Fry Brain, Flip, Repeat.

Okay, I know you hate it when I gripe but, really, it was a hard week last week!

Of course, this week is even harder.

I got to the point where my brain stopped working.  I just sat at my computer, folded origami elephants, and watched episodes of Charmed.  I couldn't bear to read anything nursing-related.

What's going on?

Well, things didn't go so well at clinical.  I had a patient whose condition deteriorated last week.  She was fine by the time I left, but it really scared me.  It was so bad that they pulled the licensed practical nurse off and put a registered nurse in her place.  After that, I got to see what it was like to work with an RN under pressure.

I never knew it was so hard!

All of her patients were total care, which means that the patients can't really do anything by themselves.  She was running around giving medications, washing them, checking up on them, and constantly re-prioritizing what had to be done first.  It was quite the hectic job!

I watched, helped, and learned.  Honestly, it was a really good learning experience, but I was exhausted by the end of the day.  I felt fuzzy in the head and not quite right.  Of course, it might have been the bug I was brewing.  I ended up sick on the weekend and basically slept through it.

I still ended up handing in a journal assignment by Sunday, and finished writing a paper for Monday.  I was so relieved to be done with the paper on Monday!

Of course, all was not well.

It turned out that the paper was due at 11:30 am for a 12:00 noon class.  Who would have guessed?  So I handed it in at 11:45, thinking that I was early, only to receive an instant 5% off for being 15 minutes LATE. Grrrr!

So, here comes another week.  Fry brain, flip, repeat.

I hope yours turns out better than mine!

Cheerio!
 

Poggles Is A Big Boy Now

When Poggles was a baby, he pooped everywhere.  He couldn't control it.  Today, however, is a big day.  Poggles is a big boy now, and he only does his business in the litter tray (hurray!).

So, the oven tray can now go away.  I will have one less thing to clean, and Poggles can enjoy soft, warm "carpet" everywhere.

After a thorough cleaning of his cage, Poggles was unceremoniously dumped out of his dirty pouch into his clean toilet (poor boy). Don't worry, he is dumped from the ground level.

 He scrambled quickly to hide under the wheel as I began to populate his cage with his belongings.  He got a fresh toilet paper roll to play with, a clean pouch...

 ... his food bowl and water bowl came back clean, his dome and cosy came back, he got a fresh paper towel, his ball... and everything was clean.

Of course, Poggles hated it.  He came out and sniffed everything, deemed them unsuitable, and went back under the wheel.  He did this several times, each time concluding that it was unacceptable.

He slept there all afternoon, and only moved into the new pouch once I gave him back one of his dirty fleece scraps (tsk tsk!)  After that, he pulled the paper towel so that it was plugging the entrance, and hissed at anyone that disturbed him.

Yup, he's a big boy now.  That doesn't change how grumpy he is though  :)

Week 3 of Semester 4

This was a pretty busy week so I was back to my bad habit of not sleeping enough.  I zombied my way through a group presentation, assignments, and homework.  What really tired me out though was clinical.

I had it easy last week.  My patient was only sub-acute and I had a lot of extra time to putter around bonding with patients.  I think my teacher knew I wasn't being challenged enough so she gave me an extra complicated patient this week.  I also got to start on medications.

Tube feeding
This was my first experience with feeding tubes.  I had only seen suctioning tubes before this, and we had only just learned about managing feeding tubes in lab.  Now, here I was with a feeding tube before me.  I was pretty intimidated.

However, once I had gone through the process of delivering medications by the feeding tube once, it began to seem pretty straight forward.

There's a lever on the tubing.  You open the port, put the syringe in, turn the lever, and flush it with 10 ml of water.  Turn the lever, take off the syringe.  Suck up the medication (which is crushed and mixed with 30 mls of water), put it in the port, turn the lever, inject the meds. Turn the lever, take off the syringe, suck up more meds, do the same thing as before.  When you're done, you flush it again with 30 mls of water, close the port, and you're done!

Okay, so it doesn't sound so straight forward in print.  I swear it's easier in real life!

Teacher Feedback
Anyhow, it was quite an experience, and I had to remember to keep the patient upright before doing this to prevent choking.  I liked how the teacher gave me feedback on what she saw, and then asked me how I thought it went and how I wanted to improve for next time.  It made me do some thinking and it helped me to review what I had read and what I had just learned from the experience.

Parkinson's Disease
This was also my first experience with Parkinson's Disease.  The pt basically had no (or extremely limited) control over their own body (twitching, shaking), but the mind appeared to be aware of what was going on.  Worst of all, the patient couldn't talk and sometimes could only whisper quietly.  I found it incredibly distressing.

I felt that the patient was at the mercy of the nurses, and if something went wrong, the patient couldn't call for help or even  push the call button.  I didn't like seeing the patient with such little control over what happened.  It would be one thing to be unconscious like that, or to be a baby, but this patient was aware of what was going on.  I can't put my finger on exactly why I find that so frightening, but it is very scary to me. Maybe it's because it reminds me of being trapped in a doll that can't move or talk, but can move its eyes, think, and feel.

Anyhow, I did my best.

It's Worth It For The Smile
I told the patient every little thing before I did it so that they were not surprised, and I talked the patient through any procedures done by other people (ex. inserting IVs or drawing blood).  I asked for permission before I did things, and the patient nodded or shook their head (thank goodness, they could at least move the head a little).  I leaned in beside the patient's head so that I could catch the whispers when they came through, and heard little comments like "I'm scared" that broke my heart. I felt so bad for the patient.

I did get a smile once though.  That was nice.  Parkinson's often creates a mask-like expression in patients so I didn't expect the smile.

Sore Feet
I don't even remember what I was doing, but I was walking/or speed walking a lot around the ward.  There were always supplies to gather, people to find, things to do.  My feet were super sore at the end of each day.  I was walking gingerly when I got home.  Maybe I need better insoles or something.

Fatigue
I was so tired.  I was emotionally drained from wanting so badly to be good to the patient, and physically tired from lack of sleep and hard work.

It has been a good experience and good learning this week.  I wonder what next week will be like?

Enjoy yours!

Week 2 of Semester 4

The second week of Semester 4 has gone by, and it was a good one.

Homework hadn't quite gone to the killer level yet, and I got my first patient to care for independently in clinical.  He turned out to be a really nice guy, and since I wasn't giving any medications yet, the workload was light.  I ended up helping my nurse out a lot, and the nurse spent time teaching me about different things on the ward, and showing me different procedures.

Some of my favourite moments this week:

Taming the Sheet Monster
There was a patient loudly crying in a room.  The LPN said, "Wow, it's been a long time since I've heard that around here."  Unfortunately, he was on his way to do something so he had to hurry off.  I didn't see anyone else around to intervene and there were no contact precautions on the room door, so I walked in to see what was wrong.

The patient was tossing and turning and crying about how she was uncomfortable.  She seemed to be all tangled up in her sheets.  I know how much that bothers ME, so I talked soothingly to her and set about fixing her sheets up.  I think she was feeling tired, stressed out, and uncomfortable, and the tangled sheets just tipped her scale.  Anyhow, after I fixed her up, she seemed to settle down.  I put her call bell in her hand and told her to call if she needed someone.

You're Not Alone
After I said good bye to my patient, I heard another patient moaning/sobbing in her bed.  I walked over to check what was going on, and found her very distressed.  She told me that she was all alone, and that she was frightened.  I explained to her that she was not all alone - there were three other patients in the room with her.  I pointed them out to her, and reminded her that there were also many nurses bustling about just outside her room.  "I can't see them though!" she said.

I realized that her eyesight must be poor even with her glasses, and that the dimmed room made it impossible for her to see the other patients.  I told her about how it was quiet time in the hospital, and how the lights had been dimmed so that patients could take a nap, watch some TV, and relax quietly.  They were all still there around her, they were just sleeping.  "Just because you can't see them," I said, "doesn't mean that they're not there.  There are people all around you.  You're not alone."

All the soothing talk seemed to make her feel better. She thanked me and I tucked her into bed.  I suggested that she take a nap too, and she agreed that it was a good idea.  I adjusted her call bell so that she could hold it in her hand.  "Push the button if you feel scared, " I told her, "and someone will come here to check on you.  The nurses are just outside your door."  She smiled, and I felt good inside.  It hadn't been a very hard task, but I think it was important.

Why I Do This
That sort of sums up the gist of what the past week has been like.  It was a very good start to the semester, and I am looking forward to the rest of it.  I was worried that I would fail and that the learning curve would kill me, but these experiences have reminded me about why I am going through all this trouble.  I know that I have the ability to help people even if I don't feel confident about my skills yet.

Lovely Teacher
Also, I am starting to really like my teacher.  She is so darn polite!  I could really learn a thing or two from her in the manners department.  I think she could tip-toe around most uncomfortable topics without offending anyone and still get her point clearly across.  She's also very knowledgeable.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Semester 4 of Nursing School - Week 1

Ohhh... first week is over.  I am soooooo tired!

First Day Back

My first day back was a scramble of activity.  Class started at 8am and before, between, and after classes, I had to wait in long line ups to renew my student ID, nursing ID, and UPass.  I also had to buy my coursepacks, which were unreasonably expensive.

Brain Food

I would have died of hunger in one line up at lunch if it wasn't for a free bagel at the the student union table.  I don't know if it was really a good bagel, but I devoured it instantly.  That tied me over until I got home where I ate anything in sight.

For some reason, I get really hungry when I'm stressed out.  I think my brain needs extra food to function at maximal capacity.

Anyhow, the first day finished well, but then I had a new challenge - the first day of clinical.  *gulp!*

Steep Learning Curve

The teacher told us horror stories about the steep learning curve we would encounter this semester.  It honestly made me feel nauseous.  Every time she mentioned students that didn't make it or students that had issues or challenges, I thought it would be me next.  The teacher was trying to prepare us so that we wouldn't be surprised, but it was very overwhelming for the first day.

Acute Medicine

We got a proper tour of the ward we would be working on, and the teacher explained how it was an acute medical ward.  This means that the patients are experiencing a short term medical problem with complications.  For instance, they might have had a small heart surgery, but they also have kidney problems, diabetes, a recent stroke, high blood pressure, asthma, cancer, etc.  When you add up all these separate conditions, you end up with a REALLY BIG problem.

So, it should be really interesting.  The teacher says that we'll learn a lot about how all the different problems interact and influence each other.  She promises that we'll leave the semester feeling a lot more confident as nurses.

I am excited about all that learning.

Zombies Rise Early

Today, however, we started our shift at 6:30am.  That's pretty early.  I know some of you early birds won't find it THAT early, but my sleeping schedule hasn't fully switched yet.  Even though I head to bed on time, I can't fall asleep until much later.

This means Zombie Student Nurse.

Luckily, the teacher put us in pairs and she put us with less complicated patients.  I am very thankful for this gentle start.  My patient was super nice too!  He was so cooperative, thankful, and easy to cheer up!  There's something to be said about leaving the room with a smile.

Being Sick Sucks

The funny thing is that he seemed genuinely happy to see us and to be cared for by us.  He greeted us with such a big smile, and he would hold our hands and give us the most heartfelt look of thanks.  It made me feel  bad for him.  I felt like he must have gone through a lot of bad experiences to value his experience with us so much.

I think being very sick must be very miserable.  I can't understand exactly what he is going through, but I can sense that it is very difficult for him.  It makes me want to help him more.  He chuckled over how we were "fussing" over him, but we really wanted him to be comfortable, clean, and well-cared for.  I guess he could tell that we meant well.

The teacher said we did a good job, and that helped to make us feel less terrified.

I would tell you more, but I am much too tired.  I wasn't the only one either.  I noticed that some of my classmates looked like they would fall asleep on their feet after the shift.  We're on the ball when we're on the floor, but on our way out the door...?  Zzzzzz!

Have a great weekend!
 

Reflections on Semester Three

It's amazing how soon a semester ends, a holiday comes and goes, and another semester begins again.  Someone slow down time a little!!!

So let's reflect on the last semester and see how went.

Babies and Mommies
Well, I finally saw the little babies get born.  They were a lot bigger than I expected them to be at birth and a whole lot cuter to cuddle.  Moms turned out to be braver and more formidable than I expected, and the birthing process was a whole lot messier and scarier.  I don't look forward to giving birth.  At the same time, I'm comforted that God designed women to be able to handle this very frightening process, and to be extremely good at being moms  :)  There's hope after all.

Magical Humans
In terms of surgery, humans are magical creatures and medical science is amazing.  I rather liked working in surgery, and I better!  I'll be working in Medicine all semester coming up.

So, what can I say?


Thank You, Nurses
I think I still like nursing.  That's good.  I get tired sometimes though.  I get to do all this good for people, but it's draining.  The work is hard and it's super stressful to get through the classes, assignments, exams, and mastery courses.  It's not all roses, that's for sure.  We should all be thankful for nurses.  They work really hard to make sure we get better when we're sick.  Oh, and they work really hard in school to make sure they become good nurses in the first place!!!

When In Doubt, Choose "C"
I was relieved to find out that I had passed all my courses.  One exam really kicked me in the butt, and I was terrified that I had failed it.  Fortunately, "C" was the correct answer for all of the questions I didn't know (just joking!), and I finished with mastery, two B+'s, and one A-.  Hurray!  Onwards to Semester 4!

Next Semester
I got assigned to the hospital I had wanted for this coming semester, and I hear that my teacher is excellent.  It looks to be a good start.  However, this is rumoured to be one of the killer semesters where they really test you.  We'll be given really difficult cases to care for in the hospital, and they expect us to apply all of the knowledge we have learned so far.  It should be interesting.

Sigh, so the holiday ends January 4th.  It was a really good break.  I'll tell you about it in a bit.

Enjoy the rest of yours, and good luck for the new year!

Cheers!