It's the little things.

Reason's why today is a good day:

-I slept until (gasp) 11am this morning
-My 8am Wednesday class was cancelled (hence the sleeping in)
-Leftover asparagus for lunch (yessss)
-I lost 2 pounds (that's 28 pounds total)
-Date night with the fiance tonight
-There's a cute headband on top of my head
-I slept too long and misses the gym (shucks)

Buuuuuuut, I have *imagine me saying this with the most droning voice ever* "Spirituality in Patient Care" for the next three hours.

Weird dreams

Ever since I started taking an antidepressant, I have the weirdest dreams. I rarely remembered my dreams before I started on the med. Has this happened to anyone else?

Random

Love this website: www.mayoclinic.com. It has a ton of info on almost every disease, and it's in layman terms, so it's great for people who don't know all the fancy-shmancy names for things.

Exam today. I am so nervous. Prayers please?

Fact.

I'm a loser. I really am.

I realized this walking out of clinical today. I was walking out with the girls in my clinical group, each of them chatting with another, except me of course. I called out, "Bye girls!" as I walked to my car. Guess how many told me "goodbye" back. Nada, zip, zero. No one even looked at me.

So, I've compiled a list of the reasons why I am a loser/boring person:

-I am shy, until you get to know me. I despise talking in front of people. I like meeting new people, but only one on one. Sometimes I feel like my voice is trapped in my body, like there's a voice trying to speak and be heard, but my mouth won't work.
-All of my, let's see... 3 friends (not including my fiance) are all very strong personalitied people. They are all music theatre/vocal performance majors. We've been friends since highschool. I think sometimes we are friends because I can live vicariously through them and they can talk for me.
-The only people who think I'm cool are my mom, my fiance, and old people. I think old people just like me because they have a lot of stories to tell and no one listens to them. I love listening to people.
-I am synthetically happy, thanks to my friend, the antidepressant. I can't just "be happy" on my own. I can't turn my freakin' brain off. The worries don't stop.
-I don't smoke or party.
-I am a Christian. I actually like going to church, when I am not working.
-I study ALL THE TIME. Making the Dean's List is like an obsession to me.
-I enjoy old lady things, like scrapbooking, cooking, quilting, reading, and photography.
-I don't like horror movies/TV shows.
-Roller coasters scare me. I don't like heights.

I wish I could climb into my best friend's body for a day. Just a day, so I can teach myself how to be more interesting... or atleast acknowedgable.

Sorry for the downer post. Off to study for my exam tomorrow, if I can stay awake.

Poop Lecture

I hope my mom asks what I learned about today like she did when I was in kindergarten, just so I can say, "Poop".

In fact, 3 hours of poop lecture. I never knew there were so many kinds of poop.

Everything's better in Korea!

I talk all the time (not on my blog, but in "real life") about how things are better/cuter in Korea, such as umbrellas, shoes, food, etc.

But pads?

So it's that dreaded time of the month, and I ran out of unmentionables, so I asked the Little Sister if I could have one of hers. I knew she had plenty, since I swear when she came back for the school year she had so many packages of them, her family probably took out stock in Sofy or whatever brand name they are. I suppose we don't have pads in America or something, or maybe ours aren't long enough?

These Korean pads are so HUGE! I'm not kidding. It goes from my buttcrack to my bellybutton!

I measured.They are 16 inches long.

WHY do you need a pad that long? I want to ask Little Sister about it, but that might be awkward, ya think?

Hamburger maker

My "Little Sister" isn't from America. She's from Korea. One of the reasons (there are so many!) why I love living with someone from a different country is because they say the funniest things sometimes!

Via Skype:

Little sister: I am making hamburger maker.
Me: A hamburger maker?
Little sister: Yes!
Me: ...How? *really curious*
Little sister: OOOHHH! I mean... hamburger helper!
Me: BAHAHAHAHHAHA

If only.

Dear God,

Please send me a few more hours in the day?

My schedule this semester is so strange. I feel like I never have time for anything. My hair hasn't been washed in 3 days (gross!), my eyebrowns haven't seen a pair of tweezers in two weeks (eek! I can hear the Vietnameese women who do my eyebrowns complaining already. "You have BIG eyebrow! It goes up to here!", as they are exuberantly motioning at my hairline), and gosh darnnit, I have to floss my teeth at the stoplights while in my car!

If you could do this for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

The crazy girl with greasy hair and jungle brows

Reminders

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Sometimes, this is all I need to be reminded of to get through the day. Seems like that is happening a lot lately!

I found a Tic-Tac in the bottom of my purse...

AND I ATE IT!

On my high horse... Sorry!

Sometimes, nurses make me mad. Sometimes, nurses make me really mad. Do they not ever remember being students themselves? Are we really that much of a pain?

I was working with this particular nurse yesterday, who refused to give me report on my patient because she was late for her lunch break. I never did get report, but I did get to listen to her whine for 6 hours that she didn't get her break. Seriously? Get over it. You are a nurse, who takes care of ill people. You cannot just drop your patients to take your 30 minute break if they need you.

This not getting her break ordeal gave her a very, very, nasty attitude.

For example: I took my patient's blood pressure and got 158/98. I took it twice just to make sure, and got the same exact thing. I reported this to my instructor and the nasty nurse. The nurse said she wanted to check it herself, which was fine, she is afterall the licensed caretaker of the patient. However, she decided to humiliate me in from on my patient, and I am pretty sure she did it on purpose becuase she despised our being there, apparently in her way. Or something like that. "Your blood pressure is wrong. I got 148/88. You need to chart MY blood pressure and NOT yours, since obviously yours is wrong."

I know how to take a blood pressure. I have been taking blood pressures since I became a CNA at age 16. Is it just me, or is it odd that her blood pressure was exactly 10 digits off of mine for systolic as well as diastolic? Her demeanor made it seem like she was just doing it to spite me.

I understand if my blood pressure was wrong. I'm a student, she's the nurse, so what she says goes, but she coud have gone about it in a more appropriate mannor. Like not embarrassing me in front of my patient, for instance? Thankfully my patient was so nice about it, and made a comment about rudeness of the nurse. I just put on my sweetest smile and said, "It's okay. I know that kindness goes a lot further with people than rudeness, and I'll know the right way to talk to students when I am a nurse."

I'm off my high horse now.

But seriously? Are students really that terrible?

I'm so exhausted

I refuse to get up before 9am tomorrow.

Clinical Update/Bad Omen

I was nervous for absolutely no reason, as usual.

I was actually bored out of my mind the whole time I was there. We arrive at 12, get our patient assignment and get their medications, history, diagnosis, etc, and then actual clinical starts at 2. My patient was a sweet old man, looked like George Bush, which was kind of freaky, and had a slightly overbearing family that refused to leave the room, at any time, for anything. They even had an Excel worksheet and graphs, charting his vital signs, and needed them taken atleast 3 times a shift (MD only requested them taken once per shift). This poor old man wasn't even that ill. He had a case of minor cellulitis, and nothing more. I

Anyway, I was bored after hung my whole 2 meds and did my patient assessment, and every one else in my group was pretty much bored too.

However, I think there may be a bad omen cast upon this terribly slow and boring clinical.

There is a girl in my group that I will affectionaly call Makeup girl. Makeup girl, obviously implied by the name, wears way too much makeup. She earned this name freshman year; her face has been cakey-orange ever since I met her, even though she is actually a pleasant olive skin tone. I wonder if she knows? Hm...

Anyway (for the 2nd time). We begin clinical at 3. Makeup girl's patient dies upexpectedly right at 3. Bad omen? First day of clinical, first our, first death? I'm thinking this is not a good thing, right?

First day of clinical = STRESS!

The first day of clinical is even more stressful and exciting at the same time for me than the first day of class. My thoughts are racing, trying to remember everything I need. "Sticky notes. Check. Stethoscope. Check. Drug book. Check. Penlight. Crap. Where is that?... Guess I need to get on of those on my way. *add thats to list of things to do* Iron uniform. Check. Granola bar. Check."

I need to cut my fingernails before I go. Craaaaaaap. Too many things to do.

I get so nervous and excited at the same time. Who am I going to meet today? What's my patient going to be like? Will I be able to connect with them? Is my clinical instructor going to make my cry?

I need to take an Immodium and finish getting ready.

Welcome back, school year!

Welcome to the junior year. I am officially studying for my first exam of the semester. I'm so ready to graduate... too bad I have ten thousand million more years to go!

The lovely little university I am currently attending is ruining my life. First, they lose my CPR card. I am bombarded with ridiculous emails that I cannot attend class/clinical yada yada yada until I show them proof. (Hmm... I took you a copy two weeks ago and the secretary showed me that it is indeed on file?) Next, they lose my immunization record, so it appears that I am horrible crippled with disease, when in fact, I am property all shotted up. And finally, they chose to implement a lovely new rule that you have to prove you had chickenpox as a child. This means a blood test, which for most people would be relatively simple. No. Not for me! I am the girl with the missing veins. Where they went, I will never know! So it took 3 tries and a painful poke in my wrist of all places to get a small tube of blood to show my school, I did, in fact, have chickenpox when I was five years of age. I walked out of the hospital with three big bandaids: one on my wrist, one on my hand, and one on my arm. I felt bad for anyone getting their blood drawn that saw me; they were probably scared to death of those phlebotemists. Lol.

So, hopefully I will be up and posting again stories for my experience as a student nurse.

PS. Does anyone ever read this thing?