Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Christmas Break!!!

IT IS FINALLY HERE!!!! 
And I DID IT!!!!!!!


I passed the semester with two A's and two B's!!! Go ME!!!! So to catch you up...

Thanksgiving week was amazing. It was nice to have somewhat of a break. Alex and I went to my parent's house for some awesome food and tons of left overs!
That Saturday (Nov. 26), Alex got his 100th beer at World of Beer! He was so proud! And at the same time, Michigan beat Ohio State. I can not explain to you how much that last sentence just meant.... He was extremely ecstatic all day and that doesn't compare to the extent of the actual excitement. Derek ended up being able to get us some tickets to Tilted Kilt. They were breaking a world record of the largest beer bong with over 150 people, and yes, we got to participate!!! I am now a world record participant/holder :) Alex also did a "Stupid Betz" where he thought he was getting paid 50 bucks to shave a reverse mohawk on his head. Derek took a shot of hot sauce. They are not any richer than they were before they did it...
 Alex holding is 100th beer and his beer mug and shirt!
 Worlds largest beer bong, Over 150 people!
 Derek's shot of hot sauce
 Explanatory



The rest of the weekend was spent studying.... ;)

That Tuesday (Nov. 29), we just learned about colostomies and messed around in Essentials lab.


I also took my Health Assessment lab checkoff! You and your lab partner go into an exam room. The teacher sent out an email saying wear sports bras and bathing suit bottoms to strip down into so your partner can do their exam! None of us did... But anyways, I randomly chose respiratory. I did really good and got an A! I was so excited that was over! One final down!!!!

Thursday and Friday (Dec. 1/2) was our last days at the VA! It was sad to say bye to all of our residents. But on the last day, we had a Christmas party with the residents, and a pizza party with our group of girls. It was amazing. We gave our instructor a personalized t-shirt and a bag of candy. We are going to miss her so much. She was a great influence over all of us.









That weekend I studied my butt off for finals. I took a break and put up my Christmas decorations with Alex. We got some Eggnog and relaxed for the night. It was well needed.
 Puppy dawg not included :)
My cozy little fireplace!!!

Finals week was pretty intense (December 5th) . We had a bunch of finals all crammed together it seemed like. My Health Assessment final, I studied all weekend for. I was in the library for hours that weekend. And it all paid off! I got an A on my final and it brought my grade up to a B! Right after that exam we had another final. It was so hard. It was only 60 questions, but over half of the class was still taking the test 90 minutes into it. The class average was 46 out of 60. Not that great. That night I met up with my church. We made Christmas boxes for kids in Haiti. We were able to personalize our boxes and it was a lot of fun. There was Christmas music, food, and friends. It was nice to get my mind off of everything.
You can't see it that great, but this is one of my boxes! I drew the card, and then put a picture of Alex and I. We stuffed boxes with rice, beans, paper, crayons, pencils, jacks, bean bags, and so much more. It was awesome.
All of our boxes!

Then Tuesday I had my skills checkoff. I studied all night. I gave Alex my grading rubric, and practiced on all types of things. We all had to set up an IV, then we chose one of three options: foley catheter, wound care, or tracheostomy suctioning. A cheeze-it box was my catheter, a Popz box was my wound, and I hung my IV from my utility door.
 IV
Cheeze-it Catheter

When we got to the class, everybody was talking about how people were failing left and right. If you break sterile field, that was a fail. Which by the way, sterile field is you can't open a package, and then have the package flap back over onto where you opened it, you can't put your hands below your waist, or reach across the table to pick up something. It is really intense. So out of 7 people that walked in, about 6 of those failed. So imagine how prepared I feel at this moment. There are two instructors that are really hard graders. And guess who calls my name? One of those instructors. I gave up. As I was walking to the bed, I literally was thinking in my head, NOT how I was going to do the IV, NOT what I was going to do if I got wound care, I was thinking... that this is my death walk. I knew for sure I was just doomed. So I started thinking... if I am doing my death walk right now, should I go out looking like a pimp? So I start giving myself a little limp. Then I decided nope, I should go out graceful. So I got on my tip toes, and walked the rest of the way to the bed. AND GUESS WHAT, I GOT ONE OF THE HARDEST INSTRUCTORS, PICKED FOLEY CATHETER WHICH IS ONE OF THE HARDEST SKILLS, AND KICKED SKILLS CHECKOFF BUTT!!!! I was so excited when I was done. All of the worrying and eating those cheeze-its paid off. Only two finals left.

Wednesday morning we had a presentation at 7 AM. UGH. It was worth waking up so early though. All of us got the full amount of points for our hard work :) Then we took our last final. I didn't study much for this final, but still did great. I am pretty proud of my grades this semester. When I walked out of the building, I could not believe how amazing I felt compared to thinking about quizzes due and homework. I thought about laying out, and eating sushi, and going backpacking, and going to Michigan and Ohio, and seeing snow. I thought about RELAXING!!!  So that night Alex and I had our date night. We made homemade Christmas ornaments (including Bradley). It was nice to relax :)

Now, it has been a week since finals and there has been this weight off of my shoulders. I am not stressed, worried about deadlines, waking up early, wearing scrubs. NOTHING! I am relaxing, and Christmas shopping, and spending time with Alex. It has been amazing.

The night after finals, that Thursday (Dec. 8th) some of us girls went out to Dirty Bingo. It was a lot of fun for all of us to laugh and enjoy a drink! This past Saturday (Dec. 10th) I met up with a bunch of people I haven't seen in YEARS that I have known for way too long. It was nice to see everybody. It was a good time to catch up.
Alex and I also did our Christmas with each other this week. He bought be rock climbing shoes!!! I have been needing them for so long and he got me some really good ones. I love them. I bought him a day pack for his rockclimbing gear, and he loved it. We did really good this year!

Now I am sitting in my apartment, with my Christmas tree lit up and a candle light, a margarita in hand, and doing something I can't post on here because it has to do with my mom's Christmas present : X It feels so good to not have a million things going through my head right now....

For the next few weeks I am not going to write. I will catch you guys up the week before school starts. Alex and I have Christmas with my parents this Sunday, December 18th. Before then, Thursday through Saturday, we are going to go backpacking. Then we fly out the 20th to Michigan to see his family. Then we drive over to Ohio on Christmas to catch up with some more of his family. The 26th we are going to drive up to Akron to catch up with my parents and my brother. Then the 31st we will be back in Michigan. January 1st is our one year anniversary!! So we aren't sure yet what we are going to do. Then we fly back on the 3rd. January 8th is my 22nd birthday. And January 9th we start back up at school.
 I plan to enjoy this next month as much as I can!!!
Merry Christmas to all of my readers and I will talk to you next year!!! <3 Katie