Sweet Relief

It's over! That long and extremely intense combined A & P class is done as of today. I never knew I could physically feel my brain become too stretched and exhausted until this class. It's been 4 days straight of intensive studying culminating in a 3 hour final this morning. Some of the students got together for lunch (and a lengthy bitch-fest) after the test. The instructor wasn't kidding when he said that comprehensive exam was going to be rough. I wanted to bang my head against the desk through most of it. Thankfully he ran the grades right after. I am happy to report an A in 241, and an A- in 242.

Some have said that this class is just a precursor of how rigorous the nursing classes are going to be. I must say I go a little limp at that thought but then I remind myself that its only a 22-month program. AND it will begin after a lengthy 8 week break (starting today!!!) I can do it. Wish I was going to be able to do it close to home surrounded by friends and family, but maybe its better to be away where I can focus. I do hate to miss out on any goings-on around here. The many breaks throughout the year will allow me to travel home and reconnect during times when I won't be loaded down with stress.

8 weeks seems like a lot of time off. Remember summers as a kid? They seemed to stretch into eternity and by the end all I could do was look forward to school starting with excitement. Silly kid.  :)  Now I look at my calendar and gasp at how short a time that really is to pack up and move out of my house, get it ready to rent, get my son ready for college AND myself. AND move across country! (The list is really much much longer, but I won't bore you...)

On the very top of the list is scheduled time with close friends and family, and hopefully some long leisurely days on my beach.

SCHOOL'S OUT...SUMMER TIME!!!

Good Riddance

In the final week of my A & P class, I FINALLY was able to be seen for those pesky kidney stones that happened during the first week of class! After an ultrasound today I learned that one of my satan's babies is no more, having wandered out of my body in tiny enough bits that I never felt a thing. It may have been the tanker-load of fluids I've been downing, and quite a bit of help from above. (Thank you GOD!) Still have one hanging out in my right kidney, but it may decide to hang wallpaper and stay a while. I don't really care, since they called it "non-occluding," meaning it isn't blocking anything. And it doesn't seem to be kicking up a fuss. Fine by me. Plus, if it should make an appearance at some future date...hello, I'll be living the next 2 years in a magnet hospital!

How strange that I studied the urinary system and kidney anatomy just last week, watched as my instructor dissected down into the cadaver to reveal the kidney in place and then today I got to see my whole entire system on the ultrasound. I got to watch the blood flowing *cue rote memorization* in from the renal artery, through the renal medulla, pushing through those tiny nephrons to be filtered and back out again with every heart beat. I actually saw the ureter jets propelling fluid into the bladder.

In my former life, I doubt I would have even bothered to look at the screen during the test. But today I was a bit transfixed by it all. Sad that I'm my own guinea pig, but weirdly pleased that it all came together this way to reinforce my interest in all things medical these days. And...bonus, I came out with 2 working kidneys to boot.

It's nice to know I won't be requiring surgery in these five weeks of summer left on the beach before the big move across the country.

Turning Point

There are only a handful of days I call "Turning Point Days," that happen in life. Days you can point to that really changed everything that happened next. A wedding day. The birth of a child. Leaving a job.

Today is one of those days.

I have been waiting to hear if I am accepted into a nursing school back east and today, while I was in lab getting ready to do a pluck dissection (everything that fills the thoracic cavity: trachea, heart, lungs) my phone rang. Seeing the area code, I ran out into the hall to answer the call. It was the recruiter for the school with the good news that I will be joining their fall 2011 cohort! I think she was as excited to tell me as I was to hear the news (since she usually sends an acceptance letter, but made an exception this once since I'll only have a short time to get my life out west sorted out.) I giddily floated back into class and was congratulated by my A & P prof and fellow classmates.

I thought it would be difficult to focus on the lab, but I have to say they saved the best for last. This is our final dissection, and I found it the most interesting (other than the cadaver.) We got to feed an air hose into the trachea of a fresh set of calf lungs and actually re-inflate them. They blew right up like lung-shaped balloons and turned a pretty shade of light pink. It was really incredible to hold them and feel what they were like empty and full. Then we got to cut away the heart from the rest of the pluck and actually dissect down until we could see through the valves and into the chambers. We had to fill them with water and compress the heart to watch the action of the valves opening and closing. Without question, the hands-on experience of the labs in A & P are SO reinforcing in terms of bringing it all together. Just studying photos and diagrams wouldn't be the same at all.

And speaking of the cadaver -- I wasn't as brave as I wanted to be, but I didn't disgrace myself either. I double-gloved as if I might dig in and root around...but when it actually came time, I stood by and watched others. It wasn't so much the gore that bothered me, but rather the chemical smell they use to preserve the body. It was strong enough that I got a bit green around the gills. Standing next to him was the best I could do. I think if we had had several chances to work with him, I would have become accustomed to it and may have laid hands on eventually. It was rather fascinating to wonder what killed him. He still had a central line attached, and his heart looked about 2 times normal size. Most of his ribs were broken, indicating they had done CPR on him. Heart event? 

Tonight I need to study for the last big exam we have before going into finals in a couple of weeks. This test is going to be a doozy, and yet I am fairly distracted with all of the details now that I know I'll be moving. I am going to TRY and put it aside until after the test tomorrow. After that I'll think about:

- planning out the budget

- renting out the house

- packing up the stuff

- servicing the truck

- getting son off to college

- enjoying the weeks of summer left here on the beach

- what the uniforms look like for nursing students

- what my dorm looks like

- where my neighborhood will be

etc...

Onward!