Lots going on this year, I am so excited to see how it all goes!
Tag: student nurse
Fall 2018 school week 3
Bridal shower! 2 weeks until the wedding and sickness!!!
Taco salads have made an appearance over here again. So easy for lunch and last minute/running late mornings. It is just lettuce, salsa chicken (throw chicken and salsa in a crockpot and let it cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 until you can shred it and voila), cheese and hot mild sauce.
Mom was in town this weekend!!! We all went out to breakfast!
Word of Mouth Cafe in Salem is AMAZING!!!!!
I got biscuits and gravy with bacon and eggs.
He got creme brulee french toast with corned beef hash, eggs and bacon
mom got the creme brulee french toast with bacon and eggs
someone got me sick!!!! Fighting off a narly cold over here!
My Bridal shower!!!
The guys showed up at the end and football got turned on hahahhhhaah!!
Dress and Necklace from Stitchfix!
My bridal shower was perfect! My wonderful soon to be in-laws put it on for me, it was fun but low key which is perfect for me. There was delicious food and drink and I got some amazing gifts!!! Moments like this are so surreal!!!! I’m really getting married in just 2ish short weeks!!! So crazy!!!!! Makes me have heart palpitations hahahahahahahaha!!!
more soup eating while i have been sick
This shirt also came in my fix, i LOVE it!! it is a beautiful plum color. How sexy is that neck!!!!???
Here is a closeup of the detail on the leggings. so cute and so comfy!!!
and here is a close up of the necklace.
I also got a jacket but it was a little big so sent it back to exchange it for a smaller size, i will show you when i get it back.
Use this link to try stitchfix and get $25 towards your first fix!
Another great fix from stichfix!!!! now to lose another 14lbs so i can treat myself to another box!!! I am currently at 164. when i hit 150 I’ll order another box!!! talk about motivation!!!!
Now my alarm is going off and i have to get ready for my first practicum!!!! Stay tuned for details about that on Friday!!
Fall 2018 school week 2
Week 2 done….mostly. Only 8 more weeks to go not including finals. It still amazes me how fast quarters fly by compared to semesters.
My psych class is more interesting than last quarters because it deals with a person from life to death and all that encompasses their life which is a little more geared to nursing than my last psych class was. Overall though it is still a little boring. This week we are learning about the period of conception to birth. Lots of talk about genes and chromosomes so far.
This is week 2 of muscles and we are getting more in depth. I would say i am comfortable with about 1/2-2/3rds of what is required for my practicum next week. I can find most of it on diagrams and spent 2 hours of lab getting comfortable with where things are on the models and how to differentiate because the models are not the clearest things. Then I spent 10-15 min in the cadaver lab making sure I could find most of the muscles on the cadavers with some degree of confidence.
Let me tell you 10-15 minutes in there is very different than 3 minutes of introduction. After about 10 minutes breathing in all those chemical fumes really got to me and i got lightheaded and felt that hot cold flush so I stepped out, the last thing I wanted to do was faint in there. I took a few deep breathes outside the lab then went back in to get a quick look at the body that was positioned on their posterior side as i had been working with the anterior model. Those are some really harsh chemical fumes with not much ventilation.
The cadaver lab is definitely invaluable as a learning tool but it is really hard to deal with all the emotions, they sneak up on me.
Here is a train of thought for most of the cadaver lad period, yes this is pretty accurate: oh i am looking at the actual rectus femerous cool! and that is the vastus medialus and vastus lateralus, i got this, where is the adductor longus, oh its right there next to some pubic hair ohhhh hair, this was a person, who is dead…….and oh man the professor is now moving muscle around to try and show us the adductor magnus which is burried down in there oh man that is a little gross but cool but weird…….ahhhh too much to think about and oh man is that smell overwhelming…… oh lets try the other cadaver to see if you can see it better nope, not really, oh good so that definitely wont be asked on the practicum if even he cant find it, uh oh i feel a little light-headed and weird, get out now before you collapse. GO!!! Ok deep breathes, take a minute and get back in there! But pay attention to how you feel. OK i am ok, oh is that the trapezius and the gluteous maximus and the gluteous medius and the piriformus, look at me identifying these! OH that smell, so that is the rhomboid major, is that the levetae scapular? oh man, the smell, it is now so much worse, my nostrils are on fire, oh the tricep brachii ok i think i am done, need to get out. where does this instrament go? wash your hands, oh what is everyone looking at…….oh fetuses in jars in the cupboard, wow that is cool, oh man so sad……so so sad, dont want to think about it. time to leave.
I was definitely woozy, shakey and a little nauseous afterwards. I took it easy all night after lab. It is difficult to digest all the feelings that come with the cadaver lab but I am still so thankful that i get to experience it.
I feel like I am keeping up and on track but don’t feel like I’ve gotten ahead yet this quarter and with all the wedding things I might not get ahead, we will have to see.
Fall 2018 school week 1
Hi!!!! Well I have survived my first week of the new quarter!
I am taking PSY 237 which is Life Span development, basically it looks at a person from conception to death, this class is online. My 2nd class is Anatomy and Physiology 2, i have lecture 2 nights a week and lab one afternoon a week. Had to do a little switching around with my work schedule to make it all work, I now have no weekend lol. I still have 2 days off work but they are spread apart. One of my days off I have lab that day. This was the only class that even halfway worked with my schedule, thankfully another girl at work is a student and a class she wanted to take worked out perfectly if we switched one of our days with each other. So I have 1 full day off from everything the next month. That may be the one day i devote to my relationship because anatomy is no joke and i plan on rocking this class. Thankfully my fiance and soon to be husband is so supportive of me going to school.
I think PSYCH will be pretty easy. Online classes, as long as they aren’t math or science, are usually pretty easy to me. They definitely can take more time because you usually have extra work to do since there is no in class work but i love that i can sit down whenever i have time in between the rest of my schedule and knock out whatever i need to do.
Now for the good stuff: A&P!!!! I transferred to a different community college this year since the fiance and i moved to a new city, this is actually the school where i will be applying to the nursing program, no names of course so i can keep talking about it. The price per unit is roughly the same but man they must have extra funding somewhere because WOW, infinitely nicer digs. We each have our own microscope in lab and are you ready for this……….they have a cadaver lab!!!!!! in a community college!!! I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to learn on a real human body.
We got out first introduction to the cadaver lab this week. I really appreciate that they put a big emphasis on respect, these people donated their bodies to science not to be played around with. We got to see 2 of the 4 bodies. The first was a female who had 1 leg partially dissected so you could see the skin, the adipose layer and the muscle underneath then her neck was dissected so you could see the muscles, arteries trachea. Her abdomen was also pretty fully dissected so we could see the viscera, it was so interesting!!! The second body was a male and it was dissected to be able to see all the muscle, one side was superficial muscle and the other was deep muscle. This cadaver will be my best friend for a bit as we currently need to learn 160 muscles in about 2 weeks!!!!
We also did a little review of A&P 1 and wow am i rusty, it is time to review! As well as cram all the new knowledge into my head!!! My teacher seems really awesome too so fingers crossed this is going to be a great semester!!!!
We have to be able to identify all these on a model, a diagram and……..a cadaver……in 1.5 weeks.
Pre-school update
Week 4 of A&P
I enjoyed last weeks lab a lot, we got to look at some bones (granted they were fake but still) and start to see what the terms that describe bones really look like along with some fascinating slides. The first lab I went to was all slides and I wasn’t focused and just did not really enjoy it but this lab was the opposite, I loved every slide we looked at. I got to look as some fake bones and some real animal ones.
They had a long bone cut down the middle so we could see the marrow, the epiphyseal line, sharpey’s fibers and so on. It was really interesting. I am slowly getting more and more interested and engaged in this class which is great. Considering the circumstances if I was taking a boring class it would be much more difficult to make myself go and do the work.
But overall I am loving it! Studying is definitely a necessity, somethings stick in my head quickly and easily and others take some time for me to really grasp them but overall I love it!
School Catch-up
How is school going this quarter…..ehh. My class ends in 4 days, I currently have an A so I am doing something right but by no means did I perform to the best of my ability. I did great at the beginning of the quarter, I set time aside to study and did my vocab, read the book chapters and worked through the workbook and looked at the online lessons. As the quarter progressed I started just doing the vocab, which did enough that I have an A in the class but currently there is a significant chance it will drop to a B after the final which is 40% of my grade.
Monday evening and all of Tuesday will be reviewing and cramming so I don’t bomb the final which is comprehensive.
I think several things contributed to me slacking off at the end here:
- Taking the class online makes it easy to slack, I don’t need to answer a teachers questions or contribute to any in class discussions.
- At work I was either studying or had it up in the background while I was taking a break from the vocab and reading a book online, which meant that for almost 40 hours a week I was doing superficial easy studying of medical terminology (which seems like it would be great but I am at work so I can’t really focus which means this wasn’t very deep studying) and because I was ‘studying’ it so much I had no desire to even look at or think about medical terminology outside of work. I did a little studying on my phone here and there but that quickly ceased.
- I watch WAY too much TV outside of work, this has always been a problem for me, I become so unproductive when I turn the TV on, and once I turn it on, it tends to stay turned on. As my work load becomes more intense this will HAVE to change.
- All lumped into one: time management, space, organization
- I need to create a study space, someplace I go or set up that says it’s study time. I used to have a whole setup when I first went to school. I still have everything I need but haven’t created the space. Or of course I would camp out on campus in the library between classes or between class and work and I haven’t gotten back to giving myself that option yet.
- Headspace-I don’t think I have completely readjusted to being a student, I am still seeing work as the largest commitment in my life and I need to shift that thinking and focus to school.
I will not be taking any classes during the fall semester/quarter due to the cruise. I am going to go enjoy the cruise and enjoy this as my last big adventure for a little while because live is going to severely change. When I get back I need to get all my vaccines up to date, and take the American Red Cross’ Basic live saving CPR class then apply for a CNA class. My boyfriend and I are also working on moving in together. I will start the CNA class in January (baring any problems) which is a 7 credit class and will take a lot of time. After that it is the nursing program which will take more time. So I have 4.5 miles to get my sh*t completely together. I will keep you posted!
Tidbits from the week
Holy crap only 2 more weeks!!!! I am so excited for this quarter to be over, I feel like I am going to be swimming in oceans of time. Next quarter (summer) I am taking medical terminology online so I am going to have so much more time.
Food from the week:
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The bf and I also walked to baskin robins and got ice cream.
Friday
Last Saturday my great friend was in town for the quickest of visits, she was here for a funeral, my boyfriend and I met up with her and her friend after work Saturday afternoon. When your friend is in pain and drinking it away and asks you to drink with her, you do. So I did. I don’t drink much and when I do its usually a glass of wine or something (though I will be trying more wine soon but more on that later) but I try in general to limit myself to 1 glass of whatever it is. I wasn’t the best with my limits in college and I don’t ever need to go back to that. Anyways, I ended up drinking 4 cans of Mike’s black cherry hard lemonade, this is how much of a lightweight I am now, I got drunk off 4 cans basically fruity beer hahahaha. We were at a golf course and ended up just staying there so I ate a hot dog. Thankfully I was in bed by 10pm because I had to be up at 5am for work. But those 4 cans were too much for me, I woke up sick at 2:30am and needed to get something in my stomach, I ate a pop tart. I was hung-over the next day, hence the Mexican food on Sunday and Monday. I cannot believe how long it takes to recover from a hangover now!!!! Like the whole week to feel 100% again. Anyways that was my weekend lol.
Monday I relaxed in between classes but Tuesday I got my butt out for a walk and a run. The roommate and I did 1.3 miles walking then I did another 4 miles on the treadmill.
Wednesday the pup and I got out for about 1.5 miles walking in between classes
Thursday I went out for a run and got 3 miles in. This run was quite tumultuous and will do a whole post on it in a few days. Beware for TMI hahaha.
Friday the BF, the pup and I went for a little hike. 9.4 miles. I will do a more in depth review on the hike next week.
This was a pretty big jump in miles for me this week and I am feeling it in my legs and feet. But I am excited, this is how to get back in shape and lose weight! 19.2 miles total for the week between walking, running and hiking.
Can’t wait to see what next week brings!
How was your week?
Did you get any miles in?
What is the best meal you had this week?
Trailing the blonde 