First Week of School - Completed!
I am officially done my first week of school and I must say that it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I have been reading these textbooks non-stop for a week now. When I'm not in class, I'm either reading or listening to my recordings of the lecture! They say that the first two weeks are very intense and they are not lying. I thought it might just be me, and asked the people in my class. The consensus being that it is very extremely and totally overwhelming. Well, at least I'm not the only one LOL!
I am on my way to my sister's house to hole up in her basement to do most of the reading for next week, I hope, and have her watch my kids. That way, I can crawl out - play w/ Har and LJ - then crawl back in. I won't have to feel like I need to do a load of laundry in between. I was so excited that we had four days off in a row, but then yesterday me and the two girls I'm paired with have signed up for a video for Tuesday. That means I have to go in anyway :( Well, looking at the bright side, it might be three days of reading textbooks, but it is three days off!
Happy Labor Day to all! Rest and Relax for me OK?!
Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

Orientation



So The second and third day of orientation were good! We met and had a luncheon with our "Big Sister" so we could get an idea from the students point of view how it was going to be. I think the concensus was that it's "the hardest thing you'll have ever done and you'll never see your family or be able to work when you're doing this." So I guess it's gonna be hard haha.
We got a tour of the hospital and we got to see all of the units. We'll actually be going to the O.R., which should be awesome! I have to admit this is so different from my desk job, I was a little shocked at being there. It's like I was in someone else's body. Have you ever had that feeling like you just couldn't be where you were? That's what happened. Well, anyway, it was pretty cool after that wore off. The rest was pretty much how to handle stress, how very very hard it was going to be, and introductions to the NURSING 131 class. That was interesting. We found out that we'll have either Tuesday or Thursday off. One day a week. The rest we'll be working our behinds off :)
So I got all my stuff @ Walmart today - pencils, pens, all that fun stuff I need. I also got a voice recorder for the lectures. I have big plans for that thing. I hope to walk on the treadmills while listening to it. It will be such a big letdown if it's not as cool as I"ve made it out in my head to be. Now I'm taking a break from the last 100 pages I have to read of my Fund. of Nurs. It's very hard to read, not at all like the A & P books I'm used to. They had pics and diagrams - very up to date. This is up to date on material only. It's taking me so long to get through it. Well, partly that and partly because the kids were nutty today.
We went to the beach for Family Beach Day yesterday and they got all exhausted and haven't been themselves all day. It was Har's bday yesterday and James' is tomorrow. The day was great! They had a blast in the water, Har ever went out really far with me and jumped waves. James stayed up at the beachfront. Then they went on all the rides at the pier at Seaside and we all had dinner. It was a great day, all in all. Sometimes I can't believe how blessed in family I am. Well, better get back to the reading. I've procrastinated long enough. Lots of Blessings! Mary

Here We Go!

Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of days. One of them being that I am now unemployed :( My last day at work was Friday and the girls threw me a great cake party and luncheon. They know me so well, they had pizza and wings. What more could a girl ask for?!?!? I will mis my Refund Unit girls so much! Hopefully they stop by here and catch up with me. They were great at venting and being girl's girl's. If you don't know what that means, it's when women don't get catty with each other, they build each other up and make each other feel good about themselves. I can't tell you how many times I talked to those girls and felt a million and a half times better about whatever it was that was buggin me. I will miss them very, very much.
The next day, Saturday, was the kids birthday party. Har and LJ had sooo much fun! All their cousins were there and they had cake, balloons, toys -- In other words, they were in heaven with the angels for a half a day! They each had their own cake and each got sang Happy Birthday to by the whole room. Their immediate family from both sides came. I couldn't handle inviting any more people, the house was bulging at the seams as it was :)
From that point on I was non-stop studying. I took some time off to hang out with my niece and nephew who are only down once a year yesterday, and then I got right back to it. I stayed up until 1 in the morning last night preparing for orientation today and had to be up at 6. Everything was in order and I was set to go!
So this morning the alarm went off and I got ready and got the babies ready. Off we went but this time when I dropped them off, it was different. I wasn't going to work, I was going to school. And man was I freaking out. I couldn't describe why it was different, it just was. I was five minutes late getting there, for those of you who know me that is great! I walked in and I heard this loud rumbling. I went to the auditorium and no one was in there, so I followed the noise. I walked into the classroom and it was like a different world. About 40 people were milling about talking and asking questions. The room seemed like it was buzzing. I was so excited! I've been going to school for two years, but this was it! This is what I was waiting and praying for! There were a lot of people there. Some I knew and most I didn't, but it really didn't matter. We were all in the same boat. It was all new and you could tell we were all nervous. The day went great - It was fixed with speaker after speaker. We had lunch in the Cafeteria (nice by the way) and got our own lockers and mailboxes. I was so happy to be there, it kind of felt like a culmination of everything I worked so hard for, all the paperwork and classes, I was now a nursing student. And we looked like it, too. When we walked around the hospital in packs, it was laughable. We should have been wearing huge signs that say FRESHMAN STUDENTS HERE -- PLEASE DON"T GIVE THEM A NEEDLE YET!!!!! LOL
All in all, it was a great day and I can't wait to go back tomorrow. There will be a luncheon where we'll be paired up with a senior and I'll just bet the person I get paired up with is 19. I just bet haha. Well, I have to get the kids into bed and start reading my assignment for next week. Lots of Blessings ~ Mary

This is the Reason

I hope everyone's week is flying along. Mine surely is. Everyday this week I've been so busy that I haven't really felt the weight of leaving work. Until I just packed my desk up. I am LEAVING my JOB. I have empty drawers and all. I'll truly be a 27 year old college student. Ugh. Why was I such and idiot when I was 18?!?! I soooo should have done this back then. Now I have to put my family at financial risk. I guess hindsight is 20/20, though. So there goes my desk job and here comes a full time student nurse :)
Well, the family from Alabama is here and they are great! I met J's cousin for the first time and she is so nice. His uncle is a riot, too. It'll be sad to see them go.
I have Har and LJ's B-day party this weekend. I haven't been able to concentrate on it so it's a thrown together thing. It'll be great though. The kids just wants cake. Har keeps askin "Is it today?!" She doesn't have any concept that it's this weekend. I just can't believe my babies are going to be 3 and 2.
I looked at pictures of LJ in the incubator in the NICU the other day and started to tear up. He's so big and strong now! It's amazing how such tiny babies have such big wills. J was remembering his breathing, how he used to have a completely caved in ribcage every time he breathed out and then it would expand out so big, all for one breath. It was so rapid, too. We thought he might not make it. Now he's healthy as a horse and is running and learning and so loving. When he's not saying no to us, of course.
I wanted to devote a little about LJ's NICU stay because it solidified my choice that I had already made, going to school for nursing. When I first went into the NICU I was by myself and that nurse was an angel beside me. She guided me to look at what the numbers on the machines were and how he was good and what was bad, instead of the lifelessness of my pneumonia plagued 6 hour old baby. She told me what the tubes and IV's and wires were, instead of treating me like I couldn't handle information. When I found out that LJ couldn't be touched, she snuck a couple of moments where I could hold his hand, easing the agony that I had sitting next to him. She shared my sentiments that a mom needs to touch her baby and every baby needs a mother's touch. She gave me enough to survive on. In the following days when I visited all the time and called when I wasn't there, the nurses never complained or sounded bothered. That was so comforting to me, after all, they had my baby boy. They gave me hope and comfort and told me it wasn't my fault, which I desperately needed to hear. Those things are why I want to be a nurse. I've been on the other side, now I want to help people going through those moments of helplessness and of feeling completely lost.
After retelling that, I think I'm ready to pack up the rest of my desk now. Have a great night.

LAST WEEK AT WORK

Hey all!
This is my last Monday at my job before I start school. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. I was at my sister's house helping her move this weekend and I didn't get a lick of studying done. We have family from Alabama (who I am ecstatic to see BTW) up all week so I am going to have to squeeze the studying in around visits.
I started on the abbreviations from my medical terminology and I really think I'm reading Greek! Some look so innocent on the notecard and then you turn it over and it's a word I can't even pronounce. I had one card that said - ABK. I was trying my hardest to come up with something that would fit those abbvs., arterial blockage maybe? Then I flip the card over haha, Amputation below the knee. I can pronounce that one but it took me by such surprise. Amputation below the knee? Are there that many of these that they need an abbreviation? That's what I'm dealing with in my future career. Amputations. I get squimish over big pus filled pimples and now I'm going to have to see something that requires a ABK. That's probably going to be worse than a pus filled pimple.
The other day a woman at my work had one of these nasty pus-y things on her side that was hurting her really bad and she came to me and said, "Aren't you going to nursing school? Could you help? I can't get to this thing and it really hurts." Well, I'm all - Of course I can help! Don't you know who I am???? Please come over here and let me see and I will magically make it disappear because I am the best nursing student in the universe!!!!!
Well, she came to me alright and showed me a nastyness on her side. Eww. I have now already convinced her I would take care of it. She showed me the needle she had for me to work my magic on her and I nearly swooned. Yep - Swooned like in the old days where you put your hand on the forehead and look up at the ceiling. Well, it all ended up good, I fixed her up and off she went. I won't mention that she had to do the squeezing. I was NOT getting hit with whatever was coming out of that thing! Double Eww.
I tell you this so you understand that next week I will begin my nursing school and will not be dealing with minor pus things on someone's side. I will be dealing with big ABK's. Now if you excuse me I'm going to crawl under my covers now. So much for super hero nursing student.

Update on the gardening - We have a lot of tomatoes and I haven't made sauce because I'm too busy. They're starting to go bad. I remembered that I didn't like radishes after the first batch came up. The corn is very tiny. The pea plants died (although I will have to tell about my ten beautiful peas that Har, LJ and I ate. They were quite yummy). The container I planted the cucumbers in is too small and I have no cucumbers to pickle. My last and final hope is my green bean plants. They just flowered so the green bean should be next. I'll cross my fingers that one of these damn veggies actually goes right.

I think I will try again next year and be a little more organized - How did I know this was going to happen :)

Also, I have changed the name of my blog in order to chronicle my nursing school adventures. I'm giving the address out in an e-mail so people can hear what I'm up to for the next two years when I start ignoring calls. I also made some changes like adding a button click thingy on the bottom of the blog where people can subscribe. If you click on it you can access it quickly. Cuz I know how ya'll can't wait to read my posts.

In honor of my first posting under my new name I would like to give you a glimpse of what must be completed BEFORE I get to orientation on the 21st.

Five hundred pages in Fundementals of Nursing
14 chapters in Math for Meds
Medical Terminology book
One math test
One medical terminology test

Did anyone catch the medical terminology book? THE WHOLE ENTIRE BOOK --- This is before the semester even starts! Oh crap, making tomato sauce is sounding extremely fun right now. I think they're trying to kill us.