Half-Way Mark

Phew! In the midst of mid-terms, exactly half way through the semester...

I have been using a dry erase board on the wall in front of my desk to study. It helps to write things out a lot. We have been to the hospital twice now for clinical and I am doing quite well.

Also I have started watching my intake and exercising more...Once or twice a week people bring donuts to class. My professors say that in nursing school, people will gain a few ponds or lose a few pounds..and I know which side I want to be on. So far in school, I have not dunked a donut. I am drinking a ton of water, and Rex is cooking for us when I am swamped at school.

I got my 2nd grant check today from the school. So that rocked. It's going straight to my credit card.{Still paying off a few books!}

I may be getting hypochondriac syndrome. I am always looking around to diagnose something. I have been concerned about strep throat, and bacteria all week. Perhaps I should relax on that and try to concentrate of my studies.
In fact I will now go and concentrate on my studies...and try to cram every detail about diabetes into my brain.


Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.
Tori Amos

Well, So far I am getting straight B's across the board, In both classes! In Nursing Concepts and Pharmacology, freaking B's...I feel pretty ambivalent about the grades, such a huge fear of failing, yet I know I could study more. Today was the passing of my first clinical testing, they are all hands on sign-offs. We learned about physical assessments this and last week, and today we performed. I was not only terrified but also ill prepared. It seemed last night, the night before my the big clinical sign off, when I was doing some last minute review, and attempting to play/assess my beau-hunk from his busy-facebooking-schedule...last night was the night he thought it would be HILARIOUS to hold his breathe during vital signs, and not answer simple questions to establish Orientation. I, in my nursing school-stress haze, over reacted with blazes and fell asleep pissed.

We got a new roommate for a while, my husbands best buddy. It'll be nice to have two people to 'study' on a regular basis. Don't we all study those we care for? or even find interesting? I suppose it's a strange way to see things.

I put up a dry eraser board in front of my desk, {my new beautiful desk} and I wrote side by side comparisons of sedatives and hypnotics. Until the next quiz, it's all Barb's and Ben's...all the time. I thought having it written so huge in front of my face would be a great study tool.

I'm going to go ride my bike and enjoy the sun, thank christ we don't have a quiz till next friday.

The Language of Energy

Listened to the heart today, and the lungs. Heard wheeze & crackle, murmur n' gallop...Joni the Mannequin kept seizing on us every 15 minutes as we auscultated, Her eyes are a beautiful sky blue! We have a quiz tomorrow....we'll see how it goes!

Yesterday's lesson included an introduction to guided imagery, as utilized in nursing practice. Our professor walked us through a meditation like excursion in our minds...We all closed our eyes, and were told to first picture our most favorite place...Somewhere serene...Somewhere calming...and then to put ourselves in that soothing place and imagine all of the details that make up this location. Mine was the beach, a spot I've gone for years, and always bring visitors to. A place to sit and breathe the saline, enjoying the cool, soft wind on my face. I pictured this spot, I could see it so real... and then my block began...I couldn't imagine myself in that place. I could see it from far away, but I could not put myself there, calm and happy.
I knew I was stressed out when I woke up that morning to find Rex {my husband} sleeping on the couch by way of extreme fatigue...however, my stress balled up and invaded my guided imagery beach scene until I was kicked out of concentration all together. Then I was supposed to help 'unruffle' a bunch of other students in practice, and felt like I was just spewing tension all over them...

I got home that day to find a many beautiful gifts my husband had made for me {he's in construction}, and with each happy kiss between us, I felt my stress melt away.

"The quality and impact of the healing, is influenced by the relationship between the giver and the receiver of the energy."--Janet Mantegen