Amazing

Isn't it amazing. . . . .

that the sun rises and sets every single day.

that the stars come out each night.

that the seasons come in the same order year after year.

that the force of gravity is constantly present.

that the waves never cease to rise and fall.

that the heart continues to beat.

that the lungs continue to breathe.

that birds are born knowing how to fly.

that water evaporates to the sky and condenses back to replenish the earth.

that there is a sense of smell.

that mustard seeds grow into trees.

that the earth is close enough to the sun to have adequate heat but far enough not to burn up.

that spiders spin webs.

that the element sodium burns the skin and the element chloride is a poisonous gas, but

together they form a compound, sodium chloride, that the human cannot live without.

that the kidneys filter 180 L of fluid every day.

that when fires are caused by natural means, such as lightning, then they are easier to control

and don't cause as much damage as man made fires.

that the earth continues to spin on its axis.

that every spring the flowers bloom and the trees blossom.

that human fingerprints are formed based on their movements while in the womb.

that trees grow toward the sun.

that no two snow flakes are alike.

that a grain of sand can form a pearl.

that humans have a soul.

that caterpillars can turn into butterflies.

that rainbows form after rain falls.

There is so much much more. And yet tomorrow, the sun will rise, the wind will pass, the rain may fall and another day with be. It is all the simple basic constant things that make life so truly amazing.

It is all those things that acknowledge the existance of God.

One more test to take. . .

I have one more test to take and then I will have 4 days off. I'm so excited. I take my final exam on Monday and then I'm free for the rest of the week. I will be flying out on Tuesday to visit a good friend who moved away in October. I'm sure that we will have a good time.

So much has happened the last few weeks.

I had to do a presentation on my change project. I had three goals for my change project:
1. By the end of the personal improvement project, the student nurse will exhibit a weekly average stress score of 25 based on the Psychological Stress Measurement Tool.
2. By the end of the personal improvement project, the student nurse will have exercised three times per week for each week of the project to reduce stress.
3. By the end of the personal improvement project, the student nurse will decrease her stress as evidenced by a decrease in the number of times she walks in her sleep to 1 time every two weeks or less.
Unfortunately, I did not meet any of my goals. The end results were as follows:
1. Student nurse did not meet goal of decreasing stress from a measure of 40 on the Psychological Stress Measure Tool to an average of 25.
2. Student nurse did not meet goal of exercise 3 times per week for eight weeks to decrease stress. Student nurse exercised 3 times per week the first four weeks but only 2 times per week the second four weeks.
3. Student nurse did not meet goal of decreasing the number of times walked in sleep to 1 time every two weeks or less. Student nurse walked in sleep 9 times in 8 weeks.
Fortunately, I did make some progress on each goal. So overall, I was pleased with that.

Clinicals have been good. I was able to do more new things and become more competent in other things. Last week I ended up with three different patients, each with their own unique set of problems. I learned something from each of them and was blessed to be a part of each of their care.

A few weeks ago I went to Freed-Hardeman for the weekend for Makin' Music. While there I spent some time hanging out with my little friend Louise. We had such a good time!

I've also been blessed to hang out with my favorite 4 year old friend Haydn and that is always such a constant joy in my life.

I spent last Friday at the Williamson County Health Department. I had to spend the day there as part of my community health class. There were lots of people in and out very fast. It was an interesting day and I enjoyed it somewhat.

This past Wednesday we had a simulation lab experience. We read over the simulated pt/manequin's chart the night before and became familiar with his case. We then had 30 minutes to treat Mr. Rodgriquez. There were multiple things wrong with his medications, his vital signs, etc. that we had to use our critical thinking skills to correct and manage. Our patient was in a very small "hospital" room that had a large mirror. On the other side of the mirror were 4 faculty members monitoring our behavior. It was a little nerve wracking, but I felt I did fairly well. I look forward to doing more simulations in the future.

For now, I've got to spend this rare day off going to work and learning more about those I encounter.

Getting Experienced

Last week was full of many new experiences during my clinical days. We were back at St. Thomas hospital on the cardiac rehab floor, where we care for pt's who are 1-6 days post-op open heart surgery. This rotation has been more exciting for me than many of the others I have had. I am getting to do and see things that I came back to school for. At times it seems that life has been so full of all the things I need to learn, that I lose sight of the big picture and forget my end goal. The small things in the meantime are foundational cornerstones to major principles in the future, but at times they feel more like annoying stones in my shoes. So, this St. Thomas rotation has been incredibly encouraging. I had the exciting new opportunity last week of giving someone a suppository. It is quite odd to find yourself 4 inches into someone's rectum, but that is just part of it. Unfortunately, the suppository didn't work. This led me to the new opportunity of giving someone an enema, actually before it was all over with I gave two to the same poor soul. At times however, an individual may be so impacted that even an enema won't work. This leads to one final option - the digits. My digit to be exact. 10 minutes later the pt was feeling much better and I was able to give her the 2nd enema, which she still needed. On a brighter and more exciting note, I started an IV line on my first attempt, luckily the pt had very good veins and I got a good stick. The pt even said they didn't feel a thing. This was good, especially since the pt kept shaking a fist at me and smiling. I also got to take out a sutured in centrally inserted IV line. The only difficulty associated with this was the extreme amount of tape I had to peal off the pt in order to even get to the surgical site. Overall the two days last week were fun, tiring, educating, and interesting. I appreciated my time there greatly.

This week, we will unfortunately only be able to spend one day in clinical. Our other day of clinical will be spent at the state Capital for TNA day. This is the Tennessee Nurses Association day on the hill. We will spend time with the governor, network with nursing school all over the state, listen to new legislation, and talk with congressmen and lobbyists.

Overall it should be a good learning experience, but I'd rather be in clinical. Fortunately, it only affected our short day of clinical and not our long 12 hour day.

Overall things are going well with school. This semester ends in three weeks and then I will have 4 days off before summer semester starts.