I would have done better in civics."

Dispacement~Venting anger at an unrelated object or person. "I hate you! I never get asked out because you made me angry and then I'm angry all day long and no one likes me."

I was giggling through this whole section of the book because teenagers use every coping mechanism that Freud defined. It's nice to know my kids aren't the only ones.

Sudden Onset Headaches

Every so often I get these directly behind the eye headaches. They are migraines. I have no clue to the trigger. They are one sided and make me extremely sensitive to light and noise and make the area behind my eye cringe into great agony.

I started getting migraines 30 years ago. This type started about a year or 18 months ago. Anyone know how to prevent these? Help me please.

No More Teenie Weenie Videos Today

What's a day w/o teenie weenies? Not quite so fun but not bad.

I am positive there are more teenie weenies in my future. Snerk. Nursing has some interesting "perks".

It actually stopped raining today and we caught a glimpse of the wonder called the "sun". What a cool invention that is! There is much flooding to the south of us and I-5 is closed between here and Portland. This is the same area that was hit so hard last year. Prayers are always a good thing. :)

My 17yo spoke to me today. I could not figure out what was wrong. Then I realized~he was not screaming at me, not being defensive, and was almost, dare I say it?, respectful. Yeah. You can close those jaws now. It might be years before this occurs again. Years.

I need to go read about wounds for tomorrow's lecture. WOOHOO. Back to the grind.

Happy Friday friends!

More Penis Videos and Spouse Takes the Fifth

We got to watch more how to place catheters into penises today. No repeat of Mr. Teeny Peenie but there were several other not hugely endowed men. I guess they figure we nursing students have no control..........we'd drool if they showed us some good size penises.

Wish the folks who makes these nursing films had a wacky sense of humor. It would make it all so much more fun.

Spouse got laid off. Fifth time in 22 years of marriage. He's an awesome worker but the housing market has crashed and electricians are unneeded.

I wonder what career he'll find this time.

Prayers would be appreciated. Greatly. I will never make fun of your penis if you pray for us. (wink, yes I am somewhat off my rocker)

My Exciting Day

Today was amazing. We had clinical in our on campus lab and I(and my fellow students) had the opportunity to learn how to pack bed sores on fake butts. Seriously. I was laughing so hard.

We have some damn ugly fake butts with very horrendous looking pressure wounds and incisions.

I kept making comments like. "This butt is having one hellacious day." and "These cheeks were made for packing..." Smart ass just could not help herself.

I was pretty serious(relatively speaking) when they showed us the videos on how to use sterile gloves and sterile fields. I was even sober when they showed us the how to catheterize a female.

Then the how to place a catheter in male video came on.

I am a bad girl.

I burst out laughing(into my hands).

This guy in the video had one of the smallest penises I have ever seen!!! His name is forever Teeny Peenie in my head. I kept trying to see if I was missing something but it was Teeny who was missing some inches.

I was reminded of when my boys were little. His testicles were huge compared to his penis. I blinked several times to check my eyes sight.

Lucky for me one of my pals was in class with me so I shared my thoughts later. We were cracking up. I know this would be a bad thing to do it I ever have to cath a male. Laughter would not be professional. Thank goodness for videos.

The Times They Are A'changing

Enough. I have had enough. I may have to stay in this house until I pass the NCLEX next fall but I refuse to be treated with contempt and a serious lack of respect. Take me off the fire because I AM DONE!

I am finished with my parenting being dismissed by an uncooperative partner who thinks he knows more about teenagers than I do. It's a task that should be done together. I did it alone for over 12 years and I don't need the interference now.

All of a sudden because of similar interests in cars, my parenting is wrong. My timing sucks(direct quote). I am not subtle enough. Tough shit. The kid is a month away from being 18 and it's time for a reality check. Daddy can be buddies but then he tries to discipline and can't comprehend why the kid ignores him.

I've had it with foul language from my son, his complete lack of respect, his sneering as if I haven't been 17 and a senior in high school. He learned much of his disrespect from his father and that is simply unacceptable.

No one is this house cares about my schooling, the fact I received 4 A's and one B in my first quarter was ignored. No one cares if I have tests I need to study for. Everything is about them, them, THEM!

I am trying to get the education so that I can get a job and support myself. I will stay here because I have no choice but I am tired of just taking it. I am not invisible, I'm not a punching(metaphorically speaking)bag.

I will finish school. I will achieve excellent grades. I will pass my NCLEX on the first try. I will get a job. I will move out. These are my goals. This is my life and I'm taking it back.

Back to Training and Torture

glitter-graphics.com

In a smidge more than 48 hours the "fun" begins again. Oh joy to study to be a nurse so that I may help others. It will be worth the emotional hardship that goes along with training to be a nurse(at least in my program).

It's similar to army boot camp with university classes together. One might assume this combination doesn't work well together, it's just the way it is. I'm getting very good at jumping through useless hoops to achieve goals.

The one thing I did get enough of this past three weeks is sleep. Not a total loss.

I expect to be exhausted the first 2-3 weeks back as I'll be waking up between 5:30am-7:30am. Two full days at clinicals and 20 credits.

I plan on kicking some ass this quarter. In a good way. (evil, determined grin).

Happy weekend all!