Here we go again

Day 2 of the semester and i already fell asleep on my bus ride home because i'm so worn out. One of our professors reminded us today that one of the classes (out of three this semester) is actually taken as three separate classes by undergrads. So if it feels like we're doing three times the amount of work for one class, it's because we are.

While the work is daunting, and assignments and information scattered like marbles on tile, i think it will be a (dare i say it) fun semester. We have three courses- Pathophysiology, Mental Health nursing, and Adult Health nursing. The last two courses both have clinicals which i am a moron and chose both morning (i should say dawn, as they start at 6:30 am) times instead of afternoon -d'oh!

Thank God for Fridays! tomorrow, though, we have two classes back to back - barely enough time to go to the bathroom, get a snack and walk up four flights of stairs. But then we have the whole afternoon off. well, if we don't read and catch up (yes, i am already behind- but for good reasons that i'll get to shortly), and use our friday afternoon wisely, the whole semester will be uphill and backwards!

As for why i have chosen to be slightly less prepared for tomorrow morning's lecture (not completely unprepared) is because i have joined UT's women's club water polo team. I played all through high school and college (although that was roughly 7 years ago) and have really missed playing (i used to dream about it!) I'm a bit out of swimming shape (i can ride my bike for four hours, but have hardly any upper body strength) but once we got the balls in the water and i had something to swim fast towards, i was raring to go! They have a great goalie, but i got some great corner shots in- so fun! I know it's going to be tough to fit in daily two hour practices, but it is going to be such a great stress release, i really want to make it work. Speaking of work, i need to finish reviewing and then hit the sack.

the new trivia night for The Nurse Ratcheds!

So after about three times out at the Flying Saucer's trivia night, (and three times of getting beat because we didn't know crap like the name of britney spears' younger sister's baby's name- yes I'm serious.) we decided to try another trivia night that takes a few more functioning neurons. So The Nurse Ratcheds went to Mother Eagan's downtown and it was great! We didn't win, but the questions were almost never about pop culture (and that's all of our - dare i say it- downfalls?) This week the Nurse Ratcheds consisted of Mindy and her wife, Donna, and me and Adam- our smallest group to date, but one of the best groups in my mind!

The questions were more challenging in the right kind of way (more like Trivial Pursuit Genus Edition rather than the fluffy millenium edition) There was even an entire round with a Brain Theme. i was really excited (Adam felt really intimidated and didn't want to be the one writing for this round -although in his defense it was after he wrote 12 down for the number of cranial nerves, and i started naming them- he's so cute). We got every question easily, but around the ninth question, our neighboring table was complaining about how they've gotten maybe one or two questions right. I leaned over and sympathetically (but kind of sarcastically) said, "oh, I'm sorry, did you not get your bachelor's degree in neurobiology?" It was quite possibly the most obnoxious thing I've ever said out loud. But she was really nice about it, and was like no, of course not, did you- and i sheepishly said, yeah, i did. They laughed, and i couldn't believe i had just said that, so i was laughing too. Adam was really perceptive, and said, "come on, that's like the only time she'll ever get to say that!" We had a great time all night- even if we didn't win- it was a blast (and, i might add, we did get a perfect score on the brain round!)

46 pages, 24 hours and hopefully one A paper (or at least a B+ please)

OMG. i don't usually use all the acronyms that have become so common in this age of text messages, but this situation deserves and OMG. I just woke up (yes, it is 1:40 pm) after staying up all night working on my Nursing Process Paper. This monstrosity was 46 pages after everything, and i still can't believe i stayed up for 24 hours. (yesterday was our last day of clinicals, so i got up at 4:45am) In fact, i was still defining some Med Dx with their pathophysiology when my morning alarm went off, mocking me. (that's Medical Diagnosis if you can't read medical chicken scratch) The other, very frustrating thing, is that other clinical groups didn't have near the expectations from their professor. One guy told me that their teacher told them to not bother spending all that much time on it, because they don't know enough at this point to write it all out. He said his was 12 pages. TWELVE! i was pissed when i heard that. I just keep telling myself that we will be better prepared for the fall when things get really sticky. So my right wrist just started tingling while i was typing, so i think i'm going to cut this entry short and give my poor carpal tunnel syndrome a rest. My concept map, though was freaking awesome.
check it out: okay ... well actually i can't figure out how to insert the diagram... so we may have to check with my personal computer helpdesk (aka my boyfriend Adam) later today. woo hoo i am done for the summer!!!!! now we got a whopping ten days off until we start school again! word on the streets is that the fall semester of this program is the hardest, so it's going to be an exhausting four months! i'm going to go get some breakfast. (i don't care that it's almost two, i want my muesli (thanks adam))

catheter pride

Whew! what a week- it's only wednesday but I am just exhausted. I've been up before five am all week, and it's definitely starting to catch up with me. We had our hospital clinicals on monday and tuesday, and they were fantastic! We were there for about five or six hours each day, but the time just flew by because we were constantly moving and working. it was so fun! we were on a neuro rehab floor so we had a lot of recovering stroke patients. (i'm sorry, i mean cerebrovascular accidents - not strokes)

We got to deliver the 0900 meds (no i haven't joined the military, but the hospitals do use the 24 hour clock to diminish errors), and pretty much do complete care for our individual patient each day. It was a little nerve racking at first, because as we're getting all of the meds together, we have a teacher drilling us on what all the meds are for, and what they do. But i was very prepared because i had spent at least 2 hours the day before making a comprehensive chart of all the medications my patients take. the chart includes the mechanism of action for the drug, as well as all the possible (and probable) side effects or interactions, plus any nursing considerations. Those considerations would include knowing to take a blood pressure and pulse before giving a hypertension med (so if for some reason the BP is really low, you don't give them medicine that makes it drop even more).

Yesterday was fantastic! i had a really high functioning patient (who was actually getting ready to be discharged i think today), and he was really patient with me when i ended up trying to get his blood pressure four different times. the machine that they use was not working right, and it kept giving a ridiculous reading (he would not have been calmly sitting in the chair talking to me if his blood pressure were actually 68/64), so i ended up having to move him over to the other side of the room where there was a cuff attached to the wall so i could do a manual reading. The best part of the day, though came when i got to insert my first catheter into a real live patient!! My patient has a neurogenic bladder, and has been cathing himself for the last ten years at least three or four times a day. So right before his 1000 OT (occupational therapy), i got to do a bladder scan to see if we needed to do the cath. The bladder scan is basically just an ultrasound machine, but it has a small digitized circle on the readout screen that will tell you how many mLs are in the bladder! Since he had about 526 mLs, we decided to use and in and out catheter to empty his bladder. The nurse was on the other side of the patient watching me, but i was able to keep my sterile field and get the cath in just fine! (he had brought a couple of extra kits just in case i messed up and broke sterile technique- but i didn't need them!) i was practically skipping down the hall afterwards i was so excited to tell my classmates!