1 down, 4 to go.

I had a wonderful first semester of nursing school and an even better Christmas break! I have two weeks left of my 5 weeks off, but pretty soon I have to start reading for next semester. I am jumping into next semester with my head held high and hopefully I will not fail. Last semester did have some bumps but I have learned a lot.

1) Stay organized. I am the most unorganized person ever. I throw papers around my office. As long as no one touches them I remember exactly where I threw each specific paper. Of course people/dogs always touch my stuff so that is rarely helpful. I have a planner, a dry erase calendar, my printed school calendar, binders, shelves, folders and all kinds of things to keep me organized. Hopefully next semester I will refine my process.

2) Stay prepared. I make me coffee the night before so I can have iced coffee in the morning. I lay out my clothes down to my undies. It is dark at 4:45 in the morning and I try not to turn on the light and wake Ryan up so I get everything the night before. I pack up my backpack. I make sure I have my penlight, stethoscope, shears, and all my of paperwork. I have breakfast and lunch already made. Well.. usually. Even though we are allowed a 15 min break during clinicals at the hospital I do not count on being able to take it. I am prepared for a few easy patients and for cranky frazzled nurses who are working day 5 of what was supposed to be a 3 day work week. I am prepared for discharge, death, new patients and scrambling to learn new medications that were not prescribed the previous day. I am NOT a morning person and this is the only thing that has kept me from showing up late, in my PJs without coffee. I just need to figure out how to pre-make smoothies/juice without it getting funny overnight.

3) Do not judge anyone. I made this mistake last semester even though I tried not to. Sometimes I can be too trusting too soon, and sometimes I use one encounter to prejudge someone I do not even know. I am not perfect. No one is. This also ties in with no drama and no gossip. Working with a group of 60 students, mostly female is not easy. I have never enjoyed working with women but if everyone just leaves the drama at home, we are fine.

4) poo is smelly. We were asked to speak to a group of potential nursing students about what school was really like. Even though I did not talk to them I thought about what I would say. And I would tell them that if they really cannot handle things like poo, blood, pee, snot and other bodily fluids then this is not for them. The first few weeks we were in a nursing home learning how to bathe, change and clean up patients. Most of this involved bathroom type stuff. Not glamorous. When were we going to set bones, hang Ivs and run a code?! The majority of the things you will be doing as a student nurse is making sure your client is safe, clean and well assisted during the "bathroom stuff". And guess what… poo is smelly.

5) Aint nobody got time for that. No I am not taking about my house burning down while I have bronchitis. I am taking about EVERYTHING else. I have had to bail on my friends, tell my family I was not coming home for christmas and ignore my boyfriend. I have to read before class, do homework, study for lab, study for tests, prepare for clinical, design care plans for patients and lean a ton of medicines. This does not include the time actually spend in school, lab or the hospital. My time is filled with nursing. I am constantly reviewing lab values in my head. If I do go out I am thinking about the basics. Bed down, side rails up, remember to ask about pain, water, bathroom, comfort. I think about what I need to get on my next 4 tests to maintain my grade, I am thinking about the 15 + steps I have to memorize for skills lab. Some things come easy to me and some things do not. The things that do not are always in the back of my head and I feel like I cannot give 100% of my time to anyone. Until the end of the semester that is. At that point I just do not care. Sure lets go out, sure lets have some drinks, sure lets watch that movie. Which brings me to...

6) Make some time for that… I have yet to learn how to properly juggle school and social life. When I do study, I am not efficient so it takes me longer. If I could learn to study for a solid 4 hours (with breaks) then I could enjoy the rest of my day. But I study, then do something else. Then look at my book then watch a tv show, then study then play with my dog, and this takes me all day to study one chapter. While becoming more efficient and staying organized I can make time for things. I miss playing roller derby like crazy. I could still go to two practices a week but I feel guilty for not studying. Hopefully this semester I will get everything all figured out.

7) Nursing school is fun! I have made new friends with similar interests. I enjoy learning about the human body and I enjoy taking care of patients at the hospital. This is the only time in my career that I will be able to spend one on one time with my patient and be able to talk with them and spend meals with them. I have already met some really interesting people.

All in all I had a good first semester and I am sure next semester will be even better. Last semester my clinical group went through a lot. There were deaths in the family, funerals, fights, funny moments, a good trip to Daytona, and discovery of new life growing in one of us. And we all agree we hate group projects. So here is to a good second semester of nursing school!!

I have a blog?

Well I decided to make a blog. Just somewhere to write my thoughts, document my house projects and talk about my puppy. Ryan said he would make me a blog but I needed a name so I went to blogspot myself and since I am logged into google it said "Welcome back Samantha!".Well look at that. I already have a blog. With a name Problem solved. I am currently sitting on my couch cuddling with my puppy and watching Parks and Recreation. Yes it is a Wednesday, and I can do this because I recently quit my job so I could go to Iceland and enjoy myself before school starts. Nursing school that it. Iv'e heard it is intense and busy, and honestly it is already confusing me with all of the things we have to do and all of the emails we get everyday with new information. It doesn't help that I had to miss orientation because I was out of the country. Thank God I know someone else who started the program in January. She has been incredibly helpful! I don't know how much I will blog while in school, but I will try. I will repost later with the before and after of my bathroom! I am so happy with the way it came out! “It is always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.” ― Donald Miller

sundays

My Sundays are becoming wonderful. I no longer need to work just to survive, so I can give up the extra 5 hours I would get on a Sunday. And I told my boss forget it no more. I have found a new church called The Way. I have never met people more dedicated to knowing God and sharing Him with others. It is really refreshing.

After church, Megan Brook and I got lunch at shells. Then Megan and I went to an art festival and walked on the beach for a little while. It was a beautiful day. These days make me so so happy.

I never posted more christmas gifts. Thats just how I am. 2010 is here, I keep writing 09 at work. New Year's resolutions? Not for me. I can never think of any and if I do, I forget them. I am starting school tomorrow. I suppose my new year's resolution is to finish it. We shall see.

gifts

It is the Christmas season. It brings me joy. The lights, the music, the acceptable use of too much peppermint or cinnamon. I still love those things. I am a big fan of helping local farmers, artists and so forth, but how do you do that on a budget? ETSY. That is how. I love love love it! People are SO creative.

**I am going to do a few of these.. so stay tuned for more stuff later



This. Is a mustache mug. I don't think I need any more words for it. [etsy designer: birdofafeather]





These earring are in the shape of caffeine molecules! If you aren't a coffee lover.. they make other ones. [etsy designer: molecularmuse]




I have an unhealthy obsession with facial hair. I don't even know if this would make a good present... [etsy designer: imadeyouabeard]



Looking to get an ipod or iphone case for someone who likes leather? These are pretty cool. [etsy designer: inblue]



I already bought this for myself. They also custom size them for different size computers. [etsy designer: freshdecals]




Jennifer Ladd makes awesome purses, clutches, and baby items. She is coming out with a new line soon. [etsy designer: jenniferladd]

on the road

Well I have been traveling for a few weeks. It is fun seeing everyone but I miss my air mattress. I know I know.. but it's big, and it's all mine. I went to Canada, upstate NY, Baltimore, and now I am in Virginia. 

It is good seeing old friends. Some things never change.

"Then there’s the fact that I don’t care if the birds live or die. I’m not saying that I have any particular antagonism towards the birds. I’m just saying that whether or not they eat anything is none of my business and not my concern. If all the birds died tomorrow, I probably wouldn’t even notice. At some point somebody would mention that there was no more birdsong. I would say, “I didn’t notice because I’ve been inside.” Then I would go back to not doing whatever I was not doing." michael ian black

Dusel

Everyone has goals and aspirations. We all get out of wack when things don't go our way. Personally, I think I have to have some 5 year plan, and since I don't, I feel like a failure. I had a 5 year plan, when I was 18. To be a college graduate, be married, and work with youth in a church, and be almost done with school for my masters. Well. I am almost 22, which means I have 1 year to accomplish all of that. Except for working with youth, I have been doing that since I was 18 anyways. I have 3 semesters of college complete, and no prospects of a boyfriend, let alone plans to get married. Soooo there goes my 5 year plan. It is certainly much less stressful, to just take life as it comes. Sure plans are good, but a lot of things we have no control over. I think we should make plans about the people we want to be, how we want to change for the better, and let the things we do help lead us to that.

Or maybe we should start thinking like Dustin, who just wants to make it to his 18th birthday. He is smart and creative, yet humble and realistic. He is from Germany and just moved to the United states, because he has a very serious heart condition, and is not taking well to his new heart. He is full of life and courage.

"Actually, my condition has been pretty good the last few weeks. Just about one heart attack every 2 or 3 days and I’ve been having heartbeats equivalent to an average person. Even though I still have to take 13 different medicaments a day, I feel fine! I got my new life expectancy just 2 days ago and it says I’ll have 8 more months to live. It remained the same, so it didn’t really decrease compared to the last time, but I think it will get harder soon. There’ll be more surgeries and tests in the states and its going to be pretty tough! "

http://www.duselk.blogspot.com/     <-- check it out

Let's just be thankful for the time we have and just take one day at a time. Let's decide who we want to be.. and just.. become that person.