Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Whoa, I went on spring break and apparently forgot to look back!  I took a long break from blogging and need to get back into it.  On that same note, I need to get back into a routine of school work.

A quick update about the service trip to Montana.  WHAT A GREAT TRIP!! It was fantastic and I am so beyond grateful I had the experience.  It was so much more than I expected.  It was great to see the kids I had heard about and to get a chance to teach and talk with all of them.  Overall, these kids, despite their background, were average kids.  They were very open with us, once we got to know them.  By the end of the week, they were asking if we would be coming back and if we could stay.  that made a big impact on me, it made me realize we made a difference.  We were able to do health screenings on all the kids in the school.  If anyone needed follow-up, we sent a letter home with details about the child.  If the child was on track, we sent a letter home letting parents/caregivers know what their child's stats were.  We also were able to do some health promotion teaching including all about puberty, hygiene, bullying, and how to be a better student/study skills.  Overall, the kids were very receptive, had great questions and hopefully learned a lot!  We also, as an entire group, talked with the older kids of the school about careers, college and why we are in nursing school getting our second degree.  That might have been the most enjoyable teaching lesson for me.  It was great to share my personal experiences and to hear about my classmates and to field questions from the students. 

It was also a great experience to get to know my six other classmates better and my professor.  We "lived in community" for the better part of a week.  The four girls and our professor stayed in one house and the tree boys stayed in a trailer.  The boys came over in the morning to have breakfast and back after school to hang out, have dinner and to talk about the day.  Every morning, I mean EVERY morning, bacon was cooked before school so we all smelled like it for the day.  It got old really fast.  Occasionally, on our lunch breaks, the boys would cook chicken or burgers and we would get a blast of food smell/smoke again.  I am sure the stray dogs (which were always out and about) were loving the smell of us.  I am sure, the kids and teachers at the school cold smell up coming.  This was all about "living in community" and aside from the smells, it really was a great experience.  We would hang out in the living room, eat our meals together, and discuss what we did and saw during the day.  We also had to keep a daily journal, which our professor read on the flight home and left us some comments.  I am glad we had to do this as now I have a daily log of what I did, what I was feeling so I will remember the trip.  We also had time to play Quiddler and had lots of laughs.  We all discussed how the laughter was a great way to unwind and to decompress from the days.  I was exhausted by the end of the day, mentally and physically.  It was still such a great experience. 

On our last full day in Montana, we had the opportunity to snow shoe through Glacier National Park.  Wow.  What an experience.  In the first few minutes I remember telling my professor, if someone would have told me a year ago that I would be snow shoeing through Glacier, I never in a million years would have believed them.  I took many moments to look around me and try to take it all in.  The sights were breathtaking and almost seemed too beautiful to be real.  I have so many pictures, which show some of the beauty, but really, you have to see it in person.  I hope one day I can take Erin!  She needs to see it!

The day we were coming home, our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05am.  We got up and left the hotel by 4:45am to get to the airport to drop off the rental cars, check in and make it on time for our flight.  Everything started off great.  At about 6:00am, now on the airplane, the flight attendant comes over the PA system announcing the landing gear had a flat tire and we had to get off the plane.  We were bummed.  Off the plane we went.  Our professor immediately got in line to talk to the gate agent about keeping our group together for any flights we would have to be re booked on.  About an hour or so goes by, they announce they will be flying in a tire, tools and a mechanic from Salt Lake City and hoped he would be in Montana around 12:30pm.  That was about five hours later.  Originally, we had the flight from Montana to Minneapolis to Philly.  With this delay, we would for sure miss our connection.  We were scheduled to land in Philly at 2pm.  Our professor got us a possible itinerary.  Sadly, our group was split in half.  Four of us would go as originally planned, just on later flights and land in Philly around 11pm.  The other four, myself included, would take a detour to Atlanta and then to Philly, landing at midnight.  So, the only thing to do was to sit and wait.  We did get a food voucher, so we grabbed breakfast, and just hung out in the tiny airport.  We played Taboo with one of the student's phones.  I read my book, drank about a gallon of water, and tried not to watch the clock.  Oh yeah, I also had zero cell phone service for the entire trip!  I was able to use my professor's phone to call Erin once a day, just to check in and say hi.  Erin was great and kept my family informed of my travels, so everyone knew I was safe.  I missed texting Erin whenever I wanted, but it also kept my focus and my mind in the moment and in the trip.  It was a nice break from social media...well, at least that's what I told myself ;)  So, finally, the tires were fixed and we boarded the plane, again.  By now, it was about 2pm.  I was confused with the time changes, but I was assuming we would possibly miss our connection to Atlanta.  Once we landed, the four of us heading to Atlanta, grabbed our boarding passes they had printed for us and literally ran from one gate (B2) to the next gate (G19).  I was in boots and carrying my backpack and running full speed through the airport.  I am so out of shape!  I kept going because I didn't want to be stuck in the airport overnight or delayed anymore!  We got to the gate at 5:39 and the flight was scheduled to leave at 5:45...we just missed it!!!  As we all stood there, gasping for breath and coughing, the gate agent was able to book two of us (me included) on the other flight with the rest of our group.  The other two students were put on standby.  My professor was so relieved.  She was looking up seats on that flight and saw that there were four first class seats and said she would have paid for all of us to be on that flight if she needed too.  Luckily, after we walked back to the gate we flew into, the other two students were given seats on that flight.  Whew!  What a whirlwind.  We only had to wait about 45 minutes and we were boarding the plane heading home.  We landed at 11pm, and headed to baggage claim.  At this point I think we were delirious.  We woke up at 4am and it was now 11pm.  I had a cold and by this point both ears were plugged and I couldn't breathe.  It sounded like I was underwater.  I just wanted to be in my bed!!  Off to baggage claim we went.  Four of the students (including all three boys) got their luggage.  The other four of us, not so much.  The baggage belt stopped rotating and we realized our bags were not in Philly.  WE went to the office to report lost luggage.  Sure enough, our bags were on their way to Atlanta.  Of course, the luggage also missed the connection, so the bags were on a later flight to Atlanta.  Our professor left her address and had it arranged that all the luggage would be shipped/sent to her home, hopefully the next day.  We finally were walking out of the airport around midnight.  We piled into her van and headed back to campus, where we met and left our cars a week previously.  I finally made it home at 1am and was beyond exhausted.  I stayed in bed until about noon the next day.  My phone was still not getting great service.  I emailed my professor and heard our bags were finally dropped off around 7pm.  Erin and I drove the half hour out to her house to grab my bag.  What a debacle.  Thankfully, this happened on our way home.  It would have been so much worse if our luggage was lost on the way to Montana.  It just added a great story to our journey.  We were safe, we had our luggage and we had a wonderful experience.  Now, to get back into school mode.  We all had to be up and back on campus by 8:30am on Monday for a full day in the lab and a three hour lecture on domestic violence.  What a welcome back!  I am pretty sure a part of me is still recovering from that trip.  Thankfully my cold wasn't too bad and I got over that last week. 

I have yet to get back into school mode.  I need to get my butt in gear.  I have an exam in my Leadership course on Tuesday.  I have been in a funk for about a week and a half and just trying my best to get through each day.  I am sure in time I will get back on track, but for the moment it has been a challenge.  May 8 will be my next, and last break in this program.  I think I can make it.

In other news, I am in my OB rotation and I do believe I have found what type of nursing I want to do.  Maternity!!  My first day on the unit, I was placed in Labor and Delivery and saw a baby born.  I had a front row seat to see this little baby come into the world and I believe I am forever changed.  It was amazing, a true miracle.  I am pretty sure I want to be the nurse that helps moms bring their babies into the world.  I want to be the nurse that gets the first look at a new baby, and to help the parents in those first few hours with their new baby.  It was so incredible and I felt so honored to be apart of that baby's entrance to the world.  I had the most wonderful nurse and the parents were so open and excited to have me there.  It was perfect.  By far, my best moment in nursing school, hands down!!

Speaking of OB and getting my butt back into school mode, I have a lot of work to get caught up on.  Enough of this blogging!  I will be back more regularly, I hope!

Here are a few pictures from my trip!

Ok, so I am not posting any pictures from the school, or really of anyone else on the trip, so these are just from snow shoeing!

 

 

 

 

Really Delta, are you really sorry??



SPRING BREAK!!!

Break!!!

So, this past week was intense.  Between two exams, final day of clinical, two dentist visits and getting ready for my service trip, I am exhausted. I have survived yet another half of a semester.  Pediatrics is finished!  I can't believe it has come and gone.  I feel a little cheated as my clinical was only 4 short days, but I was able to learn a lot.  I just wish it would have been a tad longer.  With that said, I cannot wait to start OB!  I have already started looking at the power points.  It will be a lot of work, but I am excited to be learning all about pregnant women and babies!!  Okay, mostly the babies.  My two exams went as well as I could have hoped.  I should have prepared more, per usual, but I passed and was above the class average on both exams.  Not that I should be comparing myself to anyone, but when they give the class average, it is hard not to!

 T-minus 8.5 hours until I have to be at school to meet my group to head to Montana!  I still need to finish packing, shower and sleep before that time.  Why is packing always so stressful??  Is it just me?  The weather is pretty insane where we are flying.  It was -18 today and a balmy -15 tomorrow.  Later in the week it should be up in the 30s.  I am missing yet another snow storm here in Philly...thankfully!  Poor Erin is stuck home with Jackson and her parents dog Ozzy and will have to deal with all the snow on her own.  She will probably have a snow day Monday.

OK, gotta make this post short as I have way too much to do and I really want more than 5 minutes of sleep tonight!

Can't wait to post pictures from my trip!  See you back on March 8 :)

Time is Flying

It is the last week before spring break...how did that get here so fast??

Let's play a little catch up.  Last post was almost two weeks ago, whoops!  We never lost power and finally the snow has started melting.  We actually had a really warm (I use that term loosely) weekend with sun, so our roads became a tad safer.  Erin and I have been joking that our street is essentially the luge and I call my car a sled.  It has been ridiculous to say the least.  Thankfully, the warmer temps and the sun have melted the ice on the roads, just huge piles of snow remain.  Good thing we may get a 1" dusting tomorrow morning.  In case we forgot the joy that is the snow.  Hopefully this is the end of this nonsense!!

So, after our week of almost no class, we are back at it.  I did actually have to go in this past Sunday for a review session.  Well, I didn't HAVE to go, BUT I knew I needed to go, so off I went to campus at 8:30am on Sunday.  It was beneficial and I had some concepts clarified.  It is hard to listen to power point presentations pre-recorded and no way to interject with questions.  Especially when we are learning about congenital malformations of the heart.  There are so many and it is all so confusing!!!!

I had my first exam in Leadership today.  I really was at a loss as to how to prepare for this exam.  I ended up doing a few practice tests and reading an article.  I didn't do that much prep work and somehow I passed the exam.  I always wish I would do better after the fact, but I will take my 86%!!  My next hurdle is my second peds exam, which is Thursday.  My stomach is already in knots.  I am doing a great job procrastinating a bit longer (as I sit here and type this post).  I have a service trip meeting tomorrow morning, then my follow-up appointment at my dentist, then home to be glued to my notes until I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

Speaking of the dentist, I had my root canal done this past Friday.  I do not recommend waiting 5+ years to go to the dentist for a routine cleaning.  I hope I never have to have a root canal again.  First of all, the cost is out control!!  (Again, thankful I am able to be back in school to get a better job that will have better health insurance) and second, that was not a pleasant dentist appointment.  It was definitely not as bad as getting all four wisdom teeth removed, while awake, but it was no picnic.  The dentist wondered how I was ever able to get my teeth pulled.  Apparently I have a small mouth.  I had no pain before the root canal, just mild cold sensitivity, and then after, wow!  My jaw ached for days, and I still cannot chew on the left side.  Tomorrow, I think I am getting the permanent filling.  I am so thankful I am able to get this mostly taken care of before my trip.  I will take the mild pain and discomfort now in place of immense pain of having a nerve exposed while away from home!

Ok, I have taken enough of a break, back to the grind. 

Snow Day #7

Ok, so this is just getting ridiculous!  We are currently getting hit with yet another winter storm.  This one promises to bring 6-10" of snow with periods of ice and sleet and 40mph wind gusts.  The poor people who lost power (for days) with the storm last week will probably lose power again.  I am cranking the heat up and keeping my phone and laptop plugged in, just to be safe.

We received an email stating that our school is allowing faculty to arrange with students, select Sundays to make up missed classes.  Fortunately I have not heard anything from the nursing school about making up lectures on Sundays!!  That would be insane!  We have the luxury of listening to our missed lectures that our professors are recording for us.  It really isn't the best situation, but it sure beats going to class in this mess AND trying to teach myself.  I do miss physically being in a lecture, as I do ask questions when I am not clear on something.  Looks like today will be filled with automated power points, and some baking :)

In other news, I finally took myself to the dentist.  It has been too long!  Apparently I have great teeth because they were thrilled at the condition of all of my teeth, except for one.  I have made it 32 years and now I face my first root canal.  Awesome.  Thankfully I am not in pain, but as the dentist said, it's a time bomb.  All of a sudden, I will be in extreme pain.  Clearly, I want to avoid that, so I am getting this taken care of ASAP.  Unfortunately my insurance covers NONE of this.  I do get the insurance rate, or discount, as they referred to it, but holy hell, it is expensive!  My goal is to get it done before I leave for my service trip on March 3.  Hopefully this is possible!

Speaking of the service trip, we had another meeting about it yesterday.  It went well.  We asked a lot of questions and got more info about what are days will entail.  I am paired up with another student and we will be teaching the importance of study skills.  Their high school drop out rate is 65%!! Crazy!  The four girls, including myself, will also be teaching about puberty, as I think I have mentioned previously.  We have to have an outline to give to our instructor by Wednesday to show what we have planned so far.  We all have said we are getting nervous because the trip is coming so fast, but once we get to the airport and are ready to leave, our instructor says we take on the motto "whatever happens, happens!"  This already lessened my stress!  We also got a little bit of money back form the scholarship we received.  That will either go towards paying off my plane ticket, OR my dentist bill.  Either way, it was much appreciated.  We also shouldn't have to pay for anything else for the trip.  Thank you again fabulous friends and family for donating to our trip!!  We are all set up to make a difference!  We are also bringing the kids t-shirts from our school, and gifts for those who are hosting us. 

Ok, time to get off the computer, make some breakfast, and then back to the computer to get going on some school work.  Hopefully we don't lose power today!!

Snow Days 4, 5 and 6

Well, I have officially been out of school more than in school this week.  We had Monday off, had class Tuesday, which was great because we were able to do our presentation.  Bragging moment; our instructor told our group we were the best presentation she has seen on our topic!  Whew!  So glad that is over and didn't have to be rescheduled.

I knew another storm was coming, but didn't really think it would be that bad.  Well, as Tuesday night went on, schools began to close.  Erin had a two hour delay, which was good because we had major ice all over everything.  She was glad to not have another snow day as they will have to make up any more days they have off, which is never fun.  I am typically off on Wednesdays, so the fact that school was closed didn't really impact me.  I stayed home and admired all the ice covered trees.  As the day went on, news reports were out that the state was declared a state of emergency and thousands of people were without power.  I cranked the heat up and plugged in my laptop and phone, just in case we also lost power.  We were the lucky ones, never lost power.  Later that day, word came out that my school lost power and heat so they closed for Thursday and Friday.  I am also typically off Fridays, but this week had a simulation lab day.  Needless to say, that has been rescheduled.  We also missed two classes Thursday, so we will have to listen to prerecorded lectures and essentially have an online class for this week.  My classmates and I were commenting back and forth on Facebook and wishing they could just make our next exam a take home!  I better not push my luck. 

I was talking to my brother today, to wish him a happy birthday, and he brought to my attention that this time off is kind of acting like my spring break.  I will be on a service trip for my whole spring break, so I am making the best of down time now.  I need to get more motivated and get more work done!  I have done some organizing, and took care of personal things, like finding a local dentist and making an appointment.  It has been awhile since I had my teeth cleaned, so of course, neurotic me, is already whining to Erin.  What if they tell me I have to have all my teeth pulled and give me dentures!?!?!  Dramatic, yes, yes I am. 

Tomorrow, my last day off (and hopefully my last snow day of this winter) will be to get my lab prep work done AND I am going to attempt to re-caulk our stall shower.  Should be an adventure!  Maybe I will post some pictures :)

Snow Day #3

Well, we got blasted with another snow storm.  This time we have about 8" of the wet, heavy variety of the white stuff.  It started out as rain and then, bam!, crazy white out for the next many hours.  I received a text from my clinical instructor (at 4:30am) telling our group clinical was cancelled for the day.  I promptly finished straightening my hair, which is what I was doing at 4:30 in preparation for my day in the hospital, and crawled right back into bed.  I slept in until 8:15!  Probably due to waking up every hour in a panic that I missed my alarm. 

Erin also had yet another snow day.  We have been lounging, watching some quality tv (The Walking Dead), shoveled the snow, and ate some yummy meals.

Banana French Toast for breakfast...

Homemade Nachos for lunch....

And I plan to make lentils for dinner.  I love snow day cooking!!

Here is a look outside...

And our poor pup, he gets so many snowballs stuck in his over grown hair.  Poor guy needs a haircut! 

Yes, that snowball fell off of Jackson.





Tomorrow, I assume we will be back in school.  I have class bright and early at 8:30, so I may leave around 6:45 to make sure I get to school on time!  I also have my group presentation in the afternoon, so that means dressing up and trudging through the snow.  Awesome.

Back to being lazy with my Erin!

What a Weekend

This weekend was packed full.  It started out with my first exam of the semester.  I spent a fair amount of time studying on Wednesday, before my parents arrived.  I also spent a lot of time cleaning and getting the house ready for their stay.  Erin picked my parents up at the airport on her way home from work.  My sister came over and we ordered in dinner.  It was great to see everyone and to talk about the next day, my sister's big defense!  I spent the rest of the evening cramming more peds info into my brain.  I was pretty nervous and not feeling prepared, but headed into the exam Thursday morning trying to stay positive.  Right after the exam, we had the review where we get to see all the answers and the rationale for each test question.  There was some drama as to how some questions were worded.  Overall, I did ok, could have done better, could have been a lot worse.  After the review, I ran outta there and headed home.  Once home, my parents and I headed to campus to meet up with everyone and make our way to the defense.  My sister's friends, my brother and his fiance, my parents and I made our way in the freezing cold, to the defense.  My sister did amazing!  She is ridiculously smart.  I couldn't be more proud of her!!  After the defense, we headed to her lab for a reception and finally out to a fantastic dinner where we ate sooooo much food!  It was great to have my whole family around a dinner table, eating and laughing.  Sadly, my brother and his fiance had to leave after dinner to head back home for work the next morning.  The rest of us headed to a bar where my sister had a bunch of friends waiting to congratulate the new Ph.D.!  I didn't last too long as I had to get up early the next day.

Friday, I was up early and headed to campus to meet my group for our big presentation on Tuesday.  It went well and we are more than ready to teach the class for 75 minutes.  Of course I will be nervous until after we are done.  After the meeting, I took my parents food shopping with me in preparation for dinner at our house with the new Ph.D., Erin, her parents and my parents.  It was a nice visit.  My parents and Erin's really get along well.  We even had a visit from Ozzie, their crazy dog.

Saturday, was another big day, up early and headed to my sister's to help her pack up and move.  It was exhausting!  Up and down stairs, packing up boxes, taking apart furniture, eating hoagies the size of our heads, and finally calling it a day.  We then all headed back to our house, went out to dinner and eventually headed to bed.

Sunday, up really early to sadly, take my parents to the airport for their early morning flight.  Thankfully, they made it home smoothly, despite the snow and ice back in Michigan.  Gross.  The rest of the day I spent with my sister, finishing up her move.  We cleaned her old room, took apart more furniture, cleared out her old house, and got everything in her new apartment.  I stuck around to help her reassemble her bed and desk and get some order to her room.  We realized this was her fifth move since we moved to Philly, so we have taken apart and put back together her bed and desk at least five times.  We are now, clearly pros.  Thanks IKEA for your easy to assemble bed!  Once she looked like she had a handle on the rest of her settling in, I headed home.  I promptly passed out for an hour.  I clearly can't hang like I used to!  My body is destroyed from helping her, my hands ache and my back and neck are so sore!  I am getting OLD!  The rest of the evening I have spent with my Erin and our tired pup.  Jax has been so sleepy!  He must be exhausted from all his entertaining this weekend!  We also have had the Superbowl on, clearly for Erin to watch and me to ignore!

Erin and I are both watching the weather updates as we are both hoping for a snow day tomorrow!  We could be getting 4-8" of heavy, wet snow tomorrow starting early in the morning.  I don't want to miss a peds clinical day, BUT, I certainly wouldn't complain if I get to lay around and catch up on school work all day ;)