Study Study Study

Thursday's plan was to get up and go to lab for 3 hours and then come back home, crawl in bed, and sleep for hours.

This is what actually happened:

I made my way to lab where we were quickly split into groups.

My first station was learning how to use different types of oxygenation.

There are multiple masks with different percentages of oxygen.

My CI made up a hilarious scenario where we walked in and she pretended to be smoking in the bathroom. What did we all do? Laughed.

This is while we should have been helping our "patient" into her bed and telling her that smoking is not permitted in the hospital. Especially around oxygen.

At the next station we learned how to appropriately put on sterile gloves. It sure is tricky. There are tons of rules. Once they are on you cannot raise your hands above your shoulders or lower them below your waist. This would be outside your "sterile field".

Last but not least: Trach care.

I found it pretty exciting, but then again I'm a nerd.

I just can't wait until there is real mucus coming out and stinking up the place.

Instead of going home to sleep, Stesha kept bringing up food and got my tummy craving a burrito again.

The catch?

There was a review for our exam that we had last week.

I got sucked into that.

It wasn't all that bad. I learned what I got wrong on the exam and moved on.

Then a group of us went to Armadillo Grill once again and had girl talk.

The walk to lunch:

it was a gorgeous day!

The weather felt like spring, but there are no buds =(

We walked into the Bryan center and spotted these cookies

We ended up talking to the Duke police for a couple of minutes and I enjoyed the dang thing.

After lunch, the girls were heading to the library to study for Patho.

I study better at home, but I stopped in to show them the gothic reading room.

Oh, I spotted a dead bird in the parking lot.

I thought you would all enjoy....

I planned on studying patho all day Thursday, but I ended up lounging and sleeping.

I woke up on Friday and put in hours of studying patho and did the same today.

full moon on Friday night

I finally took the patho exam around 7 or so tonight.

It's done and I'm happy.

Relaxation time

mmm burrito

What makes a long day full of lecture bearable?

Trying a TexMex place for the first time with friends.

It was a beautiful day outside and I enjoyed the walk to West Campus.

I guess I should mention that Armadillo Grill is located on campus in the Bryan Center.

IT seemed like they were more known for their tacos, but I went for the burrito along with my buddies.

My belly was happy and ready to finish up our 6 hour lecture for the day.

We learned about oxygenation and mobility for the most part.

Our teacher shared a video and a website with us.

This man has cystic fibrosis and has one of the best attitudes I've ever seen.

I made it home with the intention of getting my work for the night out of the way and going for a run.

My lock was jammed again and I had to wait for maintenance to let me in.... =(

I still got my stuff done and got a 3 mile run in.

...in 26 minutes!

I haven't gone that "fast" in forever!

I'd like to thank the stress of nursing school, burrito power, and my dang lock for getting me to go that fast.

My plan for this evening is to clean up my DVR.

=)

TV time for Rachel

It's all new again

I wish I could have hit the snooze button for 2 hours this morning.

In Intro to Nursing, we had a little pop quiz over legal issues in nursing.

We had the time to review it afterwards to see why each correct answer was the best choice.

Our lunchtime speaker session was over research opportunities that we can get involved in. It isn't something we need to jump into right away. Most students get involved more in their 3rd or 4th semester.

I had a wee little bit of time to down my lunch and head on over to my first flex lab.

Everyone has lab either Thursdays or Fridays for 3 hours

BUT

we are also required to sign up for additional lab time: flex lab

I don't understand why they don't just make lab 4 hours long. It sounds like a way to get around the fact that this is a 7 hour course, yet we are actually spending more time than that.

The flex lab was over personal hygiene...mostly on giving a bed bath, changing the bed with a patient in it, oral care, and the basic usage of the hospital bed.

I was the patient in the scenario today. I got to lay in bed for about 20 minutes and it felt amazing.

Directly after it was Patho class time.

We are on the topic of hematology. It isn't the hardest topic...so I kept up most of the class. We went over two hematology cases that were due in class.

The second exam for patho is now available online for the next week. I have a lot of studying ahead of me and I'm drained.

The only thing I could get myself to do after class was shop.

I needed groceries and I needed them bad.

All of my food was either out of date or rotten.

I came home and had a wonderful dinner that consisted of the most random things.

I was just happy to have options.

I finished up an ATI Skills module to prepare for lab on Thursday. I still have 2 more to do. The skills modules consist of vocab, videos with step by step guides on how to perform tasks, and a pre & post test. We have to turn in each post test when we enter lab each week.

This week is almost like the first because the schedule changed and everything is new.

I no longer have class on Fridays. They will be occupied with clinical after spring break, but for now I have 3 day weeks =)

We have moved out of assessment and are now onto other skills: catheters, ivies etc.

I think after this week I will be back on my toes. I'm trying to catch up on lost study time.

Wedding Weekend

After being out of Texas for 37 days, I hopped on a plane to come back!

Let's rewind back to last Friday:

I woke up nice and early to prepare myself for my first in class exam.

I was nervous, but not stressed to the point of no return.

The exam itself was not TOO bad. I was relaxed and got through it.

One of the girls in my class baked us all yummy cookies to enjoy after the test.

I zoomed on home and got ready to leave for the airport.

It was my first time to drive and park at the RDU, so I left a bit early.

I had no problems finding the remote parking and waiting for the bus to pick me up.

Check in went smoothly and I couldn't wait to get on that plane!

So far, so good.

We leave the terminal and head for the runway...and then...

The engine shuts down and the pilot tells us we cannot go anywhere.

"Say again?"

I had just under 40 minutes for a layover in Charlotte, so I began to have an anxiety attack.

I was almost positive I was going to miss my connecting flight.

Long story short: I freaked, sprinted, and sweated...but I made it on my connecting flight.

No joke, we landed 25 minutes before my next flight took off.

Once I made it on the plane to Austin, I relaxed a bit.

The guy next to me on the plane enjoyed 4 bottles of airplane wine and struck up a conversation with me.

Once we landed I got really excited/nervous.

I hadn't seen my boyfriend in over a month and I got butterflies.

He was stuck in Austin traffic so I went ahead and changed for the rehearsal dinner.

I was so excited to see him when he drove up. I gave him a big hug and we hit the road.

It turns out a lot of people were running behind, so we weren't at all that late.

I'm not a huge BBQ fan, but I give the place props. It was pretty tasty.

After the dinner we headed to the resort. I got to check out the awesome room for the first time and we all sat back and relaxed.

A big majority of the guests were all hanging out at the hotel bar...so we joined.

Wedding weekends are just so much fun.

By the time we woke up and had lunch on Saturday, it was time to get ready.

The boy left for his groomsman duties. I stayed behind with his friend Neal and we headed to the ceremony around 4:45.

Promptly at 5, it was time to begin.

Enter: music

Bride

...and good old fashioned lovey dovey kisses

I couldn't get over how pretty everything was.

The view was amazing..

the food was great...

...and you have to give a shout out to the lighting

cake cutting

first dance

the night was young and went on for many more hours

We had to check out Sunday at noon.

our balcony view

We decided to have some pizza for lunch:

it was delicious!

I offered to drive, yes...offered...was not forced....so the boy could study.

We had a 3 hour drive from Austin to Houston.

We celebrated our first Valentines and relaxed all night.

...and I might have forced him to watch When Harry Met Sally...but I couldn't resist =)

Monday morning came way too soon and I had to say goodbye.

I boarded my plane and prepared to get back into the real world once again.

Everything was going so smoothly: no delays or anything.

...and then I get home

ready to pass out on the couch

and what happens?

my lock is jammed

So I continued to wait for 30 minutes until the maintenance guy could help me out.

Right now, I'm dead.

Night

oh, and happy valentine's day

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

I forgot to share that my lab partner has mad drawing/organizational skills.

She drew all this out in front of me while we practiced our head to toe assessment.

In case you were wondering (I'm sure you're chomping at the bit..hah!) this is what the head to toe consists of:

Yep, that is what is expected of us during the check-off.

Yesterday was a full day of classes and I had planned on practicing the head to toe after school around 4.

They had one of the CND mannequins all decked out for Valentine's day.

I knew I needed some food before we got started.

Dez, Stesha, and I went on a hunt to try a new place.

We decided on pizza and it turned out to be a mistake.

It was yummy and all...I mean look at that grease, but it made me feel sick about 2 hours later.

My partner and I practiced our head to toe once and then headed out.

This was my first time at school after dark.

I snapped a shot of the nursing building on our walk out.

By the time this morning rolled around, I was ready for my head to toe exam!

My buddy in the Clipp building wished me luck.

I banged it out in 20 minutes flat and made it look "effortless".

Who knew?

Look at me go

oh yeah, I passed =)

I wandered around campus with Dez and Belle for some time.

Then I went back to Dez's for a pasta lunch...mmm!

I decided to head home and work on vocab for my lecture exam in assessment that is Friday morning.

I finished that up and worked on my professional organization paper.

I actually got it done just in time for the DUKE vs. UNC game.

I went over to Stez's( my new name for Stesha+ Dez) place to watch the game.

Carolina kicked our butts in the first half, but we came around and ended up defeating them 79-73!

soooo happpppy

Time to prepare for a day of studying and packing tomorrow!