Who, me? I'm just learning about blogs... and nursing

I've been in OB now for 6 weeks, and ...

2010-05-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

I was pretty appalled by the births I've had a chance to witness at Antelope Valley Hospital. I don't know enough to criticize, but ... well, I will anyway, because I was so disappointed with what I saw.

What ever happened to natural childbirth? Or at least a semblance of it? Maybe it's just the AV, I don't know. I was really surprised that babies were kept laying in warmers for no discernible reason for half an hour after birth with no attempt to let their moms hold them; one mom was sent off for a c-section after the nurse was not helpful at all during her labor, when a little support could have meant a vaginal birth for her; pitocin and epidurals are practically universal unless the mom REALLY insists she doesn't want them.

It was a happy relief to watch the documentary "The Business of Being Born," which contrary to how the title makes it sound is all about the benefits of a natural, often at-home, birth. I highly recommend it.

I am now even more grateful than before for the great birth experiences I had back in the '80's, and am sad for these new moms today who have no idea what they're missing.

A little cap nostalgia

2010-05-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Doing a little research on the history of nurses' caps and I came across this very nice Canadian site on the topic: "Symbol of a Profession: One Hundred Years of Nurses' Caps."

I know not too many people agree with me, but I miss the caps. I'll never even get to wear one, but I miss them, and wish I'd gotten to. They and the old uniform are symbols of how nursing used to be, and that's changed a lot. Nurses have more autonomy now, and more power, and hopefully are more help to their patients.

But I think that old uniform gave patients a good feeling. Like, ah, here's someone who knows what they're doing! This person will help me feel better. And now nurses come into a patient's room, and what is the patient thinking? Probably something like Oh, another person in scrubs. I wonder who they are and what they know and what they're gonna do?

To my mind scrubs just don't give that feeling of capability and authority that the old nursing uniform and cap did. Okay, if you're thinking about Nurse Ratched, maybe that's a good thing. :\

Eek! Mini Care Plans

2010-02-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

Care plans are the bane of nursing students' lives. Oh, I imagine they're the bane of nursing teachers' lives as well. We students have to do six of them during this 8-week rotation in Chronic -- that's 6 x 40 = 240 care plans -- and the poor teachers have to read and correct them all. At least they're "mini" ones.

Strange though it may seem, and contrary to what their name implies, care plans are never actually used to plan care for patients. Each day, after I've already cared for my 2 patients to the best of my ability, I must choose one of them and use my notes to sort of "back-form" a care plan for that particular patient. It's a beloved (NOT) nursing school exercise whose avowed purpose is to teach us how to structure our thoughts about patient care.

Here's how it works: we come up with a "Nursing Diagnosis," and then use this as the basis to 1) discuss what the patient usually is able to do for himself, but can't right now because he's sick; and 2) describe what the next steps in helping him back to independence might be.

So far so good. The hard part comes when we have to take this nice, straight-forward description of the patient's situation and crow-bar it into the weird and convoluted system of nursing-research-speak known as "Orem's Self-Care Theory." Don't ask. Suffice to say Orem is full of jolly little aphorisms like: "Human beings experience limitations in ability to engage in the inputs for self and others for sustaining life and regulating function."

???

If she means people get sick and can't take care of themselves I wish she'd just say so, for crying out loud.

First day back as Second semester student

2010-02-10T22:10:00.000-08:00

In actual fact Monday was our first day back, but that was just for lecture. Mrs Beatty talked about chronic illnesses in general and diabetes in particular in Medical/Surgical Nursing. And Mrs Curry gave the Professional Nursing II lecture. Looks like a lot of the focus this term will be on the nurse's role as a teacher. Not my favorite aspect of the job.

But today we started back at AV Hospital, now old hands at the job; no longer wet-behind-the-ears first-semester students. It was my first 12-hour shift ever. I've often wondered why nurses do 12-hour shifts. Here are people who especially need to be on their toes, and they're working these exhaustingly long hours. But I actually liked being on the floor all day. My feet didn't like it, but I did.

I had more time to get things done, for one thing. And it felt more real, being there for almost the same time as the nurses (we leave a little bit before the 7 pm shift comes on), and getting to see the patients through the whole arc of the day.

I still felt crazed and overwhelmed and ignorant. But I remembered some stuff from last semester, and all in all it was a good day.

My Spring 2010 class schedule

2010-01-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

It's been good to have this long break from nursing school, but I'm starting to look forward to going back to classes and the hospital too. Maybe I just don't remember how really hard it was.

Thought I'd post my new schedule here:

Feb 8-Apr 4
MON 7 am-1:30 pm MED/SURG LECTURE (Beatty/Curry, Rm T503-A)
MON 2:20-3:25 pm PROF NURSING (Beatty/Curry, Rm T503-A)
WED 6:50 am-6:40 pm MED/SURG CLINICAL (Lanz, Hospital)

Apr 12-June 4
MON/TUES 1:00-8:10 pm OBSTETRICS CLINICAL (Sly, Hospital)
WED 8-11:30 am OBSTETRICS LECTURE (Scudmore, Rm T503-A)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Passed first semester Nursing with a B. Very happy about that. Survived Christmas and have a month off to look forward to. Very very happy about that too.

Nutrition, me, and the DRV

2009-12-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

While doing some last-minute studying for our 4th exam (coming up in, oh, just about 95 minutes), I came across a website called hpathy.com that lets you input your gender, height, weight, age and activity level. It then tells you how much protein, carbs and fats to consume each day (the DRV, or Daily Reference Value, for those nutrients) to maintain your weight, or to lose or gain weight. For me to lose 1/2 pound per week, I should eat daily:

Calories: 2363
Carbohydrates (55%) cal = 1299 (325 gm)
Proteins (15%) cal = 354 (88 gm)
Fats (30%) cal = 709 (78 gm)

http://www.hpathy.com/healthtools/calories-need.asp

En el hospital

2009-12-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday an LVN asked me to help her move a patient up in bed, and when I went into the room I heard the lady speaking Spanish to her daughter, who was visiting.

So after we'd moved the patient up I asked her in Spanish how she was feeling. She answered, "Como una cucaracha machacada." ("Like a squashed cockroach.")

LAST DAY of 1st semester clinical

2009-12-01T15:07:00.001-08:00

Wow, today was our clinical group's last day at the hospital. Whew. We made it. And I didn't kill anybody -- I don't think.

Just an old-fashioned hospital day

2009-11-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

"This is a great room!" That's a quote from one of my two patients at AV Hospital Monday. There were three women in my patient room that morning, all ambulatory and all friendly.

My first patient, the social director of the group and a cancer patient, ordered a pizza delivered for all of them to share, and would go sit on her roommates' beds and chat with them so they wouldn't feel lonely.

My second patient was a charming older lady who was my meds guinea pig for the day. I only dropped ONE of her 6 pills on the floor -- thanks for getting me a replacement, Mrs Harmon -- and when I checked her blood sugar I managed to stab her finger just a tad close to the joint. She mildly informed me that that "stung a bit." Aaaack! So I learned something about Accu-checking: aim for the fleshy part of the finger.

Patient #3 wasn't assigned to me, but when she asked for my help with walking to the bathroom, I found out that it's okay to temporarily unplug an IV pump from the wall socket -- the pumps run on rechargeable batteries, like our blood-pressure/thermometer machines. Useful to know.

Maybe Monday was what it was like in the good old days in hospitals, when people weren't ALL quite so sick, and the pace was slower. I even had a chance to sit down and chat for a little while myself.

What the hell's the HESI?

2009-11-24T06:43:00.000-08:00

We're taking the HESI test today. I don't know what it is, but Mrs Harmon said not to stress over it, so I'm not. She also said we can't study for it. Yay! A test I don't have to study for is a good test indeed.

Just went and looked online and HESI stands for Health Education Systems, Inc. Hmmm.... Anything educational with an Inc. on the end sounds bogus to me.

A good day at the hospital

2009-11-22T08:33:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday was the first day at the hospital I didn't feel crazy. Truly a RED-LETTER DAY.

Here's what happened: my Monday patient, another really sick patient with crazy edema, left. He was a sweet guy who never complained unless you asked him and I think he was in a lot of pain. He got a PICC line and then his wife decided he needed to go to Loma Linda for his liver failure. I hope he is doing well.

So Tuesday I got a new patient, a mystery man: the docs hadn't figured out what was wrong with him yet, and his main symptoms were lab levels that were off. But he wasn't on any meds and he was mobile and did his own shower and everything, so he was such an easy patient. My first one! I took his vital signs and did my assessment and that was about it.

I got to go out and about and see if any of my classmates needed help, like they have always done for me. "Need any help?" This time it was me asking, but no takers. It must've been a quiet day for everyone, because most of us were wandering the halls looking for things to do.

Everybody else was bored, but I was just grateful not to be feeling so frazzled for once. :)

Yet another first

2009-11-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

I would really like to do something for the second or third or fiftieth time at the hospital, but I guess that will just have to wait.

Today I saw a PICC line put in for the first time. PICC stands for Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter. It's threaded all the way into a big vein near the heart, unlike the usual IV-in-the-forearm, so it's good for folks who need to get a lot of thick or irritating stuff intravenous.

It was pretty cool to see the procedure, complete with sterile field set up over the patient; a lot like in an operating room. It took the nurse specialist a while to get the line placed, but my patient took it all with equanimity. The more I'm around patients, the more I think they are well named.

A pic of a PICC:

Shot put II

2009-11-14T06:12:00.000-08:00

Rested up, and working on another Major Care Plan.

Also, Red Letter Day last Tuesday: I gave my first shots to an actual patient. This was a Big Deal for me! She was a diabetic who needed a daily shot of insulin, an Accu-chek (blood glucose test), and a chaser shot if her blood was too high later in the day (it was).

Of course Mrs Harmon was watching me like a hawk for both injections (she left me to do the Accu-chek all alone -- whoo hoo!), and I forgot to put the cover on the needle IMMEDIATELY afterwards both times. Hopefully that'll never happen again.

And I actually didn't drop anything ... while she was watching.

Exhausted; pressing on

2009-11-10T17:01:00.000-08:00

I am beyond tired. You know that fatigue where your brain feels ... well, anything like a brain. Today at the hospital I really wondered if I would get through. It took me an hour and a half to bathe and settle my patient. A phone cord tangled around her bed rails, IV and oxygen tubing and IV pole just about did me in.

But I did give out meds today for the first time; a small victory. And now it's on to finishing my ten-page research paper. And thanks to my new Macbook, I'm doing that in bed! Whew.

Shot put

2009-11-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

I can now officially Give Injections to Patients. Scary, huh? I've given a grand total of two (2) shots, one IM, one subcutaneous, and both to my fellow student, Koi. Thanks Koi! And you're welcome (I returned the favor, letting her jab me twice too).

This was actually a major hurdle for me because for some weird reason I've had the unshakable notion that The Needle Wouldn't Go Into the Patient. Crazy, I know, but I kept imagining I'd go to stick it in and it'd bounce off, like skin is made of titanium or something.

But in fact, as my friend Nicole has patiently explained to me: People are SOFT. Needles are SHARP. Of course she's right, and now I know for sure. The needles do just ... go in. Whew.

Hey Koi, my arm doesn't hurt any more. How's the hip?

Hello, goodbye!

2009-10-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Ali starts her gig as Alice in the Flagstaff Youth Theater production of Alice in Wonderland. Break a leg, kiddo!

I've been feeling a lot like that frazzled rabbit she chases when I'm at the hospital on Mondays and Tuesdays. For 6 hours each day I've had just ONE patient to help look after (along with the nurse, LVN, and nurse tech who are also assigned to that patient, plus the doctors, wound specialist, inhalation therapist, dietitian, volunteers, the list goes on...), but I still feel like I'm on the run and can't even stop to think the whole time.

Tuesday I had 2 patients to help look after for the first time. What did I do with those 6 hours?? I just tried to make a list:

> Wash or disinfect hands -- 20 times
> Put on/take off gloves -- 12 times
> Go in and out of patients' room -- 30 times
> Search the 5th floor for temp/blood pressure machine -- 4 times
> Take patients' vital signs -- 4 times
> Plug the temp/BP machine back into the wall out in the hallway -- 4 times
> Go to the supply room -- 10 times
> Find what I need in the supply room -- 8 times
> Talk to patients and their families -- 20 times
> Change beds -- 3 times
> Make sure Bed is down, Rails are up, Brakes are on, Call light is near -- 15 times
> Go to the patient pantry -- 5 times
> Do top-to-toe physical assessment of patients -- 2 times
> Go to the meds supply room -- 4 times
> Search 5th floor for a pulse Ox machine -- 4 times
> Look for Mrs Harmon -- 4 times
> Read and write in patient charts and make notes -- 12 times
> Hunt around the nurses station for patients' "big" charts -- 5 times
> Read big charts and make notes -- 2 times
> Go to the bathroom -- 0 times

I do hope it will all start to fall into place and make sense after a while, but for now it still feels like all I do is run around in circles, holding my head, madly searching for something and muttering "No time to stop! Hello! Goodbye! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

Now I gotta know about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?!

2009-10-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Got an email from one of my nursing teachers today about this new flu we've heard tell about (otherwise known as swine flu or H1N1 flu). All us students are supposed to go get shots, and check out the Centers for Disease Control's website and learn stuff.

What I think it said is that it's not so much that this flu is more serious than the old flu, it's just that it's spreading rapidly, so the WHO decided it's a pandemic. Eek!

But don't take my word for it. Go to the CDC's FluView (!) for WAY more info than anybody (well, me anyway) could ever hope to absorb about the H1N1 flu.

Drugged out

2009-10-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

While absence makes the heart grow fonder
Foxglove makes the heart beat stronger

Studying drugs and their effects
Today, for upcoming test:

Digitalin is inotropic.
Now off to learn more facts pharmacopic

Singing again

2009-10-21T05:10:00.000-07:00

After a brief hiatus of 28 years I went back to school the summer of 2007. My counselor (super-helpful lady named Carol) had explained that if I wanted to go to nursing school I'd need a few prerequisites, the prerequisitiest of which was Chemistry.

I was actually terrified to take Chemistry, having gotten a "D" in it during high school. Daunted by a decades-old D. But lo and behold, Chemistry was no longer the bugaboo I had feared; it was even interesting. And I passed (thanks, Mrs Oganian!). That class left me with a smattering of math and a soft spot for the Periodic Table.

After that I took a science class every semester, and I took some other stuff too. I was back into the swing of school, and it took up pretty much all my free time.

What was the connection to singing? Ah yes. No free time -- no hobbies. I hadn't gone to a Sacred Harp singing in So Cal since summer 2007. I was going to 2-3 singings a month before that, and was even chairman of the LA regional in May 2007. Then I evaporated from the local singing scene.

But last weekend I actually WENT to the monthly singing in Century City. It was great to be back! They were sort of wondering what had happened to me, and were glad I was in school all this time and not crushed by an asteroid.

...

Come to find out that was also the weekend of the New York State singing convention. Since I couldn't go to New York this year, it's kind of cool I was singing at the same time as all my singing friends out East.

Kicking back

2009-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yay! NS 110 (Professional Nursing class) is over, and I do believe we are all going to pass.

So this morning I'm just knitting and being lazy.

Okay, I've never actually heard the song, but...

2009-10-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Total mood change. Yesterday I was oppressed by all the work done, doing, and to do. But now?

Sort of sums up my feeling

Why? Lots of little things. Finished and turned in my 2nd mini care plan -- whew. (Incidentally, care plans are Nursing Theory Exercises with not much connection to the real world, so they might more correctly be called Exercises in Futility -- sorry, Mrs Harmon, if you're reading this). Got my NS110 ethics paper back and I got a nice grade (thanks Mrs Beatty!).

And since my boss is out of town I don't work today, so I have time to study study study for our upcoming NS110 final and our upcoming math test and ... ok, enough said, don't want to break the mood.

Just a little bit crazy

2009-10-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

Friday we had our 2nd test in NS111, 72 multiple-choice questions.

Monday and today at the hospital from 0700-1300 with one patient each again.

Right now working on a mini-care plan that's due in a few hours.

Feeling just a little bit crazy.

P.S. Oops, forgot to mention: NS110 final Friday! Crikey.

My own personal trainers

2009-10-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

My good friend Cathy, who used to be a nurse, says every nurse should be issued a personal trainer. I'm impatient for mine to arrive, because I really want to start getting in shape.

Whilst waiting I've had some good talks with Cathy and my brother Dave -- who was a fireman -- about what trying to be a nurse, and this whole new world of patients and hospitals is going to do to me.

Maybe I can hack it, maybe not. It's too soon to tell. Meanwhile, I'm back to studying. Test tomorrow, more hospital time Monday.

SHELL SHOCK II

2009-10-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

My nemesis du jour

Aackk! Forgot to put out the trash last night!

Why is my house ALWAYS at the very beginning of the trashmen's route at the b. crack of dawn? I have lived in about a dozen different houses, and in every single one it seems like my trash has been picked up at 6:00 a.m.

So this means if I forget to put the trash out the night before, I get woken out of a sound sleep at about 5:00 a.m. by the squeaky brakes of the trash trucks working on the next block over. You know the sound. And I break into a cold sweat, leap out of bed, fall over trying to pull on my pants, finally struggle into some semblance of garments and stumble outside still half asleep to drag the garbage cans down the driveway.

But not today. After another day at the hospital my brain feels like creamed corn and I can't seem to be proactive about anything. No studying. No planning. No trash cans. Today I'm going to let those trash trucks just squeak on by.

SHELL SHOCK

2009-10-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Still reeling from my first day at AVH. After a whirlwind tour of the 5th floor medical/surgical unit -- our hospital home for the foreseeable future -- Mrs Harmon sicced us on the patients, one per student.

Forgot everything I'd learned. Did I ever know how to do a bed bath? Changed my gloves about a dozen times, but I don't think it was often enough. Wasted time wandering the floor looking for the supply room (I know it was around here somewhere... ). So many new things, places, people, experiences, pieces of equipment.

So I was pumped when a visitor asked me where the Chaplain's Office was. Can't figure out how to work the temperature-taking machine, but I do know where the Chaplain's Office is.

It was a crazy 6 hours, but I actually feel pretty good. It's great to know I got through my first day as a student nurse. As my classmate Gary reminded me, there'll never be another First Day as a Student Nurse, so you better enjoy it.

Hospital tomorrow

2009-10-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

My clinical class -- 10 wannabe nurses under the guidance of our long-suffering instructor Mrs Harmon -- starts rotations at AV Hospital tomorrow. We arrive at 6:50 am in our crisp new white and blue uniforms, official "Student Nurse" badges firmly attached, to start 6 hours of watching, learning, helping, and hopefully becoming versed in that all-important technique, the Nursing Process.

Watch out patients. The students are coming.

Autumn 2009

2009-09-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's 6:30 am and I'm up reading about "moral distress" for our ethics paper in Nursing 110. And it's actually cool enough to put on my felted slippers (wool; mondo warm). Cold weather is the best, and it's finally on its way.

Moral distress is not the best. It's defined in one nursing article as "the feelings and experiences which result from a moral conflict where one knows the correct action to take, but constraints lead to either inability to implement this action, or an attempt to carry out moral action which fails to resolve the conflict."

Another definition goes like this: Moral distress occurs when you know the ethically appropriate action to take, but you are either unable to act upon it, or you act in a manner contrary to your personal and professional values, which undermines your integrity and authenticity.

In other words, it's what doctors and nurses feel when they know the right thing to do, but they can't do it.

Back to reading.

A first

2009-09-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we wear our nursing student uniforms for the first time. It's a pretty big deal for me. You see, I have always wanted to work in a field where you don't have to think of something new to wear every day. So yay! It begins. :)

(A lot of students found out that the nursing uniform sizes ran larger than expected, and mine was no exception. Happily my sister is a wizard with a sewing machine, and she was kind enough to tweek it for me. Thanks Juli!)

Me and Mr. Smith

2009-09-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hmm, I'm not getting any pulse ...

Yesterday dear Mr. Smith became paralyzed on his right side. Poor Mr. Smith. He's made of plastic and spends all his time in the nursing skills lab (Rm. 115) at AVC.

The life of a medical mannequin is not easy. Lugged hither and yon by students, stuck up on a shelf when we need their beds, and doomed to endure not only one terrible illness after the other, but the associated tests and procedures, administered by none-too-skilled wannabe nurses.

Yesterday it was my assignment to help Mr. Smith into a wheelchair, take him down to x-ray, then help him back into bed and into the lateral, side-lying position. It didn't go well.

First I brought the wrong wheelchair. Go to the other end of the lab, get the other one, come back.

Then I got him all nice and sitting up in bed, dangling his legs over the edge, when I realized I hadn't brought the gait belt (what you put around unsteady people to hang onto them by). I can't just leave him there, he'll fall over on his paralyzed right side! Back to bed, Mr. Smith.

OK, got that fixed. Get him up, into the wheelchair, down to x-ray, back in bed. So far so good. Bed UP, rail DOWN, and ... oh crap, I'm on the wrong side of the bed. Rail UP, go around the bed, rail DOWN, and pull him over onto his side. Now where are those pillows I brought to tuck under him. Oh, there they are -- on the other side of the room. Crap crap. Okay, bed DOWN, rail UP, go get the pillows ...

Did I mention this is a TIMED procedure? Time was running out for me and Mr. Smith as I got him nicely situated with his pillows. Then Mrs. Stewart asks, what's the longest you can leave him in that position? 2 hours, Heyerman. 2 hours. (Not 4, which is what I answered).

I'll have another chance with Mr. Smith on Monday. And I'll have transfer and positioning DOWN. But by then he will have recovered from his paralysis (these mannequins are such quick healers) and he'll undoubtedly need a cleansing enema and a wound dressing changed.

I better get practicing.

Interesting article about UTIs -- yes, really!

2009-09-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

So I was reading up a bit on how to prevent nosocomial UTI's (urinary tract infections people get after they come into the hospital) from Foley (long-term) catheters.

And I came across an article where this hospital didn't make any changes EXCEPT they started giving the nursing staff a quarterly report with catheter-related UTI rates depicted graphically by unit.

That's right, it's a picture of how crappy your unit is doing compared to all the other units! That's all it took to get those nurses' butts in gear:

After 18 months, the hospital's nosocomial UTI's had dropped by nearly half.

(if you'd like more info, I put the journal citation and abstract on my Notes and Summaries page).

My favorite textbook

2009-09-16T21:08:00.000-07:00

A wopping 6,867. That's how many pages the required textbooks for our first semester of nursing tally up to.

But my own vote for Favorite Textbook doesn't figure as part of those pounds and pounds of required pages. No, it's only a lowly "recommended," but I find myself poring over it more than any of the others. It's Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, 21st Edition, with 2,846 pages of more medicalese than you can shake a stick at, and simply charming etymologies full of those Latin and Greek roots so beloved by ancient physicians. Plus lots of colorful pictures of weird conditions like "keratoacanthoma" (don't ask, you don't want to know).

But if you do, you'll find it in Taber's.

You say Dimensional Analysis, I say "Fuggedaboudit!"

2009-09-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

WE'RE HAVING A TEST!

OK, Heyerman, don't panic, it's not right now. But in Week 10 (this is Week 4 right now) we'll have a test on how to calculate the dosages of medicines, and I've gotta pass it with a pretty high grade, like 90% or something.

So, if

Your patient weighs 149 pounds and is to receive Drug X 25,000 units per kg per 24 hours given in six equally divided doses. Medication is available 1,000,000 units per vial with direction for dilution with 9.6 mL diluent to make a concentration of 100,000 units/mL.

... How many mL for a single dose?

It's not too hard, if we practice every day like Mrs. Harmon (Nursing Teacher Extraordinaire) told us to, which I am trying to do!

Hi Ali!

2009-09-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks for coming to see my blog, kiddo. You are the best granddaughter a grandma could have. Have a great day, Alison Wonderland. :D

Today I'm....

2009-09-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

...reading, reading, reading, because I have the house to myself. :) Fundamentals of Nursing, by Taylor, Lillis, et. al. is, after all, a

VERY BIG BOOK -- 8 lbs and over 2 inches thick. So there's no time to waste.

...but right before that...

2009-09-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, August 22, I couldn't sleep because my arm was hurting like the dickens. So at midnight, 2 days before nursing school is starting I am at the emergency room at AV Hospital. It was actually pretty cool to see all the nurses and doctors and stuff in action right before I was to (sort of) join their echelons.

Bend those elbows, International Symbol man!

Oh, the reason my arm hurt was because I injured my rotator cuff (in my right shoulder). I think I did it learning CPR! How's that for ironic?

My first blog post

2009-09-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

What's this all about? I started nursing school at Antelope Valley College on Monday, August 24, 2009! Finally, after a zillion years of waiting. Actually since summer 2007, when I took Chemistry, the first of the pre-requisite classes for the program. It was a long wait, and a lot of red tape, and it's a great relief to have it all over.