Life is good

Well, it's done. I graduated from South Plains College School of Nursing with an Associates degree in Nursing and passed my boards. I'm officially an RN and working on a Neurology floor at a local hospital. I stopped posting about school out of paranoia. I heard several stories about people being booted from the program for posting things on the internet, but I'll talk a bit about the rest of my schooling here.

Second semester was by far the hardest thing I've ever been through. It was stressful and I often had to go more than 3 days on literally no sleep. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Susan's help. We had two days of lecture with an exam every Monday, and clincals Wednesday through Friday. I learned so much, and I'm amazed at how much of it I actually retained.

Third semester was all about pediatrics and labor and delivery. It was amazing. It was more relaxing as the tests were more spread out and I was beginning to get into the swing of things. I got to see babies born, which was amazing and I'll always cherish being able to have been there.

The fourth and final semester was much like second, but it felt easier because I kind of knew what to expect and how to manage my time more. The clinical rotations focused on critical care and I loved it. I got a job on one of the floors that I rotated on.

I've only worked a few shifts on the floor, but so far I love it. Everyone I work with is awesome. I feel a bit like my training wheels have been taken off. That scares me because the first time my dad took my real training wheels off I rode head first into a tree. True story. The responsibility of holding people's lives in my hands is a bit daunting, but I'm proud, and I love what I'm doing.

I know it's brief but I don't know how much detail it's safe to go into, but that's it. I've just started my new career and what I feel like is my real life. And that life, as of right now is good.

Half way there!

Okay, so I lied. I said I was gonna post throughout nursing school, but it's sucked away so much of my time that I haven't had time for things like blog posting. First semester was kindergarten compared to second (I didn't think so at the time, but I know now). I had a lot of things go my way though.


The hardest, most stressful thing about first semester was lab finals. All through the semester we learned how to perform various skills. Everything from hand washing to inserting a catheter. We had to video tape ourselves doing it, then turn it in to be graded. They were really tough on things like sterile fields. If the shadow of your hand crosses something that's supposed to be sterile... FAIL! Fail more than twice then you are kicked from the program. That sucked but I got through it all. Lab finals was a sort of live test of those. You draw a scenario, and perform all of the skills on it in front of the teachers, who watch and grade you live. I lucked out and drew an easy scenario. I had to wash my hands, wrap a stump (amputee), clean a dry, closed wound (easiest one), and give some basic meds (two kinds of insulin mixed, a couple pills, and something else that I can't remember).

I bombed it... the only thing I passed was the stump wrap. I left a little spot of soap on my arm, so I failed hand washing. I let my hand drop below my waist (contaminating my sterile hand), so I failed the wound. I said the wrong number outloud after I drew up an injection, and therefore failed pharm. I was devastated. You only get two chances... if I failed again, that was it for me.

For the second try you draw another random scenario... I walked in and picked a different number hoping for the best. I was so pissed that I blew the first try, since it was the easiest possible scenario for me... now I was probably going to have to do an irrigated open, wet dressed wound or insert a foley with a specimen collection (not that that would phase me this semester, but last semester it was scary). I should have bought a lottery ticket that day because somehow, even though it was random, I drew the EXACT same scenario! Needless to say I nailed it... on to second semester, which I'll post about when I feel less lazy.

Sick!

I just put that little video in because it makes me smile.

So I haven't been able to post because I've been really busy.... and sick. Anyway, this last week I was able to pass my first 4 skills. The first two were medical hand wash and isolation gear. We had to check off on these in front of a classmate who had demoed it a few days before.

Hand washing is weirdly more difficult than it should be. There are actually people who have failed this skill. It involves washing with your hands, elbows, clothing, nose, and everything in the right positions, not touching ANYTHING, soaping and rinsing several times, and more. I passed it, but was a little nervous.

Isolation gear was difficult for me because I'm so big, and the isolation gear we were given was made for tiny little nursing student girls. So, the paper gown part of it basically came apart at the seams if I moved wrong in it, but I still passed. The picture above is pretty much exactly what I had to put on (except the girl in the picture is not Justin sized).

The next was Asepsis, one big demo of two skills on video. An instructor demoed putting together a sterile field and putting on sterile gloves in front of the class, then we had to practice and individually record ourselves demonstrating it. I don't recognize myself on camera. I recorded, then went back to watch myself and all I can think when I see myself on tape are things like 'who is that guy?' and 'they picked a weird looking actor to play me'. I passed those too, and got it all turned in over a week early so that was a relief, and has made this week much easier. I had my first 'prelim' today, and got a 92. Prelim is just a fancy word for exam, or test.

I'm proud of myself, because I've had some sort of stupid cold / sinus infection throughout it all and have felt pretty bad. My symptoms are fading... so I'm in the convalescence phase of my illness (that's a fun word that was on my prelim). Poor Susan's been sick too, and she's had to work, so I think everyone should take a moment of silence in honor of Susan.... Okay thank you.

This week we're learning about vital signs, and I wanted to get a little head start. So today, I went and watched a video about taking temperatures with different types of thermometers, on various types of patients, and in different parts of the body. By 'in' I mean IN. I know I'm going into nursing, and I know I've got to see, touch, and do things I normally wouldn't want to do... but the last thing I ever expected to see on an educational video at school was various types of thermometers inserted into an elderly man's anus... with closeups. (shudders).

plus

plus

equals

Anyway that's what I've been up to. Oh, we got new glasses, here's a picture:

Coffee Coffee Coffee!!!

One week of school down. The first week started off easy, the first day mostly consisted of those 'getting to know each other games'... you know where you partner up with someone, learn some things about them, then tell the class about the person you met. We also had to choose an adjective starting with the first letter of our first names... then go around trying to name everyone off with their first names and adjectives... of course I got called on first and I'm terrible with names. My whole life I've hated this game because my only options were things like jovial, jiggly, jubilant, or if you aren't picky about the adjective, jumping. I chose Jerk Justin, I know it's not quite an adjective but I thought it was funny and so did everyone else.

After the first day lecture started. And all of the out of class reading and studying that goes along with that. I love lectures, especially when it's something that I find interesting so it was good. The only thing was, I didn't finish reading / studying until somewhere between 9:30 and 11pm every night so that kind of sucks. Skills start next week, in combination with lecture so the difficulty level / time consumption is going to ramp up substantially. We'll be learning 3 skills that we have to practice, and video tape / demonstrate on our own time. It's gonna be fun :)

I did find that getting up early, in combination with long days has unlocked a need for caffeine in me. Susan got me one of those Keurig coffee makers, and I am in love with it. Now I just have to find out which kind of coffee I like the most (there are so many to choose from).

iPod

I went in today for my meeting with my adviser, which was fine. He just took all the paper work for my physical and everything, and talked to me about bicycles. He also said 'You better hurry to the computer lab so you can get your iPod.'



Now, there have been rumblings about a possible 'ipod', but I didn't really think they were true. I thought if it were true, it's probably just an iPod Shuffle with lectures on it or something. But I was wrong, I ran down to the lab, just as they were about to leave and was given a brand new 8GB iPod Touch! Neat! It's got a bunch of my text books on it, a medical dictionary / encyclopedia, a pill book, and a BUNCH more loaded on it. So not only is it a free, new toy, it's saving me a bunch on some of the books that I was going to have to buy! Anyway, that's all for now. I've got a meeting with my 'success coordinator' on Friday, then classes begin Monday at 8am. I feel like I'm speeding toward a brick wall, it's coming so fast, but I'm excited.

iPod Touch

Nursing orientation

I think I'm going to try to blog about nursing school as I work my way through it. We will have to see though. The way everyone is talking, I won't have time to pee, much less write a blog.

I had orientation the last two days, which consisted of a bunch of really nice people (current students and instructors) repeating the phrase, 'I'm not trying to overwhelm you or anything' over and over right before saying something terrifyingly overwhelming. They went over everything to expect, told us to kiss our families goodbye for two years, fed us a ton of cookies, and said things that made me feel like hyperventilating.

What? You want an example? Well my books this semester alone will cost somewhere around $900. Yeah... that's what I said too. Some of the current students told me that we were getting it easy. Apparently SPC got a huge grant that's taking care of a large chunk of other stuff that I would have to be buying as well otherwise.

Another panic inducing thing was my schedule. On paper it shows me in class basically from 8am to 3pm Monday thru Thursday. I thought that was a lot (I've been a part time student for a few years), until they told us that lab is open until 7pm Monday thru Thursdays, and Fridays from 9am til 2pm, and we are expected to be there when the lab is open. The students also told us that if we weren't, that our chances of success were nonexistent. We were also told that trying to work while in nursing school practically kills all chance of making it through. Thank goodness my wife and our family are so supportive.

As part of orientation we had to break up into groups and make a 'how to' video. My group got tying a shoe, and it was fun. As it turns out, the uber realistic peeing catheter practice penises are really popular props... they make great telephones, 'packages' to be wrapped, additions to a baby being diapered, and more... My fellow students have odd senses of humor, which makes me happy.

Anyway, all in all I had a great time, met some really cool people who I'm apparently going to be spending most of my time with for the next two years, and learned a lot about what to expect. I'm REALLY nervous, but excited too. This next couple years is going to be crazy, difficult, fun, enlightening, and apparently uber realistic peeing catheter practice penis filled.
I'm going to try to write about it as I go along. Maybe some incoherent rambling, maybe some fleshed out insights... no, probably just incoherent ramblings. We'll have to see.

Made a new site

I made a new site, and I'm kinda proud of it... even though I just used weebly and clicked and dragged it together. It promotes my Points 2 Shop account, and tells people how to get free Nintendo points / Wii Points. It's at:
Http://freenintendopoints.weebly.com

I just wanted to show it off :P

I got a prize!

So I got my first prize that I ordered with my points from Points 2 Shop today! It's a memory card for my phone. Anyway I needed to use my blog to host the image so I thought I'd post something with it so you'd know why I took a picture of a memory card. (It's proof!) Again, if you want to try this site out please click my banner below.



Here's a video of me opening my prize!

News

Nothing much going on here, just on the home stretch before the fall semester starts, which means nursing school starts. I'm so excited! It's just hard because we still have to pay for half of my scrubs and for me to get a physical sometime in the next week or so.

Susan's new job has made her so happy, which makes me happy. We are kind of on opposite schedules, so for 3 to 4 days a week I don't get to see much of her at all which makes me a little sad, but when school starts I'll be too busy to worry about it.

I've also been playing around on this new website called Points 2 shop. You fill out surveys and play games and stuff to earn points that you can spend on Amazon.com. There are some similar websites that are fishy, but I assure you this one is legit. I've already made over $38 worth of points and spent them on some random things. Anyway if you want to check it out please use my link.



Thanks!

Blackberry

My contract on my phone went out about a month ago, and I got to upgrade. I got a Blackberry Pearl 8130, and I have to say it's pretty amazing. I never thought I'd really care to use the internet on a phone, but if I'm say, waiting in the car before work starts, or for Susan to go do something, it's so cool to be able to read the news on my phone. I get all of my email on my phone, so if I'm expecting one I don't have to find a computer to get it. It's also got GPS, so I can use Google Maps to find easy directions, and it makes a great music player. I use Pandora Mobile, and I love it. I never understood what people were talking about when they called it their 'Crackberry', but now I fully understand.

Ahhhhh... weekend!

Wow, I slept entirely too long last night. It was great! I dreamt about parasitic worms, that Susan's bed was outside in a garden, and that I could float like a feather. All in all, I think that was a good start to a weekend. Happy Saturday!

Wow...

Let's start by watching a short video.



I know right!? First off, how the heck did they get the tiny camera inside the caterpillar to film all that? It can't be real.... but I think it is! And Susan just told me "There could be one laying eggs in you right now!!!" WTF!? Oh and now she walked back into the room and said "When they hatch they will crawl out of your skin". MEAN! I don't know why I said "First off" because that's all I've got. Wait no... you know what? This is a prime example of why we should be terrified. You know all that creepy stuff you see in movies like Aliens? And you tell yourself "Boy howdy that was scary, but at least it's not real." I can't believe you actually say "boy howdy", but anyway... real life is even scarier! I mean, look at those "saw like teeth" that they use to eat their way out. Baaaaaaah! And that wounded caterpillar and one nice guy, isn't he?

Fun speech

Why I like the band Tool

Someone put together an awesome video examining the use of the Fibonacci sequence in the song 'Lateralus' by Tool. They set it to images from the Hubble. It's really cool, and I think everyone should give it a gander. Yes I just said gander.

Today

Today I didn't do much. I wrote an paper on Cattle Ranching, and how it has evolved since the 1800's. Now that that's done, I'm pretty much done with History. I have a good enough grade that I can opt out of the final, and I think I am going to.


We've been playing A LOT of Peggle. If you haven't play Peggle, you should, then you'll have to tear yourself away from it 10 hours later.
I'm also thoroughly enjoying my new job at a toy store. I get to do a little bit of everything, and I have fun while I'm there.

Reading habits

Reading habits
By Dana Kraus

~*~* Okay guys, you know the drill. Please copy this into your own notes or blog, remove my answers, then add your own and share, so we can get to know you better! ~*~*

1. Do you snack while you read?

I can't multitask! If I could, I probably would.

2. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Again, I can't do more than one thing at a time, so reading AND writing simultaneously isn't possible.

3. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

I use whatever random piece of scrap paper at hand, usually a gum wrapper or and old business card.

4. Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Both! I go on kicks where all I read is non-fiction, then switch back to fiction for a while, then back to non-fiction.

5. Hardcopy or audiobooks?

I read at a weird pace, and often go over lines more than once so that I can get the full meaning of them, so audiobooks bother me.

6. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

I can stop wherever I need to, but I prefer to read to some sort of stopping point.

7. If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? Write it down to look it up later?

I usually just ask Susan, but if I can I will look it up.


8. What are you currently reading?

My Texas history book, a book on cattle ranching (also for history), and a cheesy war novel called The Common Defense by Ed Ruggero. It's actually not that cheesy...

9. What is the last book you bought?

George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones from his Song of Fire and Ice series. I can't wait to read it.

10. Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can read more than one at a time?

I'm okay with a few books at once. Well, not like... literally at the same time, you know, the whole multitasking thing.

11. Do you like re-reading books?

Yes, but only if several years have passed, and I have forgotten most of it.

YAAAAAAY!

I've been accepted into the nursing program. Now in 2 more years I'll be a nurse. Hey, there's even an action figure.