Rounding Week 4! Post-Thanksgiving Crash

While I'm downloading training videos on medication administration, I'll post an update. This week we don't spend time in the hospital, instead we'll be doing intensive training on how to "pass meds." This is very exciting because it means we can be more helpful when we get back on the floor. And as I mentioned in my previous post, this skill carries with it daunting responsibility. Still, now that we are spending full shifts in the hospital, I like to stay busy and am excited to be expanding my skill set.

The patients I have had this term have been very sick elderly folks. And as it was approaching the holidays, my wise clinical instructor pointed out that this is the time the nursing homes like to send as many patients as possible over to the hospitals, since they'll be short staffed! So anything condition that may qualify gets them a ride over to see us. I wondered if he was just being cynical, but he spent twenty years in an ER and has seen this trend unfold many times. Plus, he confirmed it with some nurse's aids over in the homes. So, yes -- I had my hands full changing "adult briefs." (I hate having to spray them with the chilly disinfectant spray...Gasp!)

Man was I ever blue when the Thanksgiving break rolled around.

I elected not to go home, since I was just there several weeks ago. I hate crowds and the crush of humanity. I also hate spending money on expensive peak airfare. This meant I found myself with nearly a week to kill in The Burgh, mostly on my own. I made a list of things I wanted to do that school keeps me too busy for; poking around new neighborhoods, browsing the shops, seeing downtown, long walks, hand crafts, trashy novels. Then I worked through the list. It kept me busy and distracted from the sadness of being away from family on the holiday. Luckily, a few of us stragglers gathered at my girlfriend's house where we cooked our own rather marvelous spread and killed a couple of bottles of wine. (Yes, I did inject the bird with melted butter with an intramuscular syringe!) We are all here in town getting our next degree and, for whatever reason, weren't going anywhere. It's nice to meet new friends.

Apple sure has made the world smaller. Finally my mom and sister joined my iPhone cult and we were able to FaceTime on Thanksgiving. Attending school far away today is so much easier than in 1988. Back then I called long distance. Every day. Until the parents saw the phone bill. Plus, I wrote actual letters home. I feel like a dinosaur. In any case...video chatting is just one more thing I'm thankful for this holiday season while away from home.

I ended my break by splurging on a swanky, historic hotel downtown. The Omni William Penn. Lemme tell 'ya...go there. I was in heaven. I browsed Sack's 5th Avenue, Macy's and Brooks Brothers. Friends met me at the hotel for drinks, and we emptied more wine bottles. I got to reunite with my heels and dressy-dresses. I felt like a grown up in my big, king bed and attempted to sleep on every square inch (just to get my money's worth.) I love being too warm and slithering over to find another cold spot on 600 thread count sheets. It beats swiveling around in a tiny twin at the dorm any day. It was a glorious ending to a restful break.

I probably should have cracked the books, but I just couldn't make myself.

Now we have a couple of exams and clinical competencies to grind through in the next few weeks before it's time to head home for Christmas.

Whoopsie. Looks like those videos are finished downloading. Time to go learn how to stick people!

Shock of Re-Entry: Week 1 of Second Term

I think I'll blog...

Oh wait! I already HAVE! My poor, under-nourished blog. It may be some time before it forgives me for this lapse in attention. My 14 followers (except for mom) have likely forgotten me.

I should probably start with a recap of the end of First Term. Near the end we started having big exams every Friday, and busy clinicals. I'll blame those two things for my disappearing act. I have to say...however, that those final weeks were exciting!

Clinicals. I love being on the floor. Love it. It beats staying awake and alert for 6-hour lectures any day. Even with only one patient assigned to care for, you're really moving. After over ten years of being at a desk or a conference table, I like being on my feet and being active. Then there's the little thrill of adrenalin from...well, fear. Even seemingly innocent requests from a patient can lure a student nurse into potentially perilous territory. "Could you help me to the bathroom?" "Could you get me some water?" Hahahahaha! NO! 

Not until I check your chart. Maybe your doctor ordered you not to get out of bed. (OOB) Maybe you're having surgery in a couple of hours and some anesthesiologist, surgeon, head nurse or instructor (in no particular order) will come kick me in the teeth if I give you that water.

I tell you, a little fear sure let's you know you're alive.

Facing fears is something I really thrive on. For instance, on my second day of clinicals (ever) I had 3 things happen to me which I was fearing. Fear of: private parts, being thrown up on, and being in an emergency situation and not knowing what to do. My sweet little old lady patient allowed me to experience all of those things in one encounter and I learned so much. Turns out, I (like many) build up fears to be bigger than they really are (in this case, private parts and vomit.) Those turned out to be not such a big deal. They just happened, I dealt with it, and moved on. From the emergency situation, I think I identified what the root fear was -- namely, would I be able to hold it together and be useful?

I did, and I was.

I was also shaking from adrenalin, had a trickle of sweat down my polyester uniform back, and couldn't sleep all night -- but still. I didn't lose it. That was a great test.

The ultimate lesson from my first quarter of nursing school was: I got to answer the question "do I belong in nursing school?" And the answer, thank God, turned out to be yes. This seems like a simple thing, but after all of the soul searching I did prior to leaving my career as a designer, all of the financial hardship I am enduring, the distance from loved ones -- all hinged on the theoretical answer to that question. But it couldn't be fully answered until I actually got on the floor and got to work. It was very much a leap-of-faith situation and I am so very happy to now have the reassurance. I feel cut out to do this job and be able to offer something. My grades and feedback from my clinical instructor in the end reflected this.

Phew!

Then we had a week off for break in which I flew home.

It is so strange to return to my home TOWN, but not be able to return to my HOME. The cabin is rented for this 2 year adventure, so I stayed with family and friends, however my son and I both miss the beach so much.

Where at home I listened to the waves, and the seagulls, the occasional bark of a sea lion, and the fish jumping -- now I hear new things. Waves become the hissing and knocking of my radiator or the hum of the A/C. The cries of seagulls are the chatterings of young girls in the hall. Add to that the city noises of life flights overhead, sirens in the street, and the Pittsburgh drivers impatiently honking, and you'll see why I really AM a fish out of water!

Nevermind the language barrier! Every day I learn a new word of Pittsburghese. The students love to laugh at me when I ask them what some slang term means. This week I learned "Nebby" -- which means, nosy. As in...nurses need to be nebby when taking patient histories. Uh...what?! How do you spell that? I also learned "redding up" -- as in, to tidy up. The pronunciation can also throw me. Many in the Burgh pronounce their "ow" sounds like "ahn." So one wouldn't say downtown. It would be "dahn-tahn." Get it? You get used to it.

I tried to think of any relatable jargon from Seattle...but for the life of me I can't? How boring can we be?

By the time last term ended, I had a pretty predictable routine going here, which helped me settle in. Sundays are spent at the diner, where I sit at the counter and very often will visit with the regulars. I have a long chat over breakfast before settling in to study. Sunday nights I like to visit my friend, her son, and her clawfoot tub. Getting to be alone in a bathroom is a privilege for a dorm-dweller like me. Getting to read something that isn't a text book, in a hot bath, is a little slice of heaven. Either Monday or Wednesday evenings I like to hit a local restaurant for a glass of 1/2 priced wine, and study. Friday nights I have regressed into college behavior and will hit the local pub with the students. I insist on a particular pub, however, since the clientele is a mix of ages, so I'm not surrounded by post-pubescents!

On test weeks I am usually somewhere preparing cheat sheets. I am very proud of the one I did for the cranial nerves which I cartooned and passed out to the entire class. Studying those is HARD! I have begun posting copies on my door to help others study. I'd like to see this entire class at graduation. The odds are against it, but we are pretty proud to say that not one student washed out in 101. This doesn't always happen, so the entire cohort was pretty stoked. (I don't think I can take credit for that from my cartoons alone...but I like to help!)  ;P

I am now back from the week of vacation and it is the end of Week 1 of our second term. A friend asked me how I was doing with the "shock of re-entry" and I had to smile at her insight. For all of the routines I established in order to feel at home here, and all of the bonding that has taken place with my young classmates, I must admit to a little setback on the homesickness front. It was hard to say goodbye to my son again. My family. My friends. I'm in a blue funk this week. However, I know how quickly the first term raced by and the two week Christmas break is only six weeks away.

This too shall pass!