Friday, September 30, 2011

This is the closest I will come to feeling like a celebrity....

Ok... so it has been a while since I have written... but... same excuse.. I'm crazy busy....

Well... Monday was just another day. Class in the morning from 11-3. Next week we have a test and in this class we only take a few test and that is pretty much it. So pressure is on there. Then we had essentials class. We learned about injections! Something finally interesting. So we were all told to bring our needles and syringes (if you get pulled over with your lab kits and you don't have a UCF Student Nurse ID on you, you could get arrested... pretty intense stuff). And Tuesday... we learned about it all!!!

From 1415 to 1600 we were bumbarded with so much information. We each had our own "station" and we had to give injections to these imitation arms which were pretty much kind of like a sponge. It was so much stuff!!! How to properly give an injection to how to properly draw up the medication. It was a lot to handle, not to mention that there is SQ injections, IM, Subdermal, mixing insulin, reconstitution. Then.. afterwards.. we realized that our skills lab checkoff is in 2 weeks!!! If you don't pass the first time, then you get one more chance to do your injections... and if not... FAILURE....  At home, they told us to practice on hot dogs and oranges....
O...M...G.... and I was talking to some of the seniors and a lot of people actually ended up not passing the first time... awesome. Pretty much, it is just you and the instructor and you walk into an imaginary room and act like the patient is real. You talk to them and figure out what types of medication they need and how to administer the medication correctly. Well, we have to do all of this for three types of injections within 30 minutes while you have an instructor breathing down your neck and grading your every move from washing your hands to documenting the medication.... but that is two weeks away, and right now.. I am still trying to catch up on yesterday...

Well anyways.. afterwards I had Health Assessment lab. We got to play with the ear and eye equipment (otoscope and ophthalmascope). It was pretty neat to be on the other side and look in.... like literally inside.....

Well afterwards I signed up for open lab. This is when you can come into the lab and practice your skills checkoff or anything you would basically like to practice. So all of us girls are standing in the hallway waiting to be let into the lab. And I have been keeping this story from you, because I really didn't want EVERYBODY knowing this certain thing. OK, so you know how busy I am... well.. I am so busy that it is really hard to find time to do the normal things.. like... clean.... and laundry.. and stuff... Well, I only have two white tops, and one white pants and one blue pants for scrubs. And I have only done laundry once since we have been in nursing school so far.. (yes OK, I do realize that it has been about 6 weeks....) On my defense, I only wear scrubs 3/5 school days a week.. so that really isn't that bad. Well our white pants are extremely see through so we have to wear a certain white / beige granny panties. And of course, mine were dirty. So I grabbed a pair of white granny panties instead of beige. BIG MISTAKE! The elevators doors are mirrors, so as I am waiting to go into open lab, I realized how much you could see my underwear through my pants!!! So I tell the girls and everybody starts looking into the mirrors / elevator doors at my underwear line! And at this point, one of the girls has joined me, and we are bent completely over in front of the doors... when all of a sudden.. our instructor for open lab... comes around the corner and stares at us.. and by the way.. he was a male..... I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.
I did my whites that night.....

Today I was at clinicals. I went to an elementary school in the morning to do hearing screenings. It was nice to do something besides vision! All of the little kids of course were adorable. The test was pretty easy once you got it down. I had my own little work area and screened a good amount of kids.
If a child doesn't understand that he needs to raise his hand when he hears a beep, we use a play off method. We give them a ball, and tell them to hold it up to their ear, and when the ball makes a noise to let go of the ball and drop it in a bucket. They got so excited and balls were going everywhere.
One of the little girls didn't know much english. And I can speak a very good amount of spanish. So I told the little one that, "Cuando oiga un BEEP BEEP BEEP, levante la mano." (When you hear beep beep beep, raise your hand.) So not only did she raise her hand, but when I pressed the button for the beep, she would go, " BEEP BEEP BEEP LEVANTE LA MANO BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!" At least she understood right?

Afterwards I left their and headed to catch up to the girls at another location for, yes you guessed it, more vision and BMI screenings. It is always nice to be around everybody though because some of the conversations are crazy. If any of you ever go to nursing school, the friends that you meet in your clinical group, will end up being your best friends for life. The girls in my group are amazing and we talk about everything. I can't count the number of times that all of us are dying laughing. But its ok, at least we can take each other's BP if one of us passes out... well... we might read it wrong.. but it will look like we know what we are doing.

As we were walking out, we walked through the cafeteria where all of the children were. They all started yelling and waving and trying to come see us. There were OHS, and AHS. Everybody was staring and talking about us. We all started waving. By the end of the cafeteria, I realized, this is the closes I will come to feeling like a celebrity. Thank you elementary schoolers.
Tomorrow is another day,
Katie

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Home

So wow there is a lot to catch you guys up on!!!

So Tuesday, we ended up learning about PEG tubes during lab. No injections yet! But I will keep you updated. Then I ended up going to Alex's house to study, which turned out not happening very well. I thought we were going to study, but there was a lot of commotion around me, so it took me a while just to finish my study guide. So I finally actually STARTED studying at about 10 that night... : / I went home shortly after thinking I could study better at my place. I was in and out of it trying to study. I would wake up, first realizing that I had fallen asleep, then go back to studying. Repeat. Repeat. One of the times that I woke up, I remember a friend of mine wanted a copy of my study guide so I emailed it to her. I could have sworn I emailed her around 1 AM, but the next day she showed me the email.... it was more like 5 AM. Well I got up,  went to school, and kicked some exam butt!! I felt so good walking out of that room. They used new scantrons this time, and we found out our scores that same day. I GOT A 49/50!!!! WooHoo!!

Afterwards was community class. We had a guest speaker for tobacco. And wow... I don't smoke, and I am glad that I don't. Some of the statistics she was telling us were literally making some people gag. It was intense.

  • 1 out of every 5 deaths in USA is due to smoking. 
  • It's the number one preventable disease, yet still kills more than AIDS, Fires, Suicides, Murders, Heroin, Cocain, Drugs (and a few others that I forgot) COMBINED!
  • For every 8 smokers that pass, one non-smoker dies from second hand smoke.
The list really goes on and on... it was eye opening. Then that night I went to my workout at Aguille with the rockclimbing club (no swollen arms this time :) )

Thursday I was at another elementary school doing height, weight, BMI, and vision screenings. They were very well behaved and classes flew by. There was only three of us this time because the clinical group was separated throughout the community today. It was a crazy day though. We got there at 7:30 and didn't leave til almost 4:30. Our instructor, Dr. Swenson, is amazing though. She is one of those really sweet and cute older people. She seriously is like a fairy godmother. She moves her hands so elegantly, you ask a yes or no question and you get a 5 minute answer, she is always smiling, and her laugh is adorable. Well anyways, we realized that after next week we won't be with her anymore because we will be transferring to a VA clinic. So we started talking to her about her past and just sharing stories. She apparently used to be a backpacker! (Alex and I backpacked through the smokey mountains this past summer.... we went on a huge vacation and visited 10 states in two months. It was an amazing summer. When I get time, I will post about it....

This last one is one top of Charlies Bunion, 5,565 ft... the day before we were even higher on a different mountain.) Anyways, she was talking about how she has climbed mountains in Argentina, and places all over the world. It was very interesting. After talking about that, one of the girls wanted to show her the youtube video of that horrible zit on that persons back! Have you seen it? It's pretty "gruesome" according to Dr. Swenson. It is reallllllly gross. Well anyways, while it was playing.. Swenson's face was priceless.... hearing it in the background though was making me almost vomit... it was horrible. Then Dr. Swenson started talking about how unsanitary they were when they did that, and if somebody possibly got it in their eyes that wouldn't be good. At this point, I am freaking out, covering my ears, rocking back and forth, and saying, " I don't want anything in my eyes, I don't want anything in eyes!" over and over again. It was making Rachel laugh so hard. I seriously terrified.

The day before, Alex and I took Bradley outside to play. We threw the ball around and he was chasing it for a while. Well we were on concrete.. and Thursday morning, he couldn't walk on one of his legs. I was pretty nervous. I called my parents and they said they would pay for me to take him to the vet to make sure he was ok. He couldn't even climb up the stairs or jump on the bed. So of course, I was worried all day and rushed home to check on him. When I got home, Alex was there checking on him. But Bradley already seemed a lot better. Apparently, he rubbed one of the pads on his back left paw almost completely all the way through. It was a pretty big gash. So Alex and I stayed with him that night and did homework.

Friday I went to a Florida Nursing Association conference! My first professional, big girl, all grown up conference. It was in Altamonte Springs, and our whole CNC group had to go. The lectures were semi interesting. There were some about resumes, portfolios, and interviewing skills. So I paid attention during those. But the best part: The Free Stuff!!! I got highlighters that look like syringes, luggage tags, mugs, pens, and lots of brochures. One of the booths even had a candy bar. Yes you read correctly, A CANDY BAR! And boy did I take advantage.. it was the only thing keeping me going from 7:30 to 4.
 All of the UCF Nursing girls that went to the conference.


Lunch by the pool :)
 Dr. Swenson and my clinical group!!!
I <3 my CNC

This weekend I was suppose to go to St. Augustine with Alex. It was suppose to be a nice weekend away. We were going to go see the fort, do ghost tours, see the town and everything, but of course... my loan still hasn't come through. I only had a few bucks to spend for the weekend so I didn't go. I really really wanted to considering this is my only weekend to relax until OCTOBER 22!!! I'm completely booked up. Alex still went to see his friends, and I was sitting at home.. already miserable after the first few minutes of knowing he was on his way to St. Augustine, and I thought... what better night to go to my parents house!!!?? So I packed up Bradley, and we drove home!!! Now I am sitting here in a lazy boy, with a full stomach, no worries (except homework) with my parents company. 

Also, great news!!! I have a new nephew!!! My brother just had another baby! Welcome to the world baby Shane Matthew Rodgers!!! I already miss you and I haven't met you yet!! Now I am at two wonderful nephews :)


Happy to be home,
Katie


Tuesday, September 20, 2011

I can breathe!

Finally! I can breathe! Well.. at least for the next 30 minutes. I just now, finally, absolutely, happily, finished, done, over, no more, with homework!!!
Can I get a HELL YES!!!

So in 30 minutes I have to leave for lab, and decided to use my leisure time to eat a popsicle and talk about my weekend.

First off, what weekend? I had so much homework I dreamed about nursing school. No lie.
Friday night I stayed in. Everybody was going to Gainesville, Alex went downtown, and responsible Katie, stayed home, with a pile of homework, a puppy dog, and a bucket of frozen grapes.

Saturday, I woke up early, and what did I do? You guessed it. Went straight back to homework. I'm on this biological clock lately, to where I can't sleep past 0800 anymore. It is very annoying. Well my break today was going to the grocery store! I have been so busy (and broke...) that I haven't gone full, actual, grocery shopping in a LONG time... So this was very exciting for me. I have been saving a bunch of coupons and went when Publix was having really good buy one get ones. I felt like an extreme couponer. :) Needless to say.....

Look at that LONG receipt! And I only spent $70!!! I ended up saving a little over $25. The best part of the adventure.. when I was leaving there was a fist fight outside over a parking lot. By the time I was pulling out, there were cops EVERYWHERE. Who knew Publix is where people get there punch on?
I lit some candles, put on some music, and read a book until Alex came over. I cooked him some awesome flank steak stuffed with provolone cheese and spinach with scalloped potatoes on the side. MMmmMMmmmMMMMMMmmmMMMmm.

And remember how I was saying my arms were so sore from working out on Wednesday? Well I really think I did something.. three weeks in nursing school.. and I know that this is not what my arm is suppose to look like...

It is sooooo swollen (top and bottom)! And I can't move it. It's really stiff and won't go straight. I look like a retarded person walking around and Alex laughs at me almost every 5 minutes (or at least he giggles under his breath).

And here comes the dreaming about nursing school story. So this night I ended up staying the night at Alex's house. We went over to his place after dinner and watched movies. Well.. I had a dream that my clinical group and I, were in one of conference rooms that we go to every Friday for our "clinical conference". And somebody called us.. telling us that there was a BOMB in the room. Tells you how much I am not stressed out huh? Well the dream goes on to being pretty scary...being chased, screaming girls, bomb terrorist, nursing school.  The best part was waking up because Alex was snoring.

So Sunday comes around. I met some friends at IHOP for breakfast. Then I really really wanted to hang out with everybody at World of Beer. The football games were going on, Alex wanted me to stay really bad, my friends were there... so, using my first three weeks of nursing school education about critical thinking... I hooked up my laptop to the outlets behind the bar, ordered a beer, studied at World of Beer, and played corn hole during my breaks. It is the best decision I have had all week. It is a great way to solve all of my problems! For you future nurses: It combines boyfriend, friends, TV, beer, and Nursing School ALL IN ONE!!!

I had a huge smile all day and to top it off, that night when I took my test, I was pretty confident that I did good. I actually STUDIED AT THE BAR, and it really worked out.

Monday one of my friends from church went into labor! So after school and dinner, we went to the hospital to give her our blessings. I was wondering around looking at the papers that show the babies heart and the contractions. It was really interesting. I can't wait for the OB rotation. Everybody was saying I should get some clinical hours... that would have been nice.
So Alex and I decided to go check out the nursery and see the babies! So we go through one of the doors.. we had to call somebody to let us in, and when we went through.. everybody was staring at us, a little alarm went off, and then over the intercom you hear " CODE PINK, CODE PINK". Umm....
So we realized that we were in the wrong wing, and had to go through the doors that we just came through. But they locked... apparently a code pink is a baby is missing. We thought it was called on us! We had no idea what to do. So I called to get back through the door, and the lady on the phone asked if we were the reason that they called Code Pink. I didn't know what a code pink was at the time, so what was I suppose to say? So she said we had to wait for the alarm to go back off and for the code pink to be resolved and them we could be let through. People were staring vigorously...
We ended up not being able to see the nursery... and we just stayed put in the waiting room for the rest of the time....
Other than that.... Welcome to the world Baby Ian!!!


This leads me to today. I woke up early.. unintentional.. and started on homework. I finished everything with 30 minutes to spare before class. Today in lab we are going through medications I believe. Should be interesting (oh yes, I am bringing my camera). Afterwards I am headed to Alex's house for an all nighter probably. I have a test at 0730 in the morning tomorrow.. and I haven't started studying because I have been crazy busy on doing actual homework. So yet again, cross your fingers!

Relaxed for once within the past month,
Katie
P.s. This was sent from my mom yesterday. My parents read my blog since I have been so busy, I can't call them as much as I used to. This put a huge smile on my face. I love you guys!!!
From mom:
Okay little girl…..I read your blog this morning and if your brother is a turd what does that make your father and I??????????
 
Are you sure that was okra and not a cucumber that thing was huge.  You should buy one and I’ll cook it for you.  Alex is not your only rock to lean on you have your father and I.  Sweetie please don’t ever fill like you are alone because you are not.  You need to sneak away one night and come home and let mom pamper you.  We can go get a pedy then head home I’ll fix you a big meal and fill your tummy then we can do facials put in Lion King or one of the other movies’ we use to watch and I’ll make us some drinks with alcohol since your are legal now.  You should have no problem in sleeping……….
 
Have a good day and I love you very much.
Mom

Friday, September 16, 2011

Gluten Balls

So Wednesday, I did pretty good on my test. I know I missed a few questions, but that's Wednesday's news. After class I went with Alex to the UCF Rock climbing clubs workout at Aguille. It was awesome. We did abs, and arms, and bouldering. It was a lot of fun.

Thursday I woke up early and went to Bermuda with Amanda.

We were on Meals on Wheels today. This is a program that serves hot meals to seniors that can't take care of themselves and aren't capable of making themselves a home cooked meal. There are so many clients in the community that I was in today that 6 routes or so are not covered by volunteers, DAILY. There are so many seniors in need that there are hundreds and hundreds on the waiting list. The client list is about 300 per town in Orange County.

Well anyways, it was a crazy day. First off, I can barely move my arms. Turning the wheel was a hard activity today. My arms are so sore from the workout! Amanda and I delivered a bunch of meals to a bunch of people in the community. They ranged from disabled to 94 years old. Everybody was so sweet. We put a pink magnet on the side of my car and drove around in our nursing scrubs. It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of.... different... people.




We finished early and had a while before we had to go back to one of the elementary schools to fill out paperwork, so we decided to "assess our community". We stopped at this crazy flea market place. They had a whole bunch of random things. Like for example.. these reindeer rings on my fingers.....
We still had a little bit of time, so then we came across a Chinese Supermarket. If you haven't been in one of these style supermarkets, EVERYTHING IS IN CHINESE!!!!
When I was little, I used to always eat Koala March. They were so good and absolutely scrumptious. Well, they stopped carrying them in Publix and I haven't seen them since elementary school (they are little Japanese cookies filled with chocolate). Well, Target actually has some in the dollar section right now called Hello Panda. They are basically the same thing, except they are Chinese cookies and they are pandas instead of koalas. Anyways, we found them in chinese!!!!! I was extremely excited. This moment was the highlight of my week. Kind of sad huh?

Anybody remember them?
Well we also found bags of Pocky that were a couple pounds big. That's a lot of Pocky.... Some other interesting things that we found...


The above picture is a Chinese okra. Where do you even start with one of those things?

Well overall my day was pretty good. Then when I got home, yes, I had my first melt down. I was looking at all of my work that I had to do (which keeps getting to be a longer list every day), and was just getting more stressed out. It was just everything all at once going downhill. Alex and I were in a little argument, and when we are in an argument, I have no other rock to lean on. Alex didn't realize how stressed out I have been lately so he came over. It was the first night that I actually got to sleep at a descent time and slept all the way through (the night before I was working out at 2AM because I couldn't sleep).

So this morning I woke up refreshed and ready to go. Alex and I are back to being perfect, I was able to sleep in today, it was a good day. Clinicals didn't start until 9AM today.. err.. 0900. We were at a program this morning doing vision screenings. The kids were really little, around three and four years old. They are all absolutely adorable. They get really attached to us. They yell our names, they give us hugs, they hold our hands. We go to this location every Thursday and Friday to see them, so we have gotten to know a lot of the students by now. Afterwards, we went back to an elementary school to do some paperwork to prepare for screenings at this location in a few weeks. Then we headed back to the morning program.
One of our assignments is a teaching project. There are four of us in my group to teach dental  hygiene. We put together a really good project and taught about 15 kids all about their teeth. We had a poster that they could post good and bad foods for teeth, we made the kids stand up and act like teeth and showed them how to brush their teeth properly by acting like we were brushing them, we gave them certificates, and we gave them coloring sheets. They really liked it and did a really good job.
Next week we are doing the teaching projects again to some more classes, so I will try to get better pictures.

That leads me to where I am right now. I thought I was hurting yesterday, oh no. My whole BODY hurts today. Hurt is an understatement actually. Some little man, jumped off of my drink (if you don't know this reference, you aren't in college) and into my body and he is playing jump rode with my fibers in my muscles. OOOOOMMMMMMGGGGGG, my abs hurt so much that I can't even stand straight. My arms are so sore that I can't even put my arm stretched out completely. I was leaning in my chair today, and pushed up on the chair with my hands to sit back up, and my arms started shaking like crazy. Kimberly saw it and was a little nervous.

For the weekend I have a bunch of homework to do. There is a huge list of things to do, that I will not post right now because looking at it, I'm probably going to have a panic attack.
Right now: chicken parmesan from my amazing friend who loves me so much.

Food is the answer to all of my problems,
Katie
P.s. Hello turd brother Branden!!!!! If I'm a turd, you're a turd since we are related. ;) Love you!!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Study Study Study

Haven't been able to write much lately because studying has become a natural hobby of mine. My first "official test" is in class tomorrow at 10 AM. I have a class from 0730 to about 0920. We have 40 minutes in between, and then at 1000 is the class!!! It's an actual sit down, raspberry scantron, penciled in test. I haven't taken one of those in a while. Last year I did almost all online classes. It's been a year since I have taken a class on campus and not online. Everybody is freaking out about it. I'm nervous because I think I should be more nervous than I am about it... which is ironic.. but everybody is starting to freak me out. The test is in community, and it seems pretty much like common knowledge. There is a little bit of history, but I took a Nursing as a Profession class and learned the history before (which I suggest if you pre-nursing majors need to fill in some electives). Well anyways, I have been studying and trying to stay on top of homework this whole week, and it has been pretty hectic.

I finished all of my assignments for the week so far. I feel pretty good about that. Monday was just a regular day of classes and then church. Today, in lab, we learned about the proper body mechanics when you are trying to move patients. Most hospitals have a "No Lift" policy. This means that you are not allowed to physically lift a patient, you have to have a device, or a sheet to lift them properly. So we were switching from being a patient and a nurse while lifting each other up with devices like Gait Belts. The College of Nursing just ordered a Hoyer Lift. I'm going to be the first one to volunteer as a patient for that!

Afterwards I went over to the bookstore to pick up my ATI books (its a package that we had to pay $500 for. It includes test and books.) They said to bring somebody with you because it is heavy. And for $500 I was expecting a huge box that I was going to need a dolly for. So I bring Alex. And the box turns out to be about the width and height of my radius. .....Way too heavy for one person..... ok.....

Well anyways, afterwards we went to the rockwall at the gym, and now we are at the library. I decided to take a break from my studying and post on here to catch everybody up :) Cross your fingers for tomorrow! I will be up bright and early at 6 to start my day, and hopefully to ace a test.

High apple pie, in the sky hopes,
Katie

Sunday, September 11, 2011

KeeannnuuuuEmmmiiiiiiSeeeaaggg

Friday - at the elementary school again doing screenings! I will say that today went a lot better. Either it actually went better, or I just took the whole thing as a joke and at least was laughing all day :) It really was smoother though. I was doing vision screenings today. The kindergartners were the cutest things. First, they were so excited to sit next to me and do the screening. They kept fighting over who was next. Then when they got in the chair....

Me: What's your first name little one?
Kindergartner: KeeannnuuuuEmmmiiiiiiSeeeaaggg.
Me: What was that?
Kindergartner: KeeannnuuuuuEmmmmiiiiSeeeeeagggg.
Me: OK... well.. what about your last name?
Kindergartner: KeeaannnuuuuuuEmmiiiiSeeeaaagggg.
Me: OK then.... (by that time I just usually gave up because they were so freaking cute anyways! I did end up misspelling over half of the names, and some of them, like the one above usually had no relation to their actual name, and it would be something like John Smith lol)

So I would tell them that the board had three symbols on it,  1) umbrella 2) house 3) apple. After I told them this, I would ask them to tell me what I point to. Didn't work....We were getting so many random things from a farm, heart, O, T, G, tent, and somebody was even said an igloo! These kindergartners and their imagination... Some had accents, some were missing 5 or 6 teeth. They just really brightened my day when they opened their little mouths to missing teeth and funny pronunciations.

I finished the night off by going to World of Beer with Alex and grabbing an amazing Palm Ale to celebrate my good day (and some amazing Lettuce Wraps that we had Pei Wei drop off).

Today, I regrettably have not done much homework at all.... I got up and met my pops. He helped me get a few new tires and we got some coffee and caught up. It's always nice to see the fam. Afterwards, Alex and I went to go pick up my check from my old job,  but it wasn't there. So we decided to introduce Alex to IKEA. And wow.. I get lost in that store every time (mentally, not physically) and the appliances seduce me into a never ending show room of lovable shiny things. It gets pretty intense. I proudly only walked away with 200 straws and 17 pieces of tubaware.

Then we decided to make the night a stay at home night and do homework! But after we go rock-climbing. Then that changed to after we get sushi at Kobe's. Then that changed to after we get some hibachi from Kobe's. Now.. it might be changing to after we watch this movie....

For tomorrow: lots of homework, church, then lots of homework

Stay tuned,
Katie

P.s. I have now been coerced and have been turned to the Blue side. Go Blue! From the sound of Alex yelling in the background, I'm thinking it was a good game.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Here comes the sanity...

aoweiruaw;oejrew;oathwae;riojwae;fromewnlfkadnsfladsc;lovrnheineulrgaefhlaskdihflewrinaldgfnar;eiaheluriniufnglewfan;weifgqnieyugrvfalejhbvalwqncf;eriufqne;rkjvnbelrjfnvb;akuwdhf;iawubefjwrkhebvlakjernf;ieuwvfnkdjbvkjdnv.kjahwe;rifnb;vkjb.zadjfv b;kajwrbe;fkhrbv jkadzbnvna;kjrew;abejrvhb ;akrjebgpqiruhng;qkuhbg;jrkebng;uirbgpre;kejrbaew;iurbg;prieuwbgqrbevg;iarbfv;akhbvf

whew....

I REALLY needed to get that out...

So last night, I completed four literacy modules, and one tobacco module. These took me forever and a day! Hours and hours later, I finally finished them, and went to bed.

Clinicals today! We had to be there at 800 this morning. We were at an Elementary school doing height, weight, BMI, and vision screenings. And please refer to the first four lines of this post.....

Well.. nothing was coordinated properly. Classes were going to the wrong areas. We had classes that didn't even come see us. There were three classes for one P.E. period, and we only had two classrooms to do all of this. The kids were completely uncooperative, screaming, running around. Only a few stood out to be the tinniest well behaved. Even my teacher was in awe about the outcome of today. The vision screenings were taking so long that only about 1 out of every 3 classes got done during the class period they were with us. I couldn't believe the weight of some of these children. I have never seen BMIs that were so high!
 For lunch, I stuffed my face with mangoes and rye chips. 

After the children got dismissed, we had to sit down and do there paperwork. We were missing labels, and students, and classes, and papers. We converted BMIs and wrote if they passed the vision screenings. I don't know how we did it, but we managed to organize it in some sort of manner. It at least wasn't tossed around on the table is basically what I mean.

On top of everything, I didn't finish my homework yesterday. I miss my boyfriend like crazy. And my student loan didn't come through, only a few bucks left over from scholarships was transferred from financial aid to my account. Now I have to deal with financial aid on that. I am completely broke. My phone is broken, it won't charge or keep a charge longer than an hour.

Somebody come over and put a smile on my face please,
Katie

P.S. the best part - I am back at the elementary school tomorrow, doing the same thing. 800 - 1600

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Trying to Catch up...

I have been crazy busy and trying to catch up with classes so I haven't been able to write.

Yesterday, I only had one lab since Health Assessment Lab was canceled. In Essentials Lab today, we learned/played with restraints. It was actually pretty fun. We learned how to properly put them on patients, and how to properly tie them to the bed. This became a very fun game....


Half way through the semester, we go from a local clinic, to a VA long term care unit. Since it is the VA, we had about 100 pages of extra paperwork to do that is due Wednesday. So last night I sit down and filled out all of the paperwork. And of course, there was an extra class that we needed to take online to get a certificate to work at the VA. This took me about 2 hours to complete. Night shot. Night night....

Then today class was at 7:30, Roles of a Professional Nurse. Then at 10:00, Community Nursing.... and all i can say about that class... is 
zzZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz
We do have a test next week in this class though! Smart move huh?

Afterwards I took the UCF shuttle over to campus. The ride isn't too bad. It only took about 15 minutes, but I figured it is better than buying a parking pass and it takes that long to drive over and find parking anyways. I checked out the gym, did some errands, signed up for SNA, then came home. Which leads me to where I am right now... munching on mangos and trying to start this long list of stuff I need to do by Sunday....

Essentials 3028 -
Read Client Safety, Mobility/Immobility
Calculating with Confidence Modules 6, 7, 8, and 9
Calculating with Confidence Quiz Unit 2
Mobility/Immobility Quiz

Health Assessment 3065 - 
Read Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10

Community Nursing 3634 - 
Read pages 1-6, 10, 31-47, 64-81, 472-475, Chapter 16, 17, 18, 10 and 20
Read from A&B book Chapters 1-4
Test a week from today on above reading.
Literacy Modules 1, 2, 3, 4
Tobacco Modules 1, 2, 3, 4

Roles of Professional Nursing 3825 - 
Read Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25

Community CNC - 
Informant Interview

And I am surrounded with all of Bradley's toys because he keeps bringing them to me and you wouldn't believe how tempting it is to throw a ball. This weekend there's a UCF game that I want to volunteer at, my parents might be coming into town, my friends baby shower, and I need to pick up my check (I got fired btw, the only place I have ever been fired from. She said I don't have enough availability, but I'm available 4 days a week. She just has an excuse to not work me on the other days. I should have turned in my 2 weeks, she beat me to the punch.)

Sighing heavily,
Katie

Monday, September 5, 2011

Tailgating, and Labor Day

So Saturday was awesome! I went tailgating with a bunch of people today for UCF's first home game of the semester! It was amazing and a lot of fun. Afterwards, two of my friends and I went to B Dubs for some wings and to watch the game. We then went to the house and changed and went to downtown Orlando. One of my friends lives down there, so we stayed the night at his house and didn't have to worry about coming home. My goal for the day: a day without nursing related items. And it was amazing! A perfect break.

And now, I'm sitting in Vero Beach, with the smell of ribs and chicken in the background, eating shrimp cocktail with Alex and his family. Life could not be any better than this. I've only been in nursing school for two weeks, and I have already learned that if you have a break, take advantage and get out of town! It is well worth it.

Reality, I will see you tomorrow at 1400. (I haven't been using military time this weekend either... shh don't tell)

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Family Health

So I didn't get a chance to write last night, I was exhausted and I also think I am getting sick. My throat hurts pretty bad. For dinner last night: a bag of cherry cough drops. And for dessert: yummy cough syrup that knocked me out. To catch you up...

Yesterday I was at Family Health. And it was....

BORING...

I have now decided that family health is not an area that I want to be working in. I got there at 800 and was told to follow this nurse. Well there was two appointments every fifteen minutes. So we were bringing the patients back and working them up. The doctor doesn't even show up until 845 and on top of that, he was late and strolled in at 900. People started getting really grouchy. Wait times were getting over two HOURS. I don't understand why patients are scheduled at 800 when he doesn't even get there until an hour later. Maybe 15 minutes before he gets there so the nurse can work them up and check them in, but not an hour. So, dealing with grouchy people all day, that just wasn't fun. At least in pediatrics, if they are yelling and screaming and grouchy, they are still cute to look at. One lady was so mad I thought she was about to have a heart attack. She was already on about nine medications! The doctor makes them bring in their actual bottles of medication so he can make sure that what they are taking is the correct amount prescribed on the bottle.One man brought in his medications, not in a Ziploc bag, not in a Walmart bag, but in one of those BIG black trash bags!!! And every single patient thought that 20 different things were wrong with them. So they would talk off the docs ear and push him even further behind. 1200 couldn't have came fast enough.

Needless to say, I pretty much ran out of the clinic that day. I got some food from Subway then met the rest of the girls at a different location for a meeting and a clinical conference. One of the reps from Meals on Wheels came to talk to us for orientation. It is a company that orders meals for seniors over 60 that are incapable of preparing a hot meal for themselves. Volunteers pick up the meals in their own cars with about two people per car, and they drive on a route and pass them out to the clients. They give out about 1500 meals a day... and there are about 550 people on the waiting list. Insane. Well she was telling us about our route and every two seconds would say something about safety. Kind of makes me wonder... She said things about finding the clients on the floor, about pulling into a neighborhood and seeing a gun so driving away, about being uncomfortable getting out of the car. Can't wait for meals on wheels!

Then at about 1430 we headed over to an after school daycare. We are suppose to "interact" with the kids, but really we are just babysitters. My classroom went outside to play, so at least I got to play on the playground and go down slides the whole time. You get some really good speed on the slides with your nursing scrubs on, creates some good slideage.

Then I came home and Amanda (from my CNC) and I tried to accomplish some homework. Didn't happen.
Then after she left, I tried to accomplish more homework. Didn't happen.
After my shower, tried to accomplish more homework. Didn't happen.
After dinner, didn't try at all to accomplish homework because by then I just gave up.

I'm starting to get used to waking up early. My biological alarm clock woke me up at 630 this morning. It took forever for me to fall back asleep, but I managed.

Todays agenda: Tailgating for the home game at UCF, then possibly downtown. And of course, trying to accomplish some homework.... ;)

Friday, September 2, 2011

Not my otter arm!

Pediatric rotation in clinicals!!!

So, I already want to be a nurse in the peds department, or possibly NICU. So my first rotation today = PEDIATRICS! I was really excited and nervous at the same time. I got there around 8 AM, and my day started awesome. I saw so many patients and it was really interesting. I followed Medical Assisstants, and watched them take vitals. I followed LPNs, and watched them give shots. I even got to follow the doctor many times, and  she showed me a bunch of different cases that were very interesting. I was able to see and feel an umbilical hernia. When you push it, it goes all the way inside the abdominal wall, it was REALLY interesting. I also was able to see many different patients that needed shots (which holding kids down while a nurse gives shots feels wrong...), wheezing, finger pricks, children with neurological problems, strep throat test and many other things I can not think of right now (its 12:30 and I have to be back at clinical at 8 AM : / ). I also was able to meet an unfortunate little boy who had already been through a lot. I can't give away details of the patient, but it made me realize one of the reasons as to why I want to be a nurse. The mom of this little boy was so caring and showed so much love to all of the staff. She had been through a lot with his medical treatment, and everybody was concerned about him. It was nice to see such a connection. The girls were amazing as well. The staff was very welcoming. I had an amazing first day. And to top it off, I still can't believe that I was able to have my first rotation in pediatrics!!!! One of the little boys, while I was holding him and an LPN was giving his shots, kept screaming, "Not my otter arm, Not my otter arm!!!" She gave him two shots on each arm. It was the saddest, but cutest thing I have ever seen. It's so crazy that almost every child's instant reaction to seeing a needle, before it is even near them, they start bawling. But it's funny as to how fast they cheer up when we hand them a sticker. Would you like spider man or tweety?

Well for lunch, I decided to bring cash and cross my fingers for a cafeteria. Luck was on my side. The cafeteria didn't have much healthy stuff, but I managed to swallow a wrap. Well, as I am sitting at a table, these two men approach me (by the way, there is a mom, who is an RN and her children just got done seeing me a few minutes ago in the peds unit, well they are sitting at the table next to me). I am doing what any other college student is doing, I am texting. And one of the men, yells, straight up yells in my ear, " HI THIS IS MY FRIEND AND HE LIKES YOU... OK BYE!" And his friend proceeds to pull out a chair and sit down. Well at this point, everybody in the cafeteria is watching me, the mom is laughing hysterically, and I am turning beat red.

Strange guy at my table: HI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE TODAY!?
Me: Eating lunch..... and you?
Strange guy at my table: I AM HERE FOR THERAPY!!!
Me: (awkward look and I have no idea what to say) Nice.. well not nice.. I mean....
Strange guy at my table: I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU AGAIN, WHERE DO YOU WORK?

Mom in the background: hahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaahahahha

Me: I am a student here, so I change units all of the time... (when really I change units daily, not hourly...)
Strange guy at my table: OH. WELL I GUESS I WILL JUST HAVE TO GO VISIT ALL OF THE FLOORS TODAY TO TRY AND FIND YOU.
Me: Ya, I guess you will. Well I'm sorry, but my break is over and I have to get back to my education! (When really it was 12:30 and I didn't have to go back until 1)
Strange guy at my table: OK, WELL I WILL LOOK FOR YOU! NICE MEETING YOU!!!!

Before I left, I went to fill up my drink and the mom/RN comes up to me, still laughing hysterically and told me that I handled myself very well. After we started talking for a while, she started telling me how much she loves nursing and that I did a great job with her kids. It was amazing hearing that on my first day.

Well, when I get back upstairs to Peds, the girls are sitting at their desk. And I said, "Is there a therapy floor? Or possibly a psych ward or something here?"
And all of them just started bursting out in laughter. One of the LPN's go, "Katie, did you go to the cafeteria?" They told me that there is, and they have all learned, to bring a lunch from then on. Thanks for telling the newbie guys....
Initiation. Awesome.

So after a long day of babies, being coughed on, holding children down for shots, and sorting through stickers like its live or die if they don't get the right sticker.... I finally got home. I met up with my parents for dinner, which was amazing. I really miss them even though I am still not too far away. I gave my dad a UCF sweatshirt for his birthday (sorry Dad! I know it is too big!!!) then I spent some time in Walmart with them shopping. Afterwards, I caught up with Alex for a little and that has lead me to blog at 12:44 at night. I am in another rotation tomorrow. They did have me in OB, but I got changed at last minute to Family Health. I really want to do OB, or at least peak my head in for a little bit tomorrow. So cross your fingers!

Hoping,
Katie