Disaster Strikes

The weekend has come to an end (nooooooooo).

I slept in and then prepared for a day of studying (yet again).

I wrote my philosophy statement for Intro to Nursing and read some laws on nursing in the state of North Carolina. That was boring =/

I finished up reading Chapter 1 in our Nursing Fundamentals book and decided it was RUN TIME!

After yesterday's 70 degree weather, I was bummed that it was 40 degrees outside.

I froze, but I got it done.

Then I had the pleasure of reading about butt holes!

oh boy!

After that reading and Quiz, I needed a break.

Relaxation.

I held off on dinner until the thoughts of rectums left my mind.

I have been craving a burger for days and decided to make one.

I don't buy buns so I toasted some bread.

Ok, so the following pictures look bad.

Before you jump to conclusions:

1. I know plastic melts when it's on a hot surface.

2. No, that burner was NOT on.

3. I'm not used to having an oven underneath the stove.

ok, you may proceed

To reach the George Forman Grill (what I used to cook my burger on) I have to move the toaster to the side. I have been setting it on the stove for the past couple of weeks when I use it. I'm guessing that when I cooked the fries, the heat rose, heated up the stove top, and melted the bottom of the toaster to it.

I really don't get it.

None of the other burners were warm. Just that one. And once again, no, that burner was NOT turned on.

I unplugged the toaster and managed to get most of the plastic off of the stove. I'm pretty sure the toaster still works. The bottom is just a little disfigured.

Anyways, It was a great weekend.

I managed to get ALMOST everything on my list done. =)

All Float On

I wasn't actually planning on taking my Patho exam on Saturday.

By the time I got up and studied for it, I knew I needed to just go ahead and take it.

The thing was, I had a lot of OTHER stuff that needed to get done this weekend.

I knew I wouldn't get any of it done without finishing the Patho test asap.

So, after studying all day, I bit the bullet.

Before I decided to do that...

My finger drained.

Prepare to be grossed out (skip these pics if you just don't care or get grossed out).

It had so much built up pressure that this was just about the best thing ever.

It gave me that extra boost to go ahead and take the test.

I finished the exam with 3 minutes to spare.

I felt like I was on top of the world!

I made a list of all the OTHER stuff I needed to get done this weekend and started reading Patho...again.

I got about 2 pages in and decided to rest.

Several other students had finished their tests around the time I did, so we decided to hang out.

A relaxing night, "wine"ing about life =)

Oh, here's what I had for lunch and dinner (Saturday).

I slept in pretty late this morning and it felt glorious!

I awoke to a phone call from Katie!!!

I laid in bed for a bit and relaxed.

I read for a quiz and conquered it.

I've been chomping at the bit to see Black Swan, so I decided I WOULD be seeing it.

I invited some people to join me and Nicole made it.

As soon as we went to the ticket booth, the guy tried to scare us.

Neither of us jumped. I blame nursing school for draining all the life out of me.

When we walked into the theater, there were two couples.

Both were in their 70s.

Weird.

Not the crowd I was expecting for Black Swan.

I enjoyed the movie and had the "what just happened" response when it was over.

I was entertained and it took me away from studying.

I made it back home and finished another chapter and Quiz.

I'll call it a night.

Food

It's Friday!

We went over the abdomen today in lecture.

A lot of people felt it was necessary to elaborate on their GI problems....

Oh boy...

At one point, the professor's laser pointer stopped working. He set his pointer down and then made the comment that he "Didn't know what to do with his hands". I busted out laughing. It made me think of Talladega Nights.

I decided to run to the grocery during my 3 hour schedule gap.

I made it in and out in 30 minutes once again!

I spent a bit more this time, but it was a bunch of healthy stuff.

My plan is to skip the fast food this week.

I don't have all the time in the world for meals, so I bought some frozen stuff.

For lunch, I stole Stesha's salad ideas.

It wasn't hard to mimic, but it's so good!

I pulled together a meal.

After lab (and an abdominal check off...yeah!), I came home to a package from my parents.

It would have cookies...you know...since I'm trying to be healthy.

They are so dang good!

I had to decide if I wanted to jump straight into Patho or take a break.

I decided to make dinner.

I needed some food power.

I had also received some Parmesan Romano in my care package.

I decided on my regular squash/zucchini fix.

I paired it with a panini and another salad (I'm addicted).

Yes, I did finish the final chapter I needed to read before I take my Patho exam.

I plan on spending all day tomorrow reviewing and really understanding all the concepts.

I may or may not take the exam tomorrow. I will for sure take it by the end of Sunday.

There was a nursing school/ business school mixer tonight, but I'm just wiped out.

I've been relaxing =)

Cheers.

I really can't think of a title

The MOST exciting thing happened to me today!!!

I hit 62,000 miles in the TBlaze.

Ok, ok. I'm kidding

Lecture was very informative today. We finished up the cardiovascular and peripheral system assessment. The professor gives us many examples of what can go wrong and what we should do under certain situations. It makes it easy for me to get a grasp on everything and reinforce what I've read. My brain feels like a sponge that keeps absorbing all this material (Assessment material....not patho...hahahahha).

I chose to relax during the 3 hour gap in my schedule.

Caught up on the DVR shows...etc.

Today's lab was a catch up.

My partner and I decided to listen to Mr. Sim's lungs and heart.

Mr. Sim can have a wide variety of things wrong with him.

We were able to listen to normal lung sounds, pneumonia, wheezing, etc.

On the heart we could hear murmurs and a lot of other abnormal sounds.

Mr. Sim

I winded down from school with a 3 mile run.

My knee gave me a little issue, so I walked for about 5 minutes in the middle of the run.

post run

card I got in the mail from my parents!

I read another chapter in patho this evening.

Now, it's time for some Duke basketball!

Hump Day

The week is halfway over!

Everything is falling into place and I'm almost into a routine.

I've managed to get 8 hours of sleep every night. You wouldn't know it, I have raccoon eyes.

It rained all day.

Gloomy weather.

I was approached by a man with a Bible on campus today who didn't understand the word "No".

There is no need to be pushy. That is just going to drive people away.

2 of our lab checkoffs were combined this week...so my lab partner and I got all caught up!

It feels good.

Tomorrow's lab is kind of a free day to study whatever we want.

One of the best things about being in nursing school is being surrounded by nurses.

I asked my clinical instructor what she thought about my swollen finger and she told me to clean it and put some neosporin on it.

I did just that!

This evening was spent reading a Chapter in my 7 lb Pathophysiology book.

I'm just glad I got it done.

We were able to sign up for our clinical sites.

The only thing we could choose was the city and the day.

I was lucky enough to get a site in Durham on Fridays.

It just so happens my group of friends chose the same day =)

I can't wait to start, but I've got another 4 weeks or so.

Time to relax

Finger Pain

As I anticipated, today was long.

We spent around 2 hours going around the room introducing ourselves.

This would have been helpful during orientation, but now I know a lot of these people.

I did learn some interesting things about my classmates, though.

There's a gospel singer, cow inseminator, many bakers, wedding cake makers, and me.

In intro to nursing, we talked about values.

How to work with people with different values...etc.

This was followed by an ATI seminar.

ATI materials

ATI is a company that helps nursing students pass the NCLEX.

After 5 hours of non-stop nursing fun (note sarcasm), it was lunch time.

Some chose to sleep:

As the day went on, I noticed a horrible pain radiating from my right ring finger.

It started to swell, get red, and generate heat =(

It's very sensitive and makes the simplest tasks (like typing) very hard.

I soaked it in warm salt water for a bit.

notice my poor, cracked knuckles

my finger has a heartbeat

I'm glad I have friends to keep my mind off of stupid things like finger pain.

I give you...

WOMEN WHO LAUGH ALONE WITH SALAD

Here is a preview:

3 hours of Patho just about killed me...and everyone else.

Time to come home and do some reading.

I finished up my last quiz for this week and cleaned up the house a bit.

I can now focus on Patho the rest of the week (first exam this week).

The rents sent me a package!

goodies from home

Time to call it a night and relax.

Make up

We are still playing catch up after the snow day the first week of class.

Today's make up: lunch with our advisors.

The regular lot was completely full by the time I got to school at 11 AM. This was very apparent because everyone was circling the parking lot in their cars.

Some parked illegally, but I went on an adventure to find the overflow lot.

I found it, circled, and parked.

I measured the distance: .65 miles.

blerg.

So, after that "adventure" in the cold:

We were given lunch (Jason's Deli...yum!), and joined our "team".

There were around 7 or 8 others and we all had a chance to ask questions and get to know our advisor... as well as each other.

I printed off some notes for tomorrow and then hiked back to my car.

I came home and once again attempted to take the 4th Quiz in Assessment.

Blackboard (website for class notes, lectures, quizzes, exams etc) was being sketchy last night. I had planned on taking Quiz 4 last night, but it wouldn't let me into the system.

Well, today I was able to begin the quiz.

Half-way in, Alley (cat) decided to start heaving.

I run, grab her, and dart towards the bathroom.

I was trying to save the carpet by placing her over the linoleum flooring.

Half went one way, half went the other.

All I knew is that I needed to get back to my quiz (these things are timed).

The quiz decided to lock me out of the system when I had 2 questions remaining.

Awesome.

I clicked around and for some reason it let me get back into the quiz.

Luck.

After that catastrophe, I read another chapter and knocked out the 5th Quiz.

I had some motivation.

Stesha had invited me over to help finish off the leftovers from Saturday night.

I was happy to oblige.

Once again, I ate wonderfully and Stesha didn't disappoint.

Here I am now, relaxing and getting ready for tomorrow.

We have to be up at school an hour and half before class for faculty introductions.

I believe that will conclude the make ups for orientation.

It's going to be a long day.

Balance

I planned on crashing pretty early on Friday night.

I ended up talking to the boyfriend, cooking chili, and braiding my hair.

hah!

my first batch

I awoke Saturday afternoon to this:

I made my first oopsie.

I left a candle on over night.

Go ahead and gasp.

It wasn't in a location where it could get knocked over by the cat...I lived.

Moving on.

I spent the afternoon studying for Applied Statistics.

This was the first time I looked at any of this material.

It's really easy to forget about online classes.

I finished the first Chapter and watched the first lecture online.

So far, so good.

It's not too bad.

I took a break to watch Duke defeat Wake Forest.

I figured it was time to go ahead and buy the software we need for our PDAs/iphone.

After that, I got ready to head over to Stesha and Dez's apartment.

They invited me and some others over for dinner.

Stesha would be cooking flank steak, potatoes, and a salad.

I took a detour along the way and bought some notebooks, highlighters, and post-its at Office Depot.

We started out with some chips and a nice dip Nicole brought.

Once the food was ready, we dug in!

sooo gooood

just seeing this picture makes my mouth water all over again

Stesha has mad skills in the kitchen.

After dinner, we all chatted while The Notebook was playing in the background.

Stesha noticed some boys down by the pool building a fire...so we all headed down.

It was 22 degrees outside, but the fire felt wonderful.

One of Stesha's friends from college made delicious cookies from scratch.

Around 11 PM, a compliance officer decided it was a good idea to come down and yell at us.

I've never been talked to so horribly.

She treated us like we were 5 years old.

I'm just going to make a long story short and say we all went back up to their apartment and then headed out.

I got home and went to bed at a decent hour.

I slept in this morning and then worked on my lab write up.

Every Monday morning we have a lab write up of the 3 labs we have done the previous week.

It took me a couple of hours, but I had pleasant interruptions from Katie and Lindsay.

I treated myself to a run after that was complete.

The opossum is still there.

3 miles later, I'm done...and this brings me to now.

I'm going to make some dinner and try to knock out a Quiz in Assessment.