1 down, 2 to go!

Well I made it through the first 3 weeks! On the one hand it's going by fast. On the other I'm so sick of going to school I could pull my hair out! I mean think about it, this is a 2 year program. I started this back in fall of 2003! It's a good thing I didn't realize it would take me so long or I probably wouldn't have done this and I'm soooooo glad I did! I don't think most people know that you have to have all your pre req's out of the way before you can even apply to the nursing program and then the number of people that apply is so much larger then the slots to get in the program you have to have really good grades. I will graduate June 13th, 2009 :)

We had our first test Friday. I got a B so I can relax a bit now. I will admit that once you're in the program you don't have to chase the A's anymore and I don't. That kind of stress is bad for your health! Clinical this quarter is actually much more stressful then the book work. We are expected to be able to actually do nursing care! The pressure is on. I had my OR rotation this week so I didn't do patient care. I got to observe several surgeries and follow a patient through to PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit). This was so intersting. I got to see an aortic valve replacement. I shadowed the circulating nurse who goes to get the patient from the SPA (Surgery Prepation Area) SPA sounds so nice :) The curculating nurse does the safety check to make sure we have the right patient, makes sure all the paper work is done, brings the patient to the OR, stays with the patient while the Anesthesiologist is preping the patient and getting them under and then prepes the patient for surgery. All open heart surgeries go to ICU after surgery, so I got to go up there too! I got to see a vaginal hysterectomy done by the doctor who did mine a year and a half ago. That was really intersting too. The most interesting part was following this patient to PACU. Being a PACU nurse seems really interesting too and if I ever have to have surgery again I'll be talking to the PACU nurses to decide what surgeon to use. They see all the patients afterward and know what surgeons have the least complications.

I haven't had time to do much scraping :( but I did this page last night of Lucy going to the Homecoming dance last month. I used a kit called Girly Doodles by Julia Makotinsky. You can find it on the Little Dreamer site.

Week 3

I can't believe this is week 3 already. We oriented to the Neurology floor of the new hospital last week. I was on the neurology floor of the old hospital last year when I first started nursing school. It's a very busy and interesting floor. I think it will be even more interesting now that I can actually do more patient care. This week for clinical I am on my OR rotation. I am very excited to do this. I don't care that I have to be there at 6:30am ( which means I'm up before 5am). I am hoping to get to be in the OR for an open heart surgery. I feel like I may be very interested in OR nursing, but I don't know the logistics of it. When I'm working I'm hoping to work hours that will go along with having a daughter in high school. This Friday we have our first test of the quarter too. This is going to be a very busy week. I don't think I'll have time to scrap any pictures. Hopefully I'll be able to get out and take some. It's really looking like fall and I'm dying to get some pictures of it. I did scrap a bit last week. This is a page I did with the pictures of my little Alex on his first day of college. So far he's doing well in his classes. I used ChaosLounge Fall Leaves to do the page.



I also did this page of Wynter and Audrey. I love this picture of the girls. I used the Kickin up the Leaves kit from Gina Marie Huff of Weeds and Wildflowers. I hope everyone is enjoying the change of seasons!

I'm not the only one...

School is rolling right along. I'm already stressed and notice I'm up late doing homework. Seems I was just saying that I thought this quarter would be very doable *sigh* Only 9 more weeks after this one though :) We spend this clinical week going over skills and getting signed off on dosage comp tests. I found out that I'm getting an OR rotation week 3 too! I am very excited about that. I will get to observe at least one surgery! I can't wait. I was not the only one in my household to start college this week. My little Alex is carrying 9 units this quarter too. His year of working at Mcky D's and Burger King has convinced him something better must be out there. Here's a picture of him leaving for his first day of college. I'm hoping I can find his first day of kindergarten picture so I can scrap these together. He didn't want to smile so he looked away because I was trying to get him too.


Here is a picture of Lucy and her friend Celeste after they got ready for Homecoming dance at Celestes house last week. I'm hoping I'll be able to scrap these soon.
I did scrap a page last night. This is my little Wynter Rose. She is enjoying 1st grade this year and is in the GATE program. She is such a little doll and so smart! I used Chaos Lounge's Candy Jar 24 to do this page. You can find it on her page here.
She was nice enough to let me make a quick page as a freebie too! You can download it here. I'm off to bed, school tomorrow!