Love this one too:
One more week of school (is it December yet?) and then maybe we'll actually have time to do something fun. Actually I know we will because we have visitors coming to see us and a trip to Nashville planned!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Things that matter most
Love this:
"We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Definitely something I need to work on. Read the full talk here.
"We would do well to slow down a little, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Definitely something I need to work on. Read the full talk here.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
R&R
ZenSo it turns out that even after we go on vacation, albeit a very short one, we still only have pictures of our dog. But she's so dang cute and lovable, who could resist?
Semester three out of five is now complete! Hooray! Hold your applause because I start summer semester on Monday. That's right folks, only 10 days off and then back to tests, tests and more tests. I have a feeling that 17 credit hours crammed into two-and-a-half months is not going to be a fun time, but once December rolls around I'm sure I'll be relieved to be finished (except for a very large licensing exam looming over my head).
So with another semester complete, we decided to skip town for the weekend to hang out at the beach in Charleston, SC and get some much needed vitamin D.
This is what happens when you take a coonhound to the beach. She didn't like when Jeff tried to fill in her masterpiece and went to work again.
Sandy nose.Is it weird that I only post pictures of our dog? We need some human children.
Friday, April 15, 2011
oh dear
Don't you hate it when someone doesn't update their blog for, oh I don't know, three-and-a-half months and whenever you click on their blog you see the same picture over and over again? Yeah, me too. Oh wait....
Heaven help me, I've lost my blogging motivation!! Our lives are just your regular, everyday work and school lives and really not so interesting or blog worthy. And seriously, how in the world did April sneak up on us? This semester is almost over and hopefully December will be here soon! Not that I would ever wish for winter because, let's be honest, winter is basically the bane of my existence, but I'll be done with school!! I'll still have to take my licensing exam but at least school will be done!
So this semester hasn't really been that eventful as far as hands-on experience and I probably should have counted my blessings for that because you know when everything is ho-hum that something "eventful" is bound to happen. When you're in nursing school the experience you get really depends on the patient you get assigned, the nurse you're with, the place you're at, etc., so not everyone has the same experiences. We are in our pediatric clinical right now and along with working at the children's hospital, we get to go to a health department and a school and yesterday I got to go to a clinic that serves the uninsured, underinsured, etc (I have a professor that adds etcetera after every sentence and I think I've picked it up). Well, up until yesterday I had never given an intramuscular injection (most immunizations are intramuscular), so I was pretty excited to get the experience. Seriously, any experience while in school is jumped on 'cause you don't want to look like a complete idiot when you get out of school. Would you want a nurse who didn't know how to give a shot? Needless to say I got a lot more experience than I really wanted. To keep an already long story short, TWO of the children I gave immunizations to ended up having allergic reactions and had to be given epinephrine and benadryl (two more shots) and were sent to the ER. Thankfully, both the reactions were limited to a rash moving up the body and didn't involve the airway. Both were observed at the hospital and were sent home just fine. The nurse practitioner said the odds of that happening were slim to none and reassured me that there was nothing I could have done to cause the reactions. She also told me I might want to look into cleaning up my karma (I might just look into that). Hopefully yesterday's experience isn't an indicator of my nursing career.
My clinical in February was in the labor and delivery unit at the hospital and I got to spend a couple days in the NICU. I actually found the NICU fascinating, although definitely heart-wrenching. I also got to see the birth of twins (by C-section) which was neat. In March I was at the psychiatric hospital--for clinical, not as a patient (although at times I felt like I fit right in). I find psych interesting, but I think if I worked in that area I might just become one of the patients. I have already diagnosed myself with all sorts of different disorders.
Jeff is still putting up with me and is working hard as usual. And since no post is complete without pictures, here are a few.
We visited family in January. Jeff might not like that I put this picture on here, but I just think it's cute. He had a straw in his mouth and both of our nieces copied him.
Riley likes to ride shotgun on long car rides, except I'm usually the one in that spot, so she ends up on my lap instead.
Okay, that's really all I've got unless you want to see more pictures of Riley 'cause apparently she is all we take pictures of anymore. I think we need a vacation.
Heaven help me, I've lost my blogging motivation!! Our lives are just your regular, everyday work and school lives and really not so interesting or blog worthy. And seriously, how in the world did April sneak up on us? This semester is almost over and hopefully December will be here soon! Not that I would ever wish for winter because, let's be honest, winter is basically the bane of my existence, but I'll be done with school!! I'll still have to take my licensing exam but at least school will be done!
So this semester hasn't really been that eventful as far as hands-on experience and I probably should have counted my blessings for that because you know when everything is ho-hum that something "eventful" is bound to happen. When you're in nursing school the experience you get really depends on the patient you get assigned, the nurse you're with, the place you're at, etc., so not everyone has the same experiences. We are in our pediatric clinical right now and along with working at the children's hospital, we get to go to a health department and a school and yesterday I got to go to a clinic that serves the uninsured, underinsured, etc (I have a professor that adds etcetera after every sentence and I think I've picked it up). Well, up until yesterday I had never given an intramuscular injection (most immunizations are intramuscular), so I was pretty excited to get the experience. Seriously, any experience while in school is jumped on 'cause you don't want to look like a complete idiot when you get out of school. Would you want a nurse who didn't know how to give a shot? Needless to say I got a lot more experience than I really wanted. To keep an already long story short, TWO of the children I gave immunizations to ended up having allergic reactions and had to be given epinephrine and benadryl (two more shots) and were sent to the ER. Thankfully, both the reactions were limited to a rash moving up the body and didn't involve the airway. Both were observed at the hospital and were sent home just fine. The nurse practitioner said the odds of that happening were slim to none and reassured me that there was nothing I could have done to cause the reactions. She also told me I might want to look into cleaning up my karma (I might just look into that). Hopefully yesterday's experience isn't an indicator of my nursing career.
My clinical in February was in the labor and delivery unit at the hospital and I got to spend a couple days in the NICU. I actually found the NICU fascinating, although definitely heart-wrenching. I also got to see the birth of twins (by C-section) which was neat. In March I was at the psychiatric hospital--for clinical, not as a patient (although at times I felt like I fit right in). I find psych interesting, but I think if I worked in that area I might just become one of the patients. I have already diagnosed myself with all sorts of different disorders.
Jeff is still putting up with me and is working hard as usual. And since no post is complete without pictures, here are a few.
We visited family in January. Jeff might not like that I put this picture on here, but I just think it's cute. He had a straw in his mouth and both of our nieces copied him.
Riley likes to ride shotgun on long car rides, except I'm usually the one in that spot, so she ends up on my lap instead.
Okay, that's really all I've got unless you want to see more pictures of Riley 'cause apparently she is all we take pictures of anymore. I think we need a vacation.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
seasons greetings
Riley and I enjoying our present from Jeff's mom; actually, it was Jeff's present but if you snooze you lose.Merry (late) Christmas and Happy New Year!
It was just the three of us this year for Christmas which was different but nice.
I've been enjoying my break from school and Jeff is working hard as usual.
We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (holiday, Kwanzaa, Hanuka, etc.) and here's to new and exciting things to come in 2011 (holy cow, 2011??)!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
O.R.
Last Monday I got to spend the day in the OR. I got all suited up in surgical garb and followed a nurse around for the day. I really wanted to take my camera and get a picture of myself with the sweet hair cover on (see example below of sweet hair cover), but they discouraged us from bringing valuables into the locker rooms. I guess after a hard day in the OR some nurses are more prone to pilfer.
At first they placed me with a surgeon who had evidently had a student nurse anesthetist sign off on the wrong blood type for a patient the previous Friday. Needless to say he didn't want anything to do with any sort of student, even though as a nursing student pretty much all I can do is watch. Anyway, so I switched rooms and ended up with a great nurse and a surgeon who was very accommodating. He explained things to me and let me get up close to see what he was doing (well, within one foot because that's as close as you can get to the sterile field if you aren't scrubbed in). I got to watch an AV fistula repair and a fem-pop (femoral artery-popliteal artery) bypass which were both really neat. You can youtube either one of those and watch for yourself. I was surprisingly fine with all the blood and cutting into flesh. I bet you thought I would get queezy and barf, but I didn't!
Here's the best part. Are you ready for this? I got to put in my first catheter! On a real person! He was anesthetized but it still counts. You might be grossed out, but it's a nursing student milestone, okay?
I had a good experience in the OR but I don't think it's where I would want to work. OR nurses do a lot more than I thought and they have an important job to do, but I think I'd like to do something more patient friendly.
p.s. Jeff got a promotion and is now going to be a manager! He's learning a lot and working hard. Sorry ladies, he's taken.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
places to go, people to see
This is what I've been daydreaming about recently. Oh how I wish I could just travel. I also wish it didn't cost so much for airfare!
Italy
Italy
Ireland
Thailand
Denmark
Bora Bora (to my family: I wasn't kidding about hiding in the suitcases)
Bali, oh I love Bali
Peru
Kenya, my birthplace
Paris
It's quite eclectic I know, but when you live overseas and get a taste of a little bit of everything, you just can't stop wanting to see more and more, whether it's Paris or Mombasa. Trust me, the list could go on and on. I made a deal with Jeff that once I graduate and start working that we're going to go somewhere exciting. We'll see if I make it to next December!
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