# six. November 27, 2009

Black Thursday.

Is that what it’s called? Apparently people camp out in tents and wake up at 3:00 am to stand in line to buy things that are 37% off, or something like this. This is craziness. Utter insanity, and so I determined not to set foot in a store today- I mean, most days I don’t set foot in stores, but today of all days; “Black Thursday” is the epitome of American over-the-top consumerism, so if there’s a day to protest consumerism, it’s probably today. I think shopping can be unnecessary and it’s probably mostly greedy, and so it makes me sad. It makes me more sad that I get sucked in to it sometimes and that I give in and buy things that I don’t really need or want.

So today against my own conscious, but not my will… (studying will drive you to do the craziest things!) I took a study break to admire books and pretty clothes that I don’t actually need. Admiring is okay. Touching the fabric and books is okay. Smelling the books is weird, but also okay-however, buying them should be done on Amazon or a place like this where you can buy or trade recycled books.

http://www.swaptree.com/home/

I am thankful that I have everything I need. That is my happy today- that even though the weather is very very cold and I can see my breath in the air, I have all the warm snuggly things I need to keep me warm.

happy #5 November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

There is a lot to be thankful for today besides gluten free, vegan chocolate cake.

It’s strange spending the holidays with people who are not your family, and so in many ways I was filled with missing people.

But today, there were many lovely happy things that let me forget some of  my missing.

Such as:

3-d Christmas movie, gourmet vegan dinner,  gourmet vegan dinner take 2, and then laughing so hard my stomach hurt! Gotta love those i phone apps.

# 4 November 25, 2009

Excessive amounts of soy ice cream. Jasper. Friends!!

Yoffee is so sophisticated. Also he is single. ((by choice, just fyi))

Happy #3 November 24, 2009

The only item to be crossed off my “to do” list today.

Get on flight!

happy #2 November 23, 2009

This morning when I approached my bike I noticed a big bright gold bow on the handle bar- compliments of Carron.

I absolutely did not remove it, nor do I intend to, because a big bright gold bow is pretty darn cute if you ask me.

Thanks Carron for giving me and easy #2!

Oh and one more happy…

Dr Taylor.

This is the second time this semester she has busted a move to teach us something pathological. Today it was arrhythmias to the beat of none other than Johnny Cash. You can never go wrong with Johnny Cash when you’re doing the atrial-fib or tach-tach-tachycardia! Just imagine your professor bobbing up and down to this-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEV58ztuihs

patho class. Good times.

40 happiness-es. November 22, 2009

The combination of nursing school and Baltimore sometimes put me in a bad mood. I bust on Baltimore a lot. Probably more than the average person. I blame it on Washington state though.  It’s such an amazing state, that it makes every other state seem to pale in comparison. Washington is like the gorgeous popular older sibling. That’s right- it’s got the brains and the body. We have UW, Mt. Rainer, the Pacific ocean, and the Olympic Peninsula.

However…

This brings me to my  New Years Resolution, which I have decided to start early.  I just counted… there are 40 days left in 2009, so for the next forty days, I’m going to focus on more positive things that are happening amidst my semi-chaotic existence of balancing this accelerated nursing program- living in this city- and all the challenges that arise from being far from my family.

I think about positive things, but sometimes the thoughts that leave my brain and form into the words that leave my mouth- can be less than happy, sweet, or optimistic. I don’t like that. So forty positive bloggings about happy things. No Baltimore-busting, no individualized patient care plan-complaining, no Washington-comparisons. I’m going to be good. I promise!

#1.

The weather yesterday was absolutely charming. If I could whistle, it would have been the perfect occasion for it. Explicitly cheesy behavior is completely appropriate when the weather is unusually good.  My wonderful friend Ashley was coming to visit up from Virginia Beach, and as I waited for her, I was walking near the Inner Harbor, enjoying the sunshine, blue sky, and the crunch that fall leaves make under your boots. It was as close to perfect that it’s gonna get here in Balmer. Ashely and I caught up at Pazo over tapas, and good wine and also over getting lost as we navigated our way through the city at night. Lovely conversations with a lovely woman who is going to school to do amazing things. I am very proud!

I have a very wonderful friend and I am very lucky.

~Rachel

**does that underlined-line count as a positive remark? I think it’s borderline negative. Shoot… sorry I failed on blog entry #1. I will do better tomorrow!!

48.7% November 14, 2009

(i wrote this for my blog at for my school, and I like it….)

Today, as a friend and I stood on the sidewalk across from the grocery store, I exclaimed, “Wow! Do you see what I see?!”

“A Christmas Tree!”

Okay Whole Foods, a little premature, but we don’t mind! Hello Christmas!!

And with that said, we, the Accelerated class of 2010, are one holiday closer to becoming RNs! Soon it will be hearts plastered over the windows, Shamrocks, Easter bunnies, and then, can you believe it? Graduation will be here. Sometimes it feels like the year is dragging on- Patient Care plan, after Patient Care plan, but then you are amazed that you can even write a Patient care plan, as you look down at your feet and see boots, remembering that when you first arrived you were wearing flip flops and attending class everyday pretty much covered in sweat on account of the East coast humidity.

How the time flies…

Being a one half nurse is a great feeling- for all of our not-knowing, we have so much more knowing that we could have ever possibly imagined. I mean, I can tell you about cancer, how and why and even what drugs to take! This is insanity. This is coming from a woman who got her undergrad in Arts and Social Sciences and Elementary Ed., who was terrified of Biology and preferred reading and writing poetry to wondering about cells and how the body worked.

Now I wonder about cells. I am absolutely fascinated.

Our second semester is coming to a close, we have learned ¾ of our drugs, and on Wednesday, 3/4 of our diseases. We’ve watched babies be caught, and we’ve practiced, practiced, and then practiced therapeutic communication some more with our mental health patients. OB was great- babies are wonderful, but then so are patients with dementia. This is my unit. Other students are on units with patients who have major depressive disorders, eating disorders, schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder, chronic pain, substance abuse issues, and obsessive compulsive disorders. Incredibly fascinating and incredibly devastating….but we have learned and seen that there is hope for many of these patients.

We are all learning to talk and to be the intervention to the patient. A lot of the time it’s listening, some of the time it’s redirecting someone and calming them down, other times it ‘s coloring pictures, and sometimes it’s sitting with the patient to just be there. It’s weird to think about your very presence being therapeutic- no talking, no teaching, no BP cuff, no listening to lung sounds, but just being. It’s a shift in thinking, we often feel like saying, but I should do this, or this! But I think we have all learned a lot about how to talk and how to be patient, and how to be non-judgmental, and how to just be.

~Enjoy your Thanksgiving! I’m off to model the grocery store and prematurely bask in the Christmas season with music while I study Patho!

 

happy birthday November 3, 2009

Yep, it’s true. Another year has passed! If I didn’t have a Pharmacology exam

with 48 drugs to memorize, I might be singing something other

than, “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.” This Pharm party is not a very fun way to spend the

old birthday-day!

Ahhh nursing school… Life is funny, in an ironic way, and in

in a ‘ha ha’sort of way too.

ha! take that October 26, 2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33483153/ns/health-pregnancy/

sometimes i love baltimore. October 25, 2009

fall is pretty

and Jenny and baby Jaida are lovely.

I love Jaida

she kicks Jenny all day long and she makes my Jenny go…. “fwoooooooooo”when she breathes.

Also I love Jaida because she is helpful. Jenny and I are indecisive.

“Jenny, are you hungry, wanna eat?

I don’t care.

Do you want to eat Rachel?

I don’t care.

Well what do you want to eat?

I dunno. What do you want to eat Rachel?

I don’t know.

Jaaaida??? Are you hungry? Yes!!  Do you want tofu!? Yes!!”

oh Jaida, I love you!

Jenny and Jaida.

exerpt from jonathan foer’s new book…. “eating animals” October 12, 2009

When I was 9, I had a baby sitter who didn’t want to hurt anything. She put it just like that when I asked her why she wasn’t having chicken with my older brother and me.

“Hurt anything?” I asked.

“You know that chicken is chicken, right?”

Frank shot me a look: Mom and Dad entrusted this stupid woman with their precious babies?

Her intention might or might not have been to convert us, but being a kid herself, she lacked whatever restraint it is that so often prevents a full telling of this particular story. Without drama or rhetoric, skipping over or euphemizing, she shared what she knew.

My brother and I looked at each other, our mouths full of hurt chickens, and had simultaneous how-in-the-world-could-I-have-never-thought-of-that-before-and-why-on-earth-didn’t-someone-tell-me? moments. I put down my fork. Frank finished the meal and is probably eating a chicken as I type these words.

What our baby sitter said made sense to me, not only because it seemed so self-evidently true, but also because it was the extension to food of everything my parents had taught me. We don’t hurt family members. We don’t hurt friends or strangers. We don’t even hurt upholstered furniture. My not having thought to include farmed animals in that list didn’t make them the exceptions to it. It just made me a child, ignorant of the world’s workings. Until I wasn’t. At which point I had to change my life.

((the link to the rest of this article is in go vegan- great read))

letter for you, neighbor. October 8, 2009

** Yes, this will be hanging on the little clip on her/his door.**

Dear Neighbor who lives in the apartment above me,

Hello! You don’t know me, but I live directly below you, in fact, I’m 99% sure that your bedroom is RIGHT above mine, and because the layout of this room is so weird, your bed is also probably in a very similar spot. So hey! We practically know each other, which is good, except for the fact that  you and I are having some major issues, and I thought we might try and clear them up in case we actually meet face to face someday.  You don’t want me to give you the stink eye. (I’m passive aggressive like that.)

You see, it’s like this. You’re kind of driving me crazy because you’re making me tired.  I’m a full time nursing student so I need sleep like I never have before. I need at least 7 .5 hours and you are making this an impossible goal. My ears feel irritated, and dark circles are forming under my eyes…  and it’s because I wake up early every morning since you moved in.

You thump. I stare at the ceiling. I grumble to no one in particular (since you can’t hear me) I calmly ask, “Are. You. Serious?” Sometimes, less calmly, I add, “SERIOUSLY!?”  and I might pull my covers over my head (no, it does not help- it just feels dramatic) depending on how tired I am. But I consider myself a nice person, so I want to give you the benefit of the doubt.

I don’t think you want to intentionally make my mornings a little miserable, but there are possible bad habits which are causing a real rift in our apartment neighbor relationship.

I have tried to imagine what the heck is happening up there that creates the noise your feet make when they THUD! THUD! THUD!! directly above my sleepy head. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. You have a vigorous morning exercise ritual. You do several jumping jacks in the morning at your bedside.

2. You have a vigorous morning exercise ritual. You jump in place, then do laps around your bed.

3. Your bed posts are really high- like three feet off the ground- high, so you literally jump off your bed in the morning… but then you decide to make the jumping down and climbing back up part of that exercising, so you do it several times every morning.

Also, I should mention… I noticed you vacuum most nights at about 11:30 pm. Why?  Oh, and how could I forget, you open then slam your dresser drawers shut. Are you angry at your clothes?

Might I suggest?

1. Use the apartment gym to exercise. It’s  practically right out side our apartment door! You can run, you can do jumping jacks and you can even lift some weights.

2. Hang up your clothes or if you really hate them so much, take them all out of your drawers and give them to Goodwill.

3. Tennis balls. I figure I can lay them on the pillow next to me and when you get a little  out of control with the exercising, I can chuck them at the ceiling as a gentle  reminder for you to get yourself to the gym!

Be well and please, less stomping, it’s driving me crazy,

Rachel

September 30, 2009

I’ve been working on the labor and delivery unit for a month now…watch this video, http://vimeo.com/6344770 (at least the beginning where the nurse describes what happens typically when a woman comes in).

It’s true. The cascade I’ve seen for nearly every patient is this:  early first stage labor (came in probably too early), IV fluids, continuous fetal monitoring, toco (to measure contractions) mom is now allowed to get up and is stuck in bed due to continuous monitoring, slow progressing labor (most likely due to being stuck in bed and laying on her back), several vaginal exams, artificially rupture her membranes, pitocin, epidural, foley catheter… then either (pushing with and epidural- which can be ineffective so you get: episotomies, tearing, both, neither (hopefully) or the vacuum, maybe some fetal distress (heart rate decreases) and then the ever convenient Cesarean birth.) Hire a doula and midwife, and statistically your chances of this ‘cascade’ happening go down, down down. (I posted some journal references so you can look them up if you’d like, those are only three of MANY studies done. I don’t have the time to write them all out, but you get the point.) You don’t have to be afraid of hospitals or docs. That’s not the point.

Just be educated and then be empowered ladies.

References.

Ballen, L. & Fulcher, A. (2006) Nurses and doulas: Comlemntary roles to provide optimal maternity care. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing, 35, 304-311.

Scott, K. D., Klaus, P. H., & Klaus, M.H. (1999) The obstetrical and postpartum benefits of continuous support during childbirth. Journal of Women’s Health & Gender-Based Medicine, 8, 1257-1264

VanZandt, S., Edward, L., & Jordan, E. (2003). Lower epidural anesthesia use associated with labor support by student nurse doulas: Implications for intrapartal practice. Complemntary Therapies in Clinical Practice. 11, 153-160

groceries can be rough. September 27, 2009

Oh the life of a college student living in the city…with no car… who is in need of napkins.

My bike, though I love it, only fits about one bag of groceries. So what do you do when you have to buy tofu, bananas, laundry detergent, and napkins? It’s like “The Perfect Storm.” It’s practically a crisis situation.

Observe:

I told my napkins to stay on, and I was only semi confident that they actually would- but after just getting out of a 7 1/5 hour Sunday class, I was too tired for things like good-judgment or rationale. They took way too much energy at that point.

Ever have one of those days? So this is how it played out: First it started to sprinkle. (And by the way: Walking in the rain? Good. Running? Better. Biking? I’d rather memorize 15 drugs- for fun.) Then, I dropped my keys in the middle of the crosswalk (remember the long class/tired/lack of judgment thing?) So I turned around, grabbed my keys and while bending over, my beloved orange tic tacs fell out of my pocket. I laughed. But my napkins? Intact.

I made it halfway home- feeling like “Yah, I could buy napkins anytime! No biggie! …but then when I glanced back I noticed my napkins had dislodged themselves. Did I turn around for them? Um. Yes.  There they were, rectangular and bright yellow packaging- in all their recycled-napkin glory. I grabbed them, (keys and orange tic tacs now safely zipped into my pocket) held them in my left hand, smiled at the elderly couple in the car who did not run me over (or my napkins for that matter) and went on my way- noticing that the drizzle had stopped.

The days of getting to pick more than five items at the grocery store are long gone. The days are here when I have to choose between salsa and a pound of grapes, buying napkins stresses me out, and toilet paper? (shudder) yah, that’s a 45 minute bus ride- You better bet your buns, we’re stocked up on that stuff. I don’t want to be biking through the drizzly city droppin my TP in the middle of the intersection. (I don’t care if it’s packaged- I’d adopt the same rule we have at the hospital- “If it drops, leave it!”

oh city. You make me miss my car terribly.

ladies. this blog is for you. September 21, 2009

Ever since I started taking Nursing the Childbearing Family and doing my clinicals on the Labor and Delivery unit, I have somehow become the self proclaimed expert of obstetrics. Seriously, advice that you didn’t ask for, keeps falling out of my mouth, such as, “Take folic acid- NOW. I don’t care if you’re not planning on being pregnant yet, just do it. Seriously!”  See? I can’t help it! I’m all full of opinions and often find myself wishing that I could take all my friends and shrink them down to pocket sized people so I could bring them to class and the hospital.

But alas, that is impossible… I was going to blog about some “opinions” I now have, like,

Ask your doctor if he is experienced in vaginal deliveries with an intact perineum, (that is, can he do it without an episiotomy). Ask this before you pick him.  Don’t go to the hospital just because your water breaks, wait until your contractions are  regular and about 3-5 minutes apart- that’s if you don’t want to be a likely candidate for a cesarean section. (30.1% in the US and climbing… ) Vegan pregnancy? Yes. If you are pregnant, take classes and educate yourself about the birthing process. You’ll feel empowered by your body, instead of scared when those contractions hit and you want to give up. Watch The business of Being Born before you get pregnant. Hire a doula. Consider a midwife.

but I will refrain from spouting off too much advice… don’t want to seem so radical that you don’t believe me! Hahaha

More to come. Especially if you are of childbearing age and you are on my cell phone contact list.

hi! September 9, 2009

Someday, I’m going to prove that studying actually does burn a TON of calories (the more complex the material- the more calories you burn)- if I can’t prove that, then I’m going to prove that working on a Labor and Delivery unit all day long increases your appetite-  because it has something to do with vicarious longings or some form of subconscious pregger’s-belly-envy. I have no idea…But I’ll figure it out and get back to you someday.

That was my back to school introduction!

So yes, I’m back , and it’s taken a week and a half for me to be say with honesty this next sentence…”I’m excited about this semester!”

My brain has never been asked to be stretched further, the workload has not been this intense- and yes, probably due to the constant running around, or the biking around everywhere on my new bike -(Yay!), there is now my continuous need for sustenance! And seriously- studying Pharmacology and trying to remember drug-this and drug-that… it makes me quite famished!

But as I eluded to earlier, there is another reason (perhaps!?) for my famish’ed’ness. Labor and Delivery! I LOVE my classes this semester- namely my OB and Birth Companions classes. Pregnant women are lovely- and babies- what can I say about new beautiful babies-I’ll just sighhhhhhhh…instead………..

On my first day when I got to see a delivery- I practically passed out- not because of all the blood or the placenta that was placed in the blue tray in front of me, but because I was in love. I think I floated home from the hospital that night and my feet didn’t touch down until the next day. Labor and delivery is making my semester.

Then there’s birth companions- Amazing! I am so excited! By the end of the class we qualify to be Doulas (birth companions). The even better thing- is that they are internationally recognized through DONA, and this is very conducive for my goals, so this is good! (DONA site)

What else? What else? There’s my bike. Love her. She’s taking me all around the city and this has exponentially increased my satisfaction with my geographical locale.

I guess I could ramble on and on about other amzing things that have happened this semester- involving Dentists, a marathon, Mya (!), and my sweet class at the school of public heath on Humanitarian Emergencies….but… I think I’ll spare you the details or write about them later.

Peace- Rachel

the beach. August 23, 2009

the wind, pushed forward by the waves of the sea

(as if propelled)

moves across the sand,

gracefully

surprisingly gracefully.

so that when it reaches me

it’s  a soft exhale

that moves the fine unkempt hairs

horizontally

over my closed eye lids.

who knew that even when

the wind makes us ticklish

we can contemplate

the world.

August 14, 2009

Why hello there! It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that I had something to say that didn’t have to do with “you know what” ((whispers) nursing school). I recently told my roommate (proudly, I might add) that I hadn’t thought about “you know what” all day- but then questioned if thinking about how you haven’t thought about something, actually counts as thinking about the thing itself. I’m pretty sure it does not. But perhaps I’m lying to myself in a desperate attempt to escape anything nursing school- at least for three weeks that is. Omy. Because of my words, you are probably thinking to yourself. “Wow, she really hates school!” Not true- it’s just that… let me explain… Someone recently asked me if  nursing school was ‘kicking my ass’, I told them that it didn’t kick it  so much as it made it sore. That’s right. It’s not school in itself that  I desperately needed a break from; it was the building, it was Baltimore in general. We literally spent 12 1/2, 9 1/2, 7 1/2 (our blessed “short day”) hours sitting in classrooms, or being in lab. Then we’d come home and sit at our desks and work on assignments.

Our bony prominences hurt. Real bad! And if there’s one thing I can take away from my first semester, I’ve learned that long sedentary hours on bony prominences can lead to pressure ulcers. Bad news bears people. Don’t worry, I did not develop pressure ulcers on my prominences. I’m way too wiggly for that.

Aside from my  memories of my prominences, and soreness, and long hours in room 140, I am again, feeling happy as a lark, but this time, because I am free for two more weeks! 

In other unrelated happy news: 

Rachel got a bike!! (I don’t compeltely know why that was written in third person) but it’s awesome!! Way better than my expensive little REI bike that is sitting in Seattle. I got my vintage French red bike with a basket and bell (thank you Mya!) for $75!! I know, I know, you are soo jealous, but don’t judge me for what I am about to say… I deserved it.

In other not as exciting, but almost as equally important news: New York. I was there for the first time and it was splendid! I walked probably 20 miles (I’m totally serious) so I didn’t feel the least bit bad about my lack of self restraint as I ate a gluten free, vegan; oatmeal raisin cookie for breakfast, chocolate cupcake for dessert, and chocolate cheese cake for my other dessert. 

 

Alrighty friends! Sorry to rush off in such a hurry, but I have just been informed that I must finish now! I’m on my way to the beach with a car full of bikes! 

More soon!

Loves!

five is the magic number! July 22, 2009

As of about three weeks ago, there is this little five word phrase that continuously echos through the halls of our school. It makes its way up the stairs, to the line of our favorite coffee cafe where we wait for shots of espresso and bagels, and into our tired little ears.

I am so over it.

This little phrase has come in so handy these last few weeks because it has centered me.  It may sound like I’m  just being apathetic and irresponsible, or slightly immature, but really, it’s just a unique (or not so unique) way of saying that I am REALLY tired and I am at that moment, actively evaluating my priorities and shifting them from a place that makes me really unbalanced and unhappy to having perspective and choosing to be quite happy with my present circumstances!

Part of my philosophy this semester has been “work hard, but not too hard,” so that I  can smile, laugh a lot, and actually have fun and have a life in nursing school. (As opposed to saying it was the worst year of my life, which we’ve heard!) Everybody’s goals here are different. Some of us come in wanting straight A’s. And some people will actually accomplish that. But to do that, meaningful relationships, adequate time away from school, and sleep have to be put on hold for 13.5 months. After day one, I realized this would be impossible for me. Plus we got an awesome lecture from one of my favorite professors on how beautiful the letter B was and how curvaceous and cute C’s were!

So last weekend, I chose to not study much for my exam, but instead took a much needed break to hike the Appalachian trail with Mark and Kelly and spend time with my new niece cat, Spicee and eat lots of delicious food and sleep.

Then, I got a B. I started to get my feathers ruffled for about three minutes and then thought to myself…”I am so over it!”

Translation: “Wait, I had a pretty awesome weekend. I would trade getting an A, for the Appalachian trail and the blue ridge mountains of Shenandoah and margaritas and great food and spending time with my brother and sister any day!”

So, school is busy. Really busy, when we run out of things to do, I think they just start making up new random assignments just because they can. But no matter, don’t let my comments or grades taint your veiw of my semester! It’s been great! It’s been full of school work; but also new friends, crazy festivals, phone converstations with people I love, Rhode Island, and weekends with Mark and Kelly! We  are officially drawing to a close, next week is our last week of classes! And I will officially be 1/4 of a nurse! yay! Next semester, my goal is to make it to week 11 before I start with the five words!

intentional needle sticks. July 16, 2009

Finals week is quickly approaching, and by “quickly”, I mean I have less then three, yes, THREE weeks of classes left and I am stoked. I rarely use that word, but it just felt so… appropriate. August will be like heaven! In four weeks I finally get to see New York and then go back to RI and Mass. where I will be able to catch up with friends, and then… there’s MYA! Oh my Mya! She will be flying here in 7 1/2 weeks and we can discover more of this city together. It will be amazing.

This is how I manage this program… You have just witnessed one of my best coping methods. I count down. I’m serious! I know exactly how much time I have left (45 weeks of classes/transitions). It’s a beautiful thing. Time is flying by and I am learning and learning and learning.

Once I was in seminary and that was hard because the more I learned the less I knew that I knew. Which in itself was not necessarily a bad thing. It was beautiful and humbling. But Theology is not something you can ever fully “get.” One can never truly accomplish the feat of knowing all there is to know about God. He is the perpetual wonderful mystery. So you find yourself fulfilled in your learning and your questions and your thoughts, but sometimes it’s hard accepting that you cant’ just pass a test and say “I’ve got it! It totally makes sense now!” Sometimes you still lay awake at night, and just wonder.

Here is where nursing school is the total opposite of seminary. It’s a different kind of beautiful and also a different kind of humbling. Everything is so tangible. We have studies, and statistics… we have evidence based practice- and then we have tests, (…and this is sometimes where our humility comes in!) I learn kinesthetically and I need to practice something so I can understand and retain it. This explains why last week even though it hurt so bad, I gave myself a subcutaneous shot in my thigh, a glucose stick on my finger and three of the same shot on my calf because I needed to figure out how to administer an intradermal shot properly. I wanted to make sure that when my patient trustingly gave me her arm, that I wouldn’t make her say “OUCH!” super loud like I did to myself in class last week. And so… I drew up my “meds”- again, and again and again and my leg had the tiniest little bruises, but I can give an ID shot! Also, I passed my sign offs for med administration, (woot! woot!) and last week in the hospital, the nurse I was working with on the unit let me check for glucose levels (that one hurts!) and give insulin to her patient. I was soooo excited- I brought it down probably five notches, then calmly walked into my patient’s room and told him what I was going to do…the best part? I told him, “I’m sorry, I know this really hurts, huh? I gave myself (Proudness!!) one last week to see what it felt like! We’ll be quick.” He just shrugged his shoulders and told me it was not big deal. Dang. (Humbleness!) My pain tolerance must be close to 1! I paid careful attention to my little purple/pink throbbing finger  throughout the morning and also spent the morning feeling very bad for diabetics and wondering if my finger would ever “heal!” We nursing students can become little hypochondriacs I guess. But this is another other blog. Sometime I will tell you about asking my roommate to do a peripheral vascular assessment on me at 11:00 pm, then asking if I could give her one (for comparison purposes!)

Well, that’s all my random news for now, two days till Friday- Washington DC, Mark and Kelly!! Yayyyy!

* ps. and just so you don’t freak out like my step mom (hahaha)  The syringes are filled with good old saline, so I’m not injecting myself with random expired drugs! She was like “Raachhhheellll, You be careful! Do not put all those drugs into yourself! You will get sick!” Hilarious.

*pss. peripheral vascualr assessment by roommate went well- We are apparently healthy! Phew!