A Few More Pictures

 

 And I finally figured it out...

a few more pictures from NYC!

Erin and I signing our marriage license after the judge married us.

 



 

Erin and I with Judge Milton A. Tingling. 

 

 

 

After we got our official marriage certificate!!

 

Can I get a witness??

 

 Cheers to the legally married couple!!

 

What a day it was.  Not even close to our real wedding back in October 2011, but still so wonderful to be legally married to my Erin!!  A HUGE thanks to our sister for coming to witness and for being such a huge support to us.  We are two very lucky ladies :)

Legally Married!

Erin and I went to New York City to make our marriage legal in the eyes of the law...well in 13 states at least!  We also had a fantastic witness get up at 4am to make the trip with us.  She is pretty great!  Timing of our legal marriage was also perfect...the day after DOMA was deemed unconstitutional.  Now Erin and I are recognized as a legally married couple by the federal government.  Hopefully this helps to get more states on board with legalizing and recognizing same-sex marriage.  Here are a few highlights of the day...June 25, 2013.



Up at 4am to be on the road a little after 5am!

 

 

After we were legally married...posed in the Wedding Garden :)

 

 

 

* It won't allow me to add more pictures to this post, I'll try another to add a few more pictures!

Trial Run

I am thoroughly enjoying my time off...unfortunately it is gong by WAY TOO FAST!! How is it Thursday already?!  I haven't even looked at my school work...I will most likely start organizing and maybe do a little reading sometime today or tomorrow...or Saturday, or Sunday.  I do have orientation material I have to go through before day 1 of clinical which is a few short days away!

I am lucky to have two carpool buddies for our first clinical placement.  We met at K.'s house and all drove together to see the best route and timing to get to the hospital.  It was ridiculously hot out and halfway to the hospital torrential downpour came.  Traffic was a mess and what should have taken maybe 30 minutes turned into about an hour drive.  This was midday, so hopefully at 6am, traffic will be a lot less.  I plan to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and do my our trial run, just to see what the traffic situation is at that hour.  I am a little perplexed with the carpool situation.  I live closest to the hospital and it seems (this coming from me who has NO sense of direction) driving to K or A's houses to meet and drive together is not a great plan for me.  I would be driving the opposite direction to just then turn around and drive back.  The plus side of this is having my classmates to decompress with after a long 9 hour day and also to maybe calm my nerves on the way to the hospital.  I will take my Erin's advice and try it for a couple days.  Worst case, I can just drive myself, best case my carpool buddies will drive to my house and we leave from here!  I'll keep you posted.

Part of me is so excited to be in a hospital and see nurses working, interact with patients and practice the skills I have learned.  The other part of me is TERRIFIED!  I am scared that I will screw up, make major mistakes, get so nervous I forget everything or make my patient angry!  The list could go on and on!!  Our clinical instructor sounds really nice.  We have only had email interaction, but the tone of her emails sound very understanding and thorough.  In the meantime, I will enjoy my last few days of break!!

Junior Year

Week 5 has come to an end.  I have passed another course!  This week was stressful (I am noticing a theme here).  All that panic and self-doubt around my lab final and I did fine.  I passed and was even given praise by the instructor (who also happens to be the program director) who tested me.  Whew!  I told her, in the form of word vomit when I was done, how terrified I was and that a huge load was lifted!! 

I am still in shock I am actually in nursing school and somehow succeeding...blows my mind.  The amount I have learned in these last 5 weeks is astonishing.  We have progressed into our junior year.  I am not sure how long we will be juniors, I suspect it will be longer then a couple weeks.

After our final today, we began our first break.  A whole week off!!  I am planning many fun things, as well as a lot of relaxing, sleeping in (maybe), house projects, and spending as much time with my Erin as possible!!  It works out that her school year ended Wednesday and she also has most of next week off before she starts teaching summer school.  Hooray! 

My clinical car pool buddies and I are planning to do a trial run to our hospital on Monday to see the best route, where to park and where to go for our first day.  This will help alleviate some stress that first day.  I know the stress and anxiety about going to the hospital in a little over a week will stay in my mind on this break.  I am just going to remember to keep breathing.

I am off to enjoy my free time....ready....BREAK!

Volunteer Experience

Last night, my nursing school friend and I spent three hours at a free clinic helping to do vital signs on patients.  Most of the patients were Indonesian and did not speak English.  There were two interpreters to help communicate.  We think the volunteering is a requirement of our next course, but we wanted to sign up regardless to get a little experience before we start our clinical in two weeks! 
This clinic is run by nurse practitioners.  We had the opportunity to see the intake process and then take over the intake process.  I had to ask the patients why they came to the clinic, if they took their medications and then get vital signs.  I took their temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, height, weight and calculated their BMI.  Everyone was so friendly and seemed to be appreciative of the services they receive at the clinic.  I learned from a volunteer nutritionist that many Indonesians are diabetic, overweight and suffer from high blood pressure.  Most of the people I interacted with had high blood pressure and, according to their BMI, were overweight or obese.  I also had the chance to sit in with a nurse practitioner while she examined a middle aged woman.  The NP had been seeing this patient for the past six years, so she had developed a rapport with her and her 12 year old son.  Her son was quite the charmer, so adorable and friendly.  As I watched the examination I noticed the NP do the techniques we have learned in school.  I also noticed how she asked questions understanding the cultural differences.  One example, when the NP was asking about the diet of this patient, she asked if she eats a lot of fried foods or if she ever cooks with a wok.  The NP gave this woman a few brief examples of how to cook and not always fry her food (to help manage her weight and help lower her blood pressure).  This was a brief experience, but I was able to interact with patients and gain just more confidence with vital signs.  I am fortunate to have had this opportunity, especially before starting in the hospital in two short weeks!!

Week 5

Week 5 is well under way.  This is the second half of our third course.  There is less content that we had to learn, only two days of lecture, unlike last week we had four long days of lecture.  This sounds like it would be a breeze!  Of course, they have other plans for us.  We have been kept extra busy in lab.  We have our lab final tomorrow and I am currently in complete panic/freak out mode.  We were just told yesterday what our final will actually look like and consist of.  Today, in our four and a half hour lab, we went through four scenarios, samples if you will, of what our final will be.  This difference was today we worked in our lab groups, and got into pairs within these groups to take one section of the assessment we will do for the final.  We also had actual patients!  Paid actors to lay in bed and be our patients.  It was challenging and overwhelming and at times fun to actually talk, touch and assess actual people!  We were also exposed to different lab instructors.  This was to help us relax tomorrow since we have no idea what instructor will be grading us. So this lab final is a beginning shift assessment.  Individually we will hear a report which is what the nurse before our shift will report to us.  For our exam it will be a tape recording.  We listen to this report on a patient, this patient will have some issues, of course, and we must do a variety of assessments including an intervention on the patient.  Tomorrow we will have mannequins as our patients and the instructor grading us will be watching from another room (we will be videotaped again) and be the voice of the patient when we interact with him/her.  I. AM. SO. NERVOUS.
The instructors said over and over that the exam will be easier since we won't be working in pairs and our whole group, we will be doing it all on our own and be able to do exactly what we feel is necessary.  I sure hope they are right.

I left lab today feeling completely and utterly incompetent.  We had four different scenarios and three of the four went pretty well.  WE are new to all of this, we have only learned so much and our instructors expect us to make mistakes and to have many questions.  They expect us to know what we have been taught and not beyond that.  Well, one of our instructors, did not quite follow this mindset, in my opinion.  Our patient was in pain and the actor portraying this elderly patient did a phenomenal job.  To make a long story short (and to save myself from getting all worked up again) I will just give a nutshell version of the story.  Our lab group of ten students had five groups of two.  Each pair had one section of the whole assessment (five sections total).  This instructor was constantly interjecting (none of the other instructors did this), she rushed the groups, made comments pertaining to what we were doing that contradicted what other instructors had taught us.  When we finished with the assessment, our instructor more or less scolded us for not doing the one thing we hadn't been taught yet!  We explained that we had no idea this was possible, we hadn't learned that and didn't know that was in the scope of practice for nurses.  Her only real reply to us was that we really should have pharmacology before we take med/surg (both courses we haven't had yet and clearly the curriculum isn't up to us!!).  My nutshell of a story is dragging on...sorry!  I was so beyond frustrated, annoyed and overwhelmed.  I left that scenario thinking, I can't do this, I am not meant to be here, I am incapable of this whole assignment and I will fail.  This is supposed to be a learning exercise and all I got from that experience was a complete loss of confidence.  I am hoping I do not have that instructor for my exam tomorrow.  I talked to my lab partner and friend for awhile after class today and she helped to restore some of my confidence...now I need to pick myself up, study my skills and do the best I can tomorrow.  My exam is at 8:30am, I am in the first group.  After I hopefully pass this exam, a few classmates and I plan to go get mimosas and study for the lecture final on Friday.  This fun never stops!!

Exhausted

Week four is complete!  We are halfway through our 3rd course.  It feels like time is flying.  The days are long and the weeks go so fast.

Today I got to campus at 7:15am and was in panic mode.  We had a four hour lab where we learned how to insert a Foley catheter (we even got to bring it home to practice...not on a person, just with the device) and had to be tested on two skills.  I decided last night to solely focus on my lecture midterm today instead of spending time on lab tests.  The lab tests weren't that difficult and weren't weighted very much.  My lecture final is worth 40% of my grade.  So, at 7:15 this morning, my lab partner and I went talked our way through the four skills, not knowing what two skills we would pick out of a hat (or graduated cylinder) to be tested on.  We then had a small group gathered and started talking through questions for the lecture midterm.  Full on stress and anxiety!

My lab tests were making an unoccupied bed and transferring a patient from a bed to a wheelchair.  The other two I didn't pick were helping a patient use a bed pan and performing perineal care on a mannequin.   I did get to be a patient with a broken left hip needing to use a bed pan for another classmate.  After practicing the Foley catheter and performing my tests, it was time to have a little lunch and then take my midterm.   During lunch, the small group I sat with hashed out more last minute test cramming.  We took the exam, which was our first no book or notes exam.  It actually went pretty well.  I felt a lot more confident and was glad I didn't have to look up answers.  I used a lot less time!

This week has been eye opening.  I have realized the last four weeks have kicked my butt.  Today, I woke up and felt like I had been hit by a truck.  I hurt from being so tired.  The adrenaline, excitement, nerves have definitely worn off, and now it's just straight up hard work.  This week especially, I had long labs, long lectures and would come home and just sit reading, watching videos and going through required tutorials.  On average it was about 3-4+ hours a night.  Whew!  I am mentally needing an evening off.  My Erin had her last Friday of work until September, but is unfortunately at a graduation until later this evening.  I have missed our evenings of just lounging, talking and relaxing together.  I have one more week, then I get a week off!  Quality time with Erin in my very near future!!

This post may be all over the place, it may not make sense...my brain is done!  Here's to a great weekend!

Injectable Medications

Week 4 is proving to be more challenging.  We have had two long days.  Maybe they just seem longer since I now have lab at 8 am for almost 3 hours followed by a 4 hour lecture.  I am realizing just how much I am sitting during the day.  That will continue for the next couple weeks, until we start clinicals!  Then I will be on my feet for HOURS!  I need to enjoy sitting for now.

This week in lab we have skills tests.  We learned today how to administer injectable medications (subcutaneous and intramuscular).  We are being tested tomorrow!  We have these blocks of what feels like water and fat to stick with needles and actually inject "medicine," which is just saline.  It is great to practice, but I know I will be terrified the first time I pierce someone's skin to give an injection.  There are flu shot clinics in the fall where we will have LOTS of practice and get over that fear really fast.  It is pretty exciting to be using the syringes and learning yet another aspect of nursing.  We are also learning so many safety precautions to keep our future patients and ourselves safe.  So much to remember, and again they tell us, it will all become familiar, routine and part of our standard practice.

On top of getting prepared for the many lab tests, we have our first midterm where our notes and books are not allowed!  I am not sure how I feel about this.  I am slightly glad, and slightly nervous.  I find open book exams to be stressful.  Don't get me wrong, I used my book and notes like crazy in the previous exams...but I also felt way less confident and didn't trust myself.  This week, I am stepping up my game, reading, watching required videos, going through hours of tutorials and hoping I am able to learn and retain enough information to ace my exam in a few days!

I am feeling very tired this week too, maybe the most run down I have felt in the past 4 weeks.  I am staying up late and getting up early.  I bought my first coffee at school today, around 1pm, and I am still wired from the caffeine.  It was a latte made with Peet's coffee.  My dad, the coffee connoisseur, is probably smiling at that.  My uniform was delivered today too!  I will try to post a picture soon :)

Second Semester Sophmore Year!

Today began week 4.  Our professor, who we had for our first week, greeted us today and told us, "well, you are halfway through your sophomore year!"  While this is exciting, my mind thought...this means the classes are just getting more intense and challenging.

Week 3 ended pretty well.  After all my nervousness and anxiety, my lab partner and I did very well on our lab final.  (Bragging moment) Our lab instructor let our course leader (lecture instructor) know that my partner and I  (along with another pair from our lab) did so well she recommended that our video assessment be used for an example to future students.  Another confidence boost!  I, personally, would love to watch my video in 5 years, after I have been working as a nurse.  It would be hilarious to see how nervous and awkward I was when I first started. 

My weekend was a nice mental break.  I took Friday night off.  Erin and I went to a happy hour to honor one of her co worker's retirement.  We came home, ordered a Stromboli and watched a movie.  It was amazing!  Saturday we ran a few errands, visited some of our favorite kids and friends.  Saturday evening I sat at our dining room table (my current office and desk) and started prepping for this next course. I stayed up until midnight reading, taking notes and finally watching some required videos.  I woke up a little after 1am with my computer on my lap.  Whoops!  Sunday I met with my friend from class to study.  We always have high expectations but usually end up talking through concerns.  We both find it helpful.  We set up a study plan for this week.  Sunday ended with an evening with my Erin and adorable twins who always put me in the best mood!

Back to week 4.  We are in Essentials of Nursing Practice.  We will be learning all about medications, dosages, safety, nutrition, administering medications and a whole bunch of other topics.  I am back in panic mode!  There was mention of us having to give each other bed baths in lab next week.  When we brought that up to our lab instructor, she was shocked and said that was news to her.  Hopefully she will get an answer for us tomorrow! That will be an experience I am sure!  This wee also poses another challenge, the U.S. Open.  It is being held near campus meaning traffic and parking will most likely be a nightmare.  Maybe we will see some famous golfers! (That assumes I would recognize some famous golfers!)

 I realized after my final on Friday, I maybe relaxed my shoulders and exhaled for about 3 minutes...then the tension, stress and nerves took right back over.  I have a feeling this will go on for the next 13 months!

I want to take a moment to thank everyone again for all the continued support and encouragement.  I appreciate it more than you know and enjoy all the texts, emails, and Facebook posts.  I feel so honored to have so many people cheering me on.

Still Unbelievable

I am finding myself at random times still shocked that I am actually in nursing school!  I am a nursing student!!  In my prereque classes I remember teachers saying, "when you're in nursing school..." or "this will come back in nursing school."  Now I am here!  Still a long way to go, but so exciting to be learning things I will actually use in my career!
On that same note...I am terrified that I am in nursing school!!!!  I am learning things that I have to retain to be able to take care of people when I am done!

I only have to go to campus today to 1- order my uniform and 2-to take my lab final.  I have had a few late starts this week and I am not a fan.  I am so much less productive in the morning when left on my own.  I work better getting up, starting my day, coming home and working late.  Good thing we switch for the next course; I'll be in the morning lab group with an 8am start time. 
I am getting really nervous for the head to toe assessment.  I know it all, but I am so nervous I will blow it when in the exam.  We are being videotaped :)  I had a good convo with my professor yesterday.  I went to her office to turn in an assignment and she asked me how I was doing (so much support).  Well that opened me up to start rambling like an anxious idiot!  I told her most of what I have written in here, how I love the professors, I love kids and see myself working in pediatrics, my revelation of realizing the faculty aren't scary because we are being taught by nurses, and how I am anxious but feeling better little by little.  Whew!  She agreed and said she loves when students have those "ah-ha" moments.  She also asked about my background.  I must have made waitressing not sound so great because she told me to not discount that role; multitasking, thinking on your toes and people skills come out of waitressing!  She said she would much rather have a waitress than an office worker in nursing school :)  Confidence boost, yes.

Off I go, for my long midday commute to school.  Here's hoping I remember all the points I have to hit on the exam!

Kids

Week 3 is well under way.  The weather has been beautiful!  Only in the 70s with low humidity...my idea of perfect weather (and my hair is so much more cooperative!). 

We had our last lecture for this course today.  I am going to miss our professor, she has been great.  She is a nurse practitioner and has worked in the pediatric ICU and NICU for her career.  She is all about kids, which is probably why I have enjoyed her so much.  Most of her scenarios and examples are about kids, which I love and have learned from due to my high interest.  I actually had two "I feel smart" moments this week.  The first was when we were discussing head assessments.  She brought up hydrocephaly and plagiocephaly.  When she asked the class what plagiocephaly was, no one raised their hand...so I did and responded correctly.  It is flat head syndrome, more common now due to the back to sleep technique for SIDS.  Today, we were talking about developmental milestones as we were learning about neurological assessments.  She asked how you figure out when preemies would meet their milestones.  Again, no one answered...so I raised my hand and explained what I knew.  They do a "corrected age," so if a baby is 8 weeks premature, they would have 8 weeks past the time to hit their milestone.  This knowledge is all thanks to the adorable twins I helped take care of for a few months.  They were 5 weeks early and one of them had plagiocephaly.  Ok, enough of my bragging!  Point of all this, I love learning about kids!!  I know through and through I am meant to work with kids.  I am keeping an open mind, if I find I enjoy something more during this nursing school process and the clinical rotations, I will go for it.  Although, today, sitting through lecture and hearing experiences my professor has had, I had this feeling where I know deep down, I will be most happy interacting, helping, and caring for kids!  If I had to make a choice now, I would pick the NICU, labor and delivery or pediatrics.  I'll let you know if I still feel that way after our OB and Peds rotation next spring.  That's when we will also have this professor again.  I am already looking forward to it!

Tomorrow, we have our last lab before our final on Thursday.  Unfortunately, on Monday a student from our cohort withdrew from the program.  Our lab instructor believed it to be because the woman spoke English as her second language and the barrier was too much.  On the plus side, this means we have an equal number, so no more 3 person lab groups!  I am with just one partner; which is less stressful already!  My lab partner and I will practice our head to toe assessments over and over until we feel confident.  Erin was my patient tonight.  I am happy to say she is normal! We aren't allowed to say normal ever again in nursing school!! 

I also had a crazy realization today, this is the middle of week 3, day 12 of class and it is mind blowing how much we have learned in this short time! I can successfully take vital signs and after Thursday I will be proficient in taking a basic head to toe assessment (with the correct nursing lingo!).   Last week we saw a video of the head to toe assessment and we were all in a panic.  How would we ever be ready to do that for the final!?  Today, we watched it again and I thought to myself, yep, I got this...we will do great!  I am trying to remember to take things day by day, sometimes even just hour by hour.  Maybe the professors are actually right...trust them, we will make it through.

Here Goes Week 3

It seems I have dropped the ball on updating this here blog.  Last week was a bit overwhelming!  Lots of papers to write, lots to read and panic setting in about my lab final took over.  Let's play a little catch up.

 Let's see, last Thursday we had the day off from lecture, but a long 4 hour lab.  I didn't have to be at school until 2pm, but I left home early to get to campus to have some study time and open lab practice.  I figured, later in the day, traffic will be nonexistent...WRONG!  I was stuck in gridlocked traffic for a solid 45 minutes.  A normal morning commute to school is about 40 minutes with rush hour traffic.  This was an hour and 20 minute drive!!  To make my whining that much more complete; it was also 90+ degrees, high humidity and I have no air conditioning in The Beast (my Escort) so needless to say, I was cooking!  Pretty sure my left arm got it's first little sunburn of the year.  Awesome.  And yet my complaining continues...(back to my stifling car) I was sitting up to keep my back off my seat to try and keep from getting completely soaked in sweat (I know, I'm disgusting).  That plan failed miserably.  I was frazzled when I finally got to campus, no time to study, just enough time to turn in my essay, see how sweaty I really was, and run to lab.  (My whining goes on) The agenda in lab on Thursday was our midterm.  We had to perform vital signs on our lab partner.  After the midterm we were going to perform breast and abdomen assessments on each other.  OF COURSE the day my lab partner (well I actually have 2 lab partners thanks to uneven numbers) had to be all up close and personal, I am a hot, disgusting, sweaty mess!!  Everything worked out just fine, I passed my midterm and got through the assessments.  I am pretty convinced I may have to spend the money to get my ac fixed in my car.  Poor Erin is probably so sick of my complaining...sorry babes!

Friday, we had our lecture midterm.  It was open book and open note.  It went well.  I was nervous and anxious, but made through.  We had lecture until about 2pm on Friday.  My brain was just about fried.  I stayed after class to get my essay back (with a "Good Job!" written across the top!)  I also wanted to bring a concern I had to my teacher's attention.  My group of three, in lab, is the only group of three.  One student never showed up to the program so our cohort has an odd number, which means there will always be a lab group of three instead of the usual pairs.  I am concerned that we won't have enough time to each work on our head to toe assessment of our  "patient" in lab.  My teacher acknowledged my concern and gave me some tips on how to maximize our time in lab.  Her advice sounds reasonable.  it gave me piece of mind, at least for the time being.  I thanked her for the advice, and was out of there!  Hello weekend!!  Erin and I had dinner with our best buds at a delicious Indian restaurant Friday evening.  Great food, great company, and some wine was a perfect way to end a very stressful week.

The rest of the weekend was relaxing and productive.  I ordered my super cool and super attractive (riiight) nursing shoes.  White leather Danskos.  They will be ready in about a week!  Erin and I also went out to dinner, just the two of us Saturday night.  It was nice to have some time with my girl to catch up without distractions.  All in all it was a great weekend; I didn't get as much work done and I had wanted to, but my brain got a good rest and I am feeling ready to take on another week...I hope!

Bring on week 3!!