Maybe there just hasn't been anything really exciting going on, so I haven't felt that urge to blog. I say that now and watch this post end up being incredibly long just trying to get all of the past month's happenings in one post.
I will try to due a condensed update.
Nursing school has taken up quite a bit of my time lately. Due to having clinicals two days a week, class two days a week and then a test pretty much every Friday, doesn't leave a whole of time to even sleep at times. But we are getting SO close to being finished!
A respiratory educator at the hospital asked how long we have until we were done. After telling him we only have just a short three months, he gave the best response I've heard thus far to explain what we are all probably feeling right now.
He said, "So at this point you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you just aren't sure whether it's the light of being finished or a train coming at you full speed."
Exactly! I think we are all feeling that BOTH of those things could be happening at the same time. Yes we are finally able to see the end of school (finally!) but also feel like that end is just the beginning of the unknown, crazy world of nursing. And it's going to happen whether we want it to or not, full speed ahead. No turning back now!
Uh oh... Are we ready for this??
I don't think any nursing student is ever ready. But, we have been equipped with all the knowledge and tools we need to succeed. We just have to believe in ourselves enough to get started and take that first step.
In saying that...my first step is not anywhere near the ICU. I hope I don't ever have to set foot in the ICU ever again. That sounds pretty harsh doesn't it? Let me explain....
So far I have gotten to experience the NICU, Adult ICU, Children's ER, and PICU.
NICU is do-able. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend there. Even though these babies are so, so small, I wasn't scared by their size and felt extreme compassion to help them the best I could. These little babies did not ask to be in such situations of poor health and therefore they need us to survive. It is up to the doctors and nurses to nurture them and ensure their survival despite the challenges that might be stacked against them. Children's ER and PICU were just "okay". Nothing too exciting; don't think those areas are my calling.
However, Adult ICU was a completely different experience. An experience I don't ever plan on experiencing again. Definitely not for me. I really can't put into words why I feel so strongly about not enjoying the ICU but I just felt like I was way out of my element. I was uncomfortable the entire time. I wanted nothing to do with all the machines, pumps, IV lines, catheters, chest tubes, and overall such critical patients.
For those of you who are not in the medical field and will never set foot in an ICU, let me give you a visual, just a glimpse at what the nurses in the ICU deal with on a daily basis. I found this picture online and it is a pretty good depiction of what the ICU rooms and patients look like.
Umm..yeah...No thank you. I will leave this job to the nurses out there that thrive off of constant adrenaline. And I am so thankful that nurses all have their own desires in different areas of nursing. Thank goodness there are nurses out there who love the ICU and love their job in that setting. God bless them!!
Now even though going to the ICU was not a good experience for me, it did reinforce the area of nursing that I do want to go into. I told myself I was going to continue to keep an open mind about critical care before I got my sights set on a career in OB.
But the decision has been made, I want to pursue a career in the OB field of nursing.
Look at this picture and tell me that this would not be the most wonderful job to get to experience this every single day.
Ahh...so much more comforting and peaceful when I look at this. I know there will be challenging situations that can happen in OB but it is still such a happy place with nurses working who absolutely LOVE their job.
I can't wait! The plan right now is that I will be doing my Leadership this summer at the Integris in Yukon on the OB floor. The good news....we have been told that the OB supervisor not only wants to have Leadership students this summer, but she has plans to hire them after. YES!!!
Wes and I still plan to move to Yukon in a year or two so this would be perfect! God is so good! It is so obvious that He is continuing to work in our lives in mighty, mighty ways.
My mom was here this past weekend. We ran around getting everything needed to finish up the flowerbed. So after new stone edging, four bags of soil, five bags of mulch and fifteen Gerber daisy plants, it's finally done!!
Next item on the list of improvements to the outside of the house is a new driveway which is much overdue. The driveway was in bad shape when I moved into the house and it has only continued to get worse. So finally having a nice, smooth driveway will be great!
We are going all out too. Decided to make the driveway wide enough to fit two cars and extend the concrete all the way to the back of the house to give us a small patio area in the back. We are also going to have a walkway up the house and redo the patio surface. All of these changes are going to make such a huge difference in the way the front of the house looks from the street. I know we will have no trouble selling with all the improvements we are making and it is only adding to the value of the house too.
We are going all out too. Decided to make the driveway wide enough to fit two cars and extend the concrete all the way to the back of the house to give us a small patio area in the back. We are also going to have a walkway up the house and redo the patio surface. All of these changes are going to make such a huge difference in the way the front of the house looks from the street. I know we will have no trouble selling with all the improvements we are making and it is only adding to the value of the house too.
We hope the driveway will get done next week. We went through quite a few estimates before deciding on who was going to do it. You know you are a true adult when you get excited about house improvements like a new driveway. HaHa
But we are excited! It's going to look great!
And of course the last update is Lexi. She is doing really good. Even more of a brat than my last post. :)
My mom and I went into a so-called pet "boutique" in a mall we have in OKC. They carry a lot of little dog stuff so I knew I had to check it out. It would have been so easy to spend a lot of money in there but I stopped myself and just bought her two shirts and a bow.
And here is the crazy, funny thing we discovered about Lexi and wearing shirts. First of all, she doesn't mind them at all. The bow is a different story but I think she is getting used to it.
As soon as my mom and I got home, we put the shirt on Lexi. Normally she is running around like crazy, jumping, biting at our feet and just out of control. The minute we put the shirt on her, she was calm. I mean just sat down and looked at us. Whoah! I have a magic shirt!! It calms dogs down!!
My mom and I couldn't believe it. It was a very pleasant evening having her so calm. I thought it might just be a short lived thing, but we have continued to put the shirt on her and when it's on...she's pretty calm. So weird...I think I might be visiting that pet store frequently. :)
She's grown so much again! She is already 3 lbs and only 3 months old. Let's just say, she doesn't skip a meal. HaHa She's a little pig when it comes to food. But I guess that is a good thing. Better that than not eating at all.
Now if we can only get her to stop biting so much. Ugh...We are hoping that she will start to grow out of the biting phase, soon!!
She is really smart though. She already knows how to sit for a treat and is fetching her toys when we play with her. She does know what "No!" means but I think most of the time she knows and just doesn't want to listen. Imagine that.
I guess that's it for this update.
Hopefully I will have a good post to come since my birthday is this coming Monday, April 11th. I don't know what we have planned but it being on a Monday, I don't know how much time we will have to do something.
My parents are coming into town Saturday, April 16th. We are going to have a big family get together for my birthday out at the DeWitte's. It should be fun, I'm looking forward to it!
All I've asked for my birthday is a cookie cake. :) I don't know why I want one so bad but it sounds so much better than the usual birthday cake. No one else agrees so maybe I will end up getting the entire cookie cake to myself!
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment