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!