Ignorance is Bliss!

This has never seemed so true, because as a nursing student, you know what can GO WRONG!

I spent a few hours today in our Nursing Lab. We learned about caring for a Mother and Baby during and after labor. And you know what? I think I want to adopt...

Just kidding, I think.

Obstretics is an interesting field, and I'm intrigued. I enjoyed my 12 hour clinical rotation on Labor and Delivery last week and am looking forward to my 3 clinicals in April on the Mother/Baby floor. I now know how to read a fetal heart and maternal contraction monitor and what to do if there is something wrong. It's lots of fun when all those squiggly lines make sense!

Did you know that if a baby has an abnormal drop in heart rate, from compression of the cord, you can try re-positioning the Mom?
(Hey, that happened to me when I was being born...)

Did you know that there are 2 arteries and 1 vein in the umbilical cord, and that missing one of these could mean a congenital abnormality?
(Hey, I only had 2 vessels in my umbilical cord...)

EEK! Not to worry, turns out I am one of the 75% that turn out okay, heh heh.

Our lab is fully equipped. We even have a dummy that gives birth and can go into distress, but she wasn't working today - but I did get to palpate her tummy for the baby's head, back, and hiney!

Labor and Delivery nurses spend a lot of time with their patients (2 patients during the shift, not 5 or 6 like other floors!) and have a lot of autonomy, meaning they provide a lot of care. I could see myself doing this one day. But that is the problem, because every time I go to a floor that has anything to do with children or babies, "I can see myself working on that floor".

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

This past weekend was a BLAST!!!!

Matt and his college roomie Ian Prince came down to visit me at school and take me out to celebrate my 21st. They brought a little surprise with them.... Mandy Jean! As I walked out of my house to greet Matt and Ian, this little blonde thing jumped up from behind the car like a jack-in-the-box. It took me a while to register who it was, but I screamed with delight once it dawned on me, haha. They played it well over the few weeks leading up to this special visit. I even asked Mandy if she could come down but "she had to work", or something-or-other, and I texted Mandy while waiting for Matt and Ian to arrive to ask her if she had Skype (a live video chat on the computer [thanks Aunt Candy! I love it :)]) so I could talk to her that night. Meanwhile, she was secretly on her way to my house!

We had fun hanging out over the weekend, going out to eat with my school friends (who enjoyed being able to meet the people I talk so much about!), and laughing as we all watched our favorite childhood movie, Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Matt and Ian spent the night in "Room 318", which was our guest room with a sign they made so they felt like they were in their old college room again..... they were giggling all night. Mandy slept in my top bunk as we wished it could be like this every night.

But, the weekend was over too soon, and now I get to look forward to coming home this weekend for a quick visit!

But now I have to study for my first OB test tomorrow. I didn't study this past weekend, of corse, so it's crunch time.

UPDATE: Hopkins has my application and I have submitted by top 3 requests for which department I want to work in this summer:
1. Pediatrics/NICU (Neonatal ICU or Pediatrics ICU)
2. OB/GYN (Labor and Delivery)
3. Critical Care (the sickest of the sick; this was an interesting decision for me, but I think it would be very interesting to work on a CCU floor. I would see and learn a lot....)

It's That Time Again!

After about the first two weeks of the semester are done-and-over with, the "real life" of a nursing student begins. This means tests - and lots of 'em. We will have one test a week for the rest of the semester; it's a cruel cycle. First is Med-Surg (in this class we learn the basics; what's wrong with your patient? How would they present? What do you do?), then comes Pharmacology, and the third week in this terrible rotation means OB (or Peds, for those who took OB last semester). At present, we are in week two of the cycle, and I have just finished my first Pharmacology test with an 86%. Yes, Mom, that is good news! I also got an 88% on my first Med-Surg test last week - also good, Mom ;) Those are both solid grades to start on, and I hope to build up from there.

And now, because I can hear your thoughts at night, right before you go to sleep:

"Ok, that's M.O.M. in the A.M.... no, in the P.M., for a B.M. in the A.M. Yeah, that's it..."

I have decided to share with you all the contents, the "bulk" if you will, of my first Pharm test.... which included "Bulk-Forming Laxatives" - get it? ... Nursing humor.

Anti-Seizure drugs: Now there's an interesting field of nursing: THE BRAIN! We had an award-winning Liberty grad neuro nurse teach us this in Med-Surg, which made it just a little bit easier to learn about in in Pharm.I use stories to remember things about drugs. Like for instance, Carbamazepine. "Carbs are only a small part of your diet, so Carbamazepine is the drug of choice for partial seizures."

We also learned about GI drugs: medicine to help with peptic ulcers.

Another interesting disease that affects the brain is Parkinson's. I would like you to travel with me, we're going to my brain. What's it like in there while I'm studying?

1. Parkinson's is an imbalance between Dopamine and Acetylcholine.

2. Parkinson's has two basic classes of drugs: Dopaminergic and Anticholinergic.

The Dopaminergic drugs are as follows: Levodopa/Carbidopa, Tolcapone, Entacapone, Selegeline, Bromocriptine, and Amantadine.

I read it over like this: "Let Tol Enter the Sale gate on his Broom with Amanda." Boom, got it. And you know what? Poor Amanda has had the flu for a while so she's been in her room where there is little sunlight so her skin is getting spotty. (Amantadine is also used for the flu, and a side effect of the drug is mottled discoloration of the skin).

Here's my favorite: Tolcapone: Al Capone drank a lot of alcohol and Took ('t' for 'took' and 't' for 'Tolcapone') money. Tolcapone causes liver damage and death. Alcohol and the liver don't mix.

I'm telling you, the brain is awesome. I can go through drugs pretending it's one big story and I remember it way faster than if I read and re-read facts.

Let's end this post with some Q&A:

Question:

Answer: Immodium

3 Years at Liberty

February 9, 2007

February 9, 2008

February 9, 2009

Whelp... I'm 21

It's crazy to think of it, but another year has passed. I'm excited to come home next weekend for Leah's baptism, and for a get-together with the family!

Here's a little peek at our outside. I'll be putting up pictures to give you all a tour of our house soon.

This past Satruday, my friends and I (a total of almost 20 of us :)) had a great party to celebrate the big 2-1. The weather was a beautiful 60 degrees. We had a bon-fire with hotdogs, curly fries, and s'mores (I had a couple of nice, organic hotdogs and organic sweet potato fries), then we all went inside and played card games and "Running Cherades": a game where there are two teams in two locations in the house, and one person from each team runs to a central location where there is someone waiting to tell them a noun. Then, the players run back to their teams and cherade the word; whoever guesses correctly is the next team member to run to the word-giver to get the next word.... etc etc etc. There are a total of 5 words, and whichever team guesses them all first wins. It is fast, frantic, and fun! It was fun hanging out with all my friends, which are all nursing students, because that's pretty much all I know here at Liberty.

And the BEST THING IS: Matt's coming down to visit me and take me out this Saturday! He's staying for church on Sunday then heading home. It should be a lot of fun!

UPDATE: I called Hopkins and will be putting in an application to work there this summer!

Do You Want the Good News First?... Or the Bad News?

How about the bad news? It's really more along the lines of sad news that I will not be going to Guatemala again this summer, as I was hoping. I once heard we shouldn't say "I'm going to stay home until God tells me to 'go'", but instead, "I'm going to go until God tells us me to 'stay home.'" It would have been the first time that I had returned to the same mission field, but, due to a series of unfortunate events, I will most likely be home this summer. And really, I had been preparing myself for a while that I wouldn't be going back just yet; I had "that feeling". And looking back on everything that happened, I can see how God just wants me to be home. At the beginning of this semester, the person who would have been the leader of the trip lost his job. It was really "unfair" (for lack of a better word) that he lost his job, and no matter how cliche it sounds, he didn't deserve it. But, apart from that, he also hasn't been home for one month out of the summer for many, many years, and with six young children at home, his wife would like for hime to stay this time 'round. And that's okay, really, I think it may be best. Furthermore, with it being this far into the semester, I begin to feel exhaused at the thought of trying to find another trip to go on, and I almost feel like maybe I shouldn't be "trying to find a place to go on a missions trip". My heart was in Guatemala, and hopefully I will be able to go back summer of 2010. I do wish I could see these faces again!

And of corse, with everything that is going on with me health wise, being home this summer means that I can easily stick to my organic/raw diet and I won't have to worry about running out of medicine in the middle of a jungle.

On to the good news! Tomorrow, my plan is to call Nurse Recruitment at Johns Hopkins to see about being a CNA again this summer! I would have planned to possibly leave Guatemala early so I could be back in time for orientation, but that is no longer a concern! I am starting to get excited knowing that I could soon be walking through these doors again:

This is what I would see every work day at 6:30 am! Hopefully I will be in the Neonatal ICU this time. I was able to shadow there last summer and meet the Nurse Manager of the floor; she sounded like she would like to have me work as a CNA, so we'll see where it goes. But truth of the matter is: I'll go wherever Hopkins tells me to go. It's Hopkins!