So cool

So, our scenario day today was really awesome. It was kind of nerve racking at first because we were being recorded and the feed was being broadcast into the classroom for our clinical mates to watch while we were working with our patient. Each scenario was unique. Each group did a great job. It was neat to see how the different groups worked together in a crisis situation and what we thought we would have done differently. It was easier to watch than to perform, but it was good to be on both ends. None of the patients died ~ thank goodness. Though we did have a couple close calls. I really hope we have more opportunities to work with the simulation dummy some more before school is out. It is a great learning tool. I could go on and on about it, but I don't want to bore you to tears.

I am officially done with my OB rotation. Overall, it was a good rotation. I'm not sure that is where I want to work, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to have a go at it. I'm anxious to get my Children's rotation started. I know that it will be a challenge, but I'm excited about that. I'll chat with you later, cj

More info

So, I think I've talked to everyone that I need to and I'm over the shock of what's about to happen. My appointment yesterday was good and I do really like my GYN. Since this pain is ongoing and the other tests (CT and ultrasound in September) came back "normal" and the pain is recurrent and I have a history of ovarian cysts and endometriosis, she wants to do an exploratory laparotomy on March 7th. I was floored that it would be so soon, but it is right before my spring break and the next soonest day she had available was after spring break. I really want to know what's going on, but I'm really nervous about surgery. I've had two laps done already, so I know recovery time won't be too bad, but I really needed to work over the break. So, I went to talk to my manager today about my surgery. Her response to me about needing time off was, "Is that all the notice you could give me?" She didn't ask what was wrong, or what type of surgery I was going to have or anything like that. I was kind of taken aback by that. Oh well, I guess that's the way things go.

I had my last official day at the hospital for OB today. It was a good day. We ended it with lunch together at Posada's Mexican Cafe. We had a great time. Tomorrow is our simulation day and we are all really looking forward to it. I think it will be a blast. I promise to update you on that when I get home. I need to study my drugs and questions for tomorrow so that I'm prepared. Have a great night, cj

Still busy

I worked on Saturday and got studying done on Sunday. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Today was a lecture day. The only thing different about today was that I went to my new GYN. I still need to talk to a few people (my mom, mainly) before I post too much here. Suffice it to say that we still don't know what's going on. Ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday.

I have a relatively "slow" week for clinicals. Wednesday is our day with the simulation dummy. We got oriented to her today. She's pretty cool. Blinks, breathes, has pulses, even talks to you. Responds to the drugs you give and everything. It's scary, but exciting!! I'll let you know how it goes. I've got some paperwork to get ready for Wednesday, so I'll get off here.

I'll post more later, cj

Slowly but surely

Well, my apartment is slowly getting itself cleaned. I started in the bedroom because it is much more contained and I feel like I've accomplished something. Of course, starting in the bedroom means that I must do laundry. Everything is done, except for clean sheets on the bed. I'm taking a break.

I really overdid it yesterday. When I went to my chiropractor this morning and he told me he was going to stop letting me have days off if I keep it up! Walking around Grapevine Mills just about did me in. I made it about halfway around and I could literally feel my left leg get shorter. Oh well, just tells me I really need to get back into shape ~ but slowly!!

I have really enjoyed having time off and I really could get used to being lazy, but I called in to the hospital to see if they needed me to work tomorrow. It's nice when you aren't scheduled because you have a little bit more pull. Plus I know the schedulers and they'll put me where I want to go. They are offering bonuses and call-back pay to work tomorrow and I get to work on 3 West. I like that. I need the extra money, and I get to work where I want to!! Hopefully I'll have some good nurses. My attitude is already better. I just needed some time to relax!

Well, I've procrastinated enough. I need to get on to cleaning the living room. That's what needs it the most. Plus it's time to change out the laundry, cj

P.S. If you wear scrubs, as most of you do, I've found a great site. These are awesome quality and fit really well ~ Upscale Scrubs. Their sales are great, if they have your size! Enjoy shopping, I know I have!

Not too sure

Ok, so I'm glad that Meredith came back, but I'm not real sure what I think about tonight's episode. Seriously, my favorite part right now was the whole scene with Christina in the 99 cent store and then over at Joe's. That was hysterical. The rest just wasn't up to Grey's standards for me. Ok, except for the scene between Christina and Meredith when she came to. Let me know what you think. Are you as disappointed with tonight's episode as I am?

Onto to the rest of my day. I had a wonderful breakfast with dad at Cracker Barrel. My day of shopping was delightful. I didn't even get any cleaning done. I got an external hard drive to get my computers backed up and am half-way done with that. I've accomplished a lot today.

I'm off tomorrow and seriously must clean. I blew off today, but I needed to have some relaxing time. It was nice. Have a great night, cj

Relief is here at last

I am done for the week! I said several times today during clinicals how happy I was that I wasn't working tomorrow. I'm even happier now because I get to have breakfast with my dad. While I'll have to drive about 40 miles around 0800, I don't care. I haven't seen my folks since Christmas and while I'll only be seeing dad, it'll be worth getting up a little bit early on a day off. Besides, I'll be out by Grapevine Mills Mall and may go do a little shopping.

Today was uneventful in L & D. We had several early morning inductions, but there was no activity before we left at 1300. I only have my day on Tuesday at the hospital, then the scenario day at the school lab for OB. Should turn out good. I got a high A on my paper, for which I'm very thankful. I can use all the A's I can get right now. I'm going into Peds with a fairly decent A in clinicals. I should be able to keep that up. I don't plan to have a make-up day with peds, either. It will be too close to finals and I don't need the extra stress!

It's absolutely gorgeous here today. I have my apartment wide open and am lounging on the couch. I really should be cleaning, but . . . well, relaxing sounds so much better!! I'm just going to sit here and enjoy being able to do that! I hope you are able to relax a bit as well. I'll be running full speed ahead soon enough. I WILL get my apt. clean before I go back to work on Saturday, but I really just need some r & r! I'm closing for now ~ cj

The last 5 days . . .

Well, I know I have been strangely absent over the past few days, but things have been insanely busy in my life. After I posted on Thursday, I continued to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I have resigned myself not to work anymore 4 day runs. I am still trying to recover from all of that. Friday and Saturday were generally "normal" days at the hospital, but on Sunday, I got the "privilege" of working on the newly opened fourth floor. You may or may not remember me talking about all the "to-do" about the 4th floor. Well, everything they were hyped about is just over the top. The rooms are very nice, but the rest of the floor is not very nurse friendly. It feels like you have to walk a mile everytime you have to get ice for a patient or anything else. It's silly really. Then there's a whole hall that is nothing but dedicated "VIP" rooms. I ended up working one regular hall and the VIP hall. There was actually only one "VIP" there, but there were other patients that I still had to tend to. I hate the whole "VIP" idea. Especially what my hospital has done about it. These people (no matter what age they are) get a very nice house coat and slippers and EVERY meal comes on china nicer than I own. They have a special menu. You can rest assured that these patients won't be eating the beef mac with everyone else!! It was kind of ironic that our first VIP was a 90 y/o who could hardly lift the china. The patient was also becoming VERY dependent on the nursing staff r/t all the special attention that was being shoved down her throat. I found it repulsive that I had to smile and pretend that this was someone special to me. I could hardly care for my other patients because of the amount of time I had to spend in that room. That's all I'm going to vent about this for now. I really hope that I don't have to work on the 4th floor anytime soon. I have become rather attached to my 3rd floor hole.

Class yesterday went off without a hitch. We had several out for various reasons, so it really seemed like there was no one there. However, I did win a contest that one of the professors put on. She sent out a powerpoint presentation with clues about a patient and the person who sent in the first most correct answer won a gift certificate to Black Eyed Pea!! Woo hoo!! I love to eat out, especially for free. Since I was working all weekend, I was strangely behind on my clinical paperwork. I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening trying to catch up on that. Plus I still had to write my discharge teaching paper. I got it started yesterday.

Clinicals today went extremely fast. It started off with a bang in L & D with an 0830 c-section. I attempted her IV, but hit a valve and the nurse ended up starting another one. I did get to put her foley catheter in after her spinal was in full effect. It's a great way to practice foley's. The patient doesn't feel it and the stress really isn't there. I was also able to start an IV on another section patient and got it!! It really is a good feeling. I've done several, but I still like being able to get them in! It truly is a skill that just takes time to obtain! I took a short nap when I got home and then got working on my discharge paper. Once I pulled out the blueprint and figured out which way I was going to approach it, I was finished within about 2 hours. I have it all printed out in a nice folder to take tomorrow. I have one more day in L & D and tomorrow will probably be just as busy. Next week is kind of a lazy week. We will still go to the hospital on Tuesday, but we don't have to do paperwork and we are bringing goodies to the nurses. Wednesday we will be at the school in our simulation lab. Then I'm finished with my OB rotation. I don't have a makeup day, so I'll have a free day before spring break. That will be nice.

I am looking forward to the end of this week. I will probably only work on Saturday. The rest of the time needs to be spent paying attention to my house, my car and my studies. I will sleep some, too, of course! I hope the rest of the world is hanging in there. I'll try to be more diligent about posting ~ please understand, cj

NNNNNOOOOOOO

Ok, I really wasn't going to post tonight, do you seriously think they will let Meredith die? I haven't heard rumors of anyone leaving the show, but . . . come on it's called GREY'S ANATOMY!! They can't let Meredith Grey die!! I spent the last 15 minutes bawling like a baby. I really kinda needed to after my day at work. It was pretty rough. And I didn't need a Grey's like that after a rough day! Oh well, I'm off to bed ~ very upset nonetheless!! Good night, cj

I passed, I did teaching, I'm becoming a nurse. . .

Wow, I can't believe that it's been 4 days since I've posted. I'm sorry, but I've actually been busy.

For those of you yelling at me for not at least posting that I passed my test, I'm sorry. The test turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. Of course, the first exam of the semester is always tough. It's even harder when you have four professors writing questions and have to learn their style and such. Many of the questions were bunk, and I don't know my final grade yet, but I did pass.

Clinicals this week have been kinda crazy. I was in postpartum all week with one patient yesterday and two patients today. I was supposed to do my major discharge teaching yesterday, however, my patient had delivered the night before and really needed to stay another night. I was able to do my discharge teaching today and take care of another patient. I actually kinda felt like a nurse today. I forgot to take a picture of it, but will somehow figure out how to get something in here eventually. It turned out very nice, and my patient was very excited to get a special booklet. Now I just have to write the paper that goes along with it and get that turned in and all will be well.

I work all weekend (4 days). I'm hoping that maybe they can cut me some slack for Sunday or I can find someone to switch with for later next week. I just don't know if my poor body will let me work 48 hours and then go straight back to school.

On another note, I saw my new chiropractor today. I was very pleased with the amount of time he spent with me, as well as some of the explanations he gave to me about my pain. We aren't completely ruling out other problems (i.e. cysts), but he thinks there is a strong possibility that my pain may be directly related to nerve compression in my lower spine. We are going to work to get some of that released and get me back into proper alignment, and hopefully everything will resolve. I go back on Friday late afternoon and then we'll decide from there where to go. I did get an appointment with my new GYN for the 26th, and I am on their cancellation list, just in case someone calls and cancels.

I need to get off here and try to get some things done before work tomorrow. Hope all is well in your little world and that you are staying warm. Until next time, cj

Study, study, and study some more

This is what I would rather be looking at right now, but no. I am staring at my computer screen (all my notes are on my computer) and my books and about ready to pull my hair out. Our test on Monday is basically an overview test. I HATE overview tests. They are general and they stink. I want to have something specific to study. But no, I have to study a bunch of generalized nursing diagnoses for a bunch of generalized things of nothingness. That may make no sense to you, but it makes me feel better just getting it out. We do have some substance on this test. But only a little bit. We have PIH, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, fetal respiratory distress, and that's about as specific as we get. The other 90% of the test is wishy-washy. Oh well, I'll either ace it with flying colors or come out crying like a baby!! I'll know by the time I get home from the doctor on Monday and can give you an update on both at the same time.

I have my neurologist follow-up Monday. But the other good news is that I found a GYN that will take me onto her service. She was seeing patients in post-partum today and I asked her if she was accepting new patients, and she said she wasn't, but if I called her office and told them she said it was ok, then they'd work me in! So, hopefully next week, I'll get seen for my pain! Ok, enough procrastinating. I have to get the laundry out of the dryer and get back to studying. I'll update you later! cj

Oh my

That's about all I can think of to sum up tonight's Grey's Anatomy episode. The ending scene just about killed me. I'm shivering for Meredith. I can't believe her patient pushed her into the ocean. The whole episode was incredible. I can't sum it up better. I may even have to watch it again tomorrow after work on abc.com.

I'm still feeling pretty bad. I called off work today. I'm looking for another doctor. I think I've found one. Just have to schedule an appointment and figure out what's going on. I want a doctor who will pursue my problem and not just shrug it off like nothing is wrong. I'm getting ready for bed so that I'm very rested for work tomorrow. Hopefully I can make it through the shift.

On a good note, my loan check came in and I'm finally treading above water as far as my finances go. I thought I was going to drown for awhile. I've also filed my taxes and have a little coming back from there, too. I may actually survive this semester. Well, I'm off to bed, again. I need to get some rest. More later, cj

What a week

Well, I know I've been strangely absent for the last few days. It has been rather hectic with clinicals and work. I mentioned earlier that I was to be in L&D on Tuesday. It was a very busy day. I was able to see a delivery. It was a good experience, but enough to finally convince me that I really don't want to go through the whole process!! I ended up going into work from 2:45-8:00 to help out with the whole patient transfer process to the 4th floor. I was sent to 2 to help out the new unit secretary. It was absolutely insane!! I was glad to get the extra money, but happy to get home and finish my paperwork and go to bed.

Today was a pretty good day in postpartum. I got to take care of the patient that I labored with yesterday. I like the continuity of care thing. Even as a tech, it's important to me.

I'm really tired today. I have to work tomorrow and Friday. I'll be off the rest of the weekend studying. I'm feeling some better, but am sure I need to schedule an appointment soon with a new doc. New issues coming up ~ don't want to talk about them here. Hope everyone out there in cyberland is doing well. Thank you for all your kind words and well wishes over the past few days! I've really needed the encouragement. It's been tough. I'll touch base sometime later in the weekend, cj

More time

I have more time to blog right now. I was supposed to work for a little bit this evening, but when I went in, they didn't need me. I need to get some school work done and have clinicals in the morning, so I opted to come home. Class was ok today. It was our last lecture before our first exam. That's right, next Monday is our first exam. YIKES!! I've done pretty good staying on top of my reading and reviewing my notes after class and such. I'll work Thursday and Friday, but the rest of the weekend is dedicated to studying for the exam. I mostly review questions and any major concepts that I don't understand.

I'm having issues again. The pain started coming back last week. I was hoping I was imagining it, but I wasn't. Thankfully, I've gone part-time at the hospital and I have decent insurance. I have yet to make an appointment because I want to change PCP's and I don't have a GYN out here. It's not continuous yet, but the sharpness is there. I'm wondering if I might have endometriosis or lesions on the left side of uterus/ovary. I know that my last scope showed mild endometriosis, but I think it was on the right side. I don't think it's GI related like they thought last time. Everything else is working normally. The pain just takes my breath away occasionally. I know I will get through this, but I really don't need this right now.

Well, I've complained enough for one day. I really need to finish my care map for tomorrow. I'm in labor and delivery tomorrow. Fun to be had for all!

Disappointed :(

We had our Student Nurse Association meeting at lunch today. It was good except for one thing. We found out that we will not be able to go to any meetings this semester. We were slated to go to state convention in Galveston in two weeks and national convention in April. I was looking forward to both of them!! Such is life. Oh well, break is over. I need to get back to class, cj

Another work week finished

Ok, so it can be done. I have officially worked three 12 hour shifts after going to school all week. I have tomorrow off and then start again on Monday. I only work two 12's next week r/t Exam I on the following Monday. I will probably pick up a few short shifts this week because they are offering call-back pay in order to move patients to the 4th floor which should officially open on Monday. I plan to work Monday and Tuesday after class and/or clinicals. I'm beat today, but it was a good day. I was unit secretary all day. I like days like today. I'm able to get my hands into the charts, have direct contact with the doctors and other departments and I know what's going on. I feel like I'm on the road to being a great nurse with the experience I'm gaining. I know I moan and complain A LOT, and for that I apologize, but growing pains hurt!! I'm going to spend the rest of my night relaxing because tomorrow is serious study time. I haven't opened a book since Wednesday at clinicals. Kinda scary. I also have to finish my care map up for my patient from Wednesday. Should prove interesting. Have a great weekend, and enjoy the Super Bowl if you are going to watch it (I won't be watching ~ no reason!!) cj

Long day, lots of snow!

Ok, so I'm sure several of you are anxious to hear my thoughts on Grey's last night. Some of you may not care, but I was so tired after work and watching Grey's that I went to bed as soon as it was over.

Let me start by saying, I can't believe that George and Callie got married in Vegas!! Seriously?!? I guess I should have seen it coming. It is so Grey's after all. I'm happy for both of them. I think it will be a good thing. How about the time Meredith had with her mom? That was a shocker! I was heartbroken at the end when she went back into the room and her mom had gone back into the Alzheimer's mode. The free clinic opening was great. I can't wait to see what happens with it. The whole "toxic blood" lady story line was incredible. Everyone put themselves on the line and really worked as a team! I'm sooooo glad that Christina said YES! It will be interesting to see how their wedding takes place. I hope they televise it. I'm sure I'm leaving something out.

I just worked another 12 hour shift. It wasn't near as bad as yesterday, but waking up to about 1/2 inch of snow was rather shocking. I knew there was a chance that we would get a little bit, but not that much. I left my house at 0615 this morning for work. It took me about 5 minutes to get the car ready (snow off the windows and such) and then 40 minutes to drive 4 miles. It normally takes not more than 15 minutes to get to work. I couldn't believe how bad the roads and traffic were. I clocked in at 7:00. Just about everyone was late. I didn't feel bad because I was one of the "early" ones. I have to go back and do it again tomorrow, so I'm going to cut this short. My legs are tired and so is the rest of me. I'll be back again soon! cj

Happy February . . .

I've been off doing not so fun stuff lately. Sorry to be gone for a little while. Wednesday clinicals were extremely slow due to low census. We made it through the day ok. I managed to get some school work done yesterday. About the most exciting thing of the day was the snow flurries that happened during clinicals. It was so pretty and lasted just long enough to make everyone smile. It didn't stick or anything.

Today was work. I don't have anything nice to say about what happened today at work. I won't go into it. It won't help anything.

Grey's is on. I'll post later! cj