Things I wish I knew then.

Last night I went to a round table event for the "Pre-nursing Club" at Grand Valley. The club is for mostly freshman and sophomores that are taking all of their prerequisites and waiting to apply to the nursing program. They have approximately one million questions and they are basically panicking around getting into the program, what classes they should and shouldn't take together, how high your GPA needs to be, how hard the program is, what you do in clinical, etc. A million questions. It seems so unreal that we have come so far from being these students that are freaking out. It was so weird to be the older nursing student, already in the program, and actually almost ready to finish the program. I LOVED talking to the students though. The goal of the night was to get all different types of students to come and be at the event (male students, student athletes, student parents, Honors, Second Degree, Direct Admit, and Traditional). When I introduced myself I just said I was a Traditional Student and was also in a sorority if anyone had questions about that. I didn't really think much about it until they had the students move to the person that they wanted to talk to and whole flock of girls came up to my table that were all traditional and/or in sororities. So I ended up with a table of 7 girls by myself to answer questions and just talk about the program. Luckily, I love the program and have lots of things to say. I tried to answer all of their questions and convince them that it really will get better, and the classes will get to more so much more fun and more practical and more hands on and that they just need to get through it to get there. It was very cool to pass on all of things that I've learned in these past 4.5 years and all of the things that people told me when I was a freshman and panicking. We talked about how to balance the classes and a social life and a sorority and also how to deal with the stress. They also were just really excited to hear about the program and how cool it is and all of things that we need to do. I remember how much I loved hearing about the program before I was in it because it just made me want to work so much harder to get in. I remember thinking that I couldn't WAIT to be at the CHS building all the time (the picture for this entry is the CHS building and basically my second home during the week). It just felt so strange to be sitting there giving advice. I gave the girls my email and told them to email me if they have any questions because I remember how it felt to be completely lost. I hope they actually take me up on it. Oh and I was shamelessly recruiting for ASA in the process. Obviously. Cheryl came over to my table and was talking with the girls also near the end of the night and was making fun of my recruitment director schpeel that I was giving. Once a recruitment director, always a recruitment director. But in all honesty, I feel really weird that I'm old enough to mentor younger students, but it's really awesome to pass on all of things that I wish I knew when I was a freshman.

And it also made me realize how happy I am to NOT BE IN THEIR SHOES, anymore :) I never thought I would get here, and now looking back and talking to them I remember all of the awful exams and classes and tears I went through to get here and it just makes me appreciate it so much more.

Oh, and I did not fail my exam yesterday. Despite my lack of studying, I still got a solid B. Hanging onto my A- in the class for now :)

AND this is the 75th blog entry that I have written in here! Crazy right???

Surgery Take 2 and LEADERHIP PLACEMENT!

As part of this rotation we got to spend one day in surgery! I've been very fortunate to have both of my med-surg rotations at Saint Mary's because that means I've been able to spend a total of three days in surgery, while people who have been at Spectrum haven't been able to spend any time in surgery. So the operating room I was assigned to was an orthopedic room and I got to see two surgeries. The first was a total hip replacement and the second was a total knee replacement. The surgeon I was with was really great (and his last name was Kane. Win.) and he had two other ortho residents with him that he was teaching (who were both pretty easy on the eyes, so I was a fan). My nurse was a little bit intimidating to say the least. He was older and had been doing working an a nurse in the OR for 30 years. He wasn't mean or anything, he was wasn't overly warm or helpful. He didn't really explain much to me during the surgeries, but luckily there was a surgical rep in there that explained everything to me. During the total hip I couldn't really see anything because of how the leg was positioned and because there were 4 people doing the surgery, but during the total knee I was able to see a lot more which was really cool. Mostly I just followed the nurse around as he went to get the patient from the pre-op holding area, brought them into the OR, got them all set up and prepped and then just hung out in the OR and watched the whole surgery. I really like surgery, but i definitely don't think that it's for me. One of the things that I love most about nursing is the one on one face time that I get to spend connecting with and caring for patients. With surgery, 90% of the time you are with patients, they are unconscious. So while I do enjoy watching the surgeries, I don't really think surgery is for me. I'm glad that I got the chance to spend some time in surgery though because it's been enough time to give me a good idea of what it's like and whether or not it's something that I would be interested in.

Also yesterday we got our assignments for our LEADERSHIP rotations! Leadership is a 7 week rotation where we are assigned individually (meaning not in a clinical group like we usually are), to a specific unit in a hospital and to one nurse. We follow that nurse for the entire 7 weeks and work when they work. We got to request the top three areas of nursing we wanted to work in so I picked Pediatrics, Pediatrics ICU and medsurg, in that order. And I got PEDS! At Helen Devos, which is exactly what I wanted. I am in peds sedation, and I wasn't really sure what that meant so I looked on the website and this is what it says:

[One-Stop Sedation Procedure Rooms
Sedation services are organized around the patient and family. The goal is to remove the discomfort or anxiety of painful or invasive procedures, or diagnostic or radiology tests that require the child to lie still. Children are prepped, sedated and have their procedure and recover in the same room, rather than moving for each phase of care. Family members may accompany the child during both the preparation and recovery phases.]

So I guess that's what I am going to be doing! I'm really excited about it! We also found out where we will be doing our community health rotation and I will be doing that at the Kent County Health Department. I'm happy about that too and I think I will learn a whole lot being there. Life is good :)

3 weeks left of clinical and we MOVE TO OUR NEW UNIT NEXT WEEK! 4 weeks left in the semester! Done for the semester in 30 days, and done for good in 133, time is flying!

Intesive Care Unit!

I apparently am REALLY on the ball with blog entries this week, but I recently am realizing that I hate waiting until the end of the week and then trying to remember all of the things that I did throughout the entire week. I feel like there are so many things that happen and I forget to write about them because I don't talk about them right after the happen. Hence beginning my new effort to update more frequently so that I can actually write how I feel about them. That being said, this week I did ALOT of different things so I figured it was a good plan to talk about each one. Today I was in the Adult ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Each person in my clinical group gets to spend one day in the ICU and one day in surgery. ICU was definitely intense. I followed a nurse around that was absolutely amazing. At the beginning of the day I didn't think she was going to be very nice to me, but I found out she was just stressed out because she thought she was supposed to be somewhere else today so she was all out of sorts. Once she got where she was supposed to be and got report, she calmed down and started talking to me. She had two patients, one was an 80 year old woman and the other was a 40 year old woman. I got to see a LOT of things in the ICU. Both of the patients were on ventilators and sedated. I was able to see one of the patients get extubated (got the breathing tube taken out), and I got to see the other patient get a PICC line (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter). The line goes into the arm and down to near the heart. These lines are great because you can infuse meds faster, they last longer, and they have 3 lumens (ports to put meds in). This was really cool to watch because they put these in using Ultrasound to see the vein. I also got to go down and see my patient get a CT Scan today. The craziest thing about the ICU is just how many medications these patients are on. My one patient had 4 separate IV pumps running, some with multiple bags piggybacking into one pump. In addition to all of the million IV's that were running the patients also had a ton of IV push meds that they were getting. I felt like my nurse spent half the day just do nothing but giving meds. Its definitely a very high stress environment in the ICU. It was really cool to get to see what it's like though, and also to see all of the meds, pumps and vents.

The other significant part of my day was with my older patient. She was not doing very well and they were considering transferring her to Spectrum to get a different kind of MRI. They went back and forth with this all day, and the family was all in the waiting room or in the patient's room waiting to figure out what was going on. Their mom/grandma/wife was completely out because of the sedation and I know that from the standpoint of the family it had to be really hard to see her like that. I remember my grandpa being in the ICU and how scary it was to see him like that. The family was standing in the hall when the doctor came to talk them, and the doctor told them some not-so-great news. The whole family started crying and hugging and just reassuring each other that they could get through it and that they have to think of mom and what she would want. I CAN'T HANDLE PEOPLE CRYING. AT ALL. I'm the most emotional person on the face of the planet. Then my nurse got a little teary, and I got a little teary but was trying really hard to keep it together. I just don't know that I could work there knowing that I have to watch people die and watch their families watch them die. There were probably 8 people on the unit today that were DNAR, meaning if they code they can't try to resuscitate them at all. I don't know that I could (emotionally/mentally) just stand there and watch someone die. It definitely was a learning experience though and I am really glad that I got to spend the day in the ICU.

Also my nurse told me that I was one of the brightest students she has had follow her and told me that they hire new grads into the ICU and I should definitely look into it. It's for sure always nice to hear that :)

Gilda's Club

Today instead of going to seminar at the CHS building, we had our seminar at Gilda's Club. Gilda's Club is in Grand Rapids and it is a place for people to go whose lives are affected by cancer. It's an amazing place that offers support groups, play groups for kids, resources, and just a place for people to come and be with people who understand what they're going through. They also offer classes like tae-bo, yoga, quilting, basket weaving, and other arts and crafts. They also have an enormous and awesome place for kids to play. People don't live at Gilda's, it's just a place that they can come during the day to get away and talk with people. The building is absolutely awesome. It was a hundred something year old farmhouse that they bought about ten years ago to turn into Gilda's. The pictures show just a few of the rooms in it. It's honestly gorgeous. We also got to listen to three people tell us about their cancer journey and how Gilda's has changed their lives and helped them through their fight with cancer. It's just such an awesome place and it makes me remember why I want to work with people with cancer once I'm a big kid. It always amazes me how many incredibly great places there are out there.

Also if you've seen the thousands of yellow smiles around Grand Rapids, you probably now know that they are for Laugh Fest. What you may not know is that Laugh Fest was put on by Gilda's Club (there are more than just the one in Grand Rapids). The tagline for the event was "Seriously Funny." When you think about it in reference to a cancer benefit, seems appropriate right?

Leeeeeeeeearning (or "My grumpy old lady")

Yeah, its not creative, but A) It's late and I'm tired and B) It's what happened this week, so the title stays. So this week was actually surprisingly busy now that I think about it. Monday I had seminar and theory. In seminar we talked about living with AIDS (As I think of all the things I want to talk about in this entry I'm realizing I shouldn't have waited all week to do this, so I apologize for the ramblings). So Monday, AIDS speaker in seminar. I knew before seminar that we were having a guest speaker so I clearly assumed that someone with AIDS was going to come in and talk to us about life with AIDS. But then I walk into seminar and there's this 50ish year old woman at the front of the room that absolutely does not look like she has AIDS. I'm kind of disappointed because she starts by putting up a powerpoint (gag) and telling us about Project Red that she works for downtown, blah blah blah. I'm very disappointed. So she then goes on to tell us how they serve all kind of people, anyone can have AIDS, etc. I think "No shit, I already know all of this from the THOUSAND TIMES I HAVE HEARD IT. Dumb seminar." She says, "....I am a wife, mother, sister, etc. AND I HAVE AIDS." Boom, now I feel like a giant asshole. I don't have stereotypes? Lie. I obviously do. She tells us about her life and how she found out she had AIDS (One night stand between marriages), and how she told her husband and her family. Then she tells us about her infertility and battle to get pregnant. She does get pregnant and they take all the precautions to prevent transmission (roughly a 9% chance she told us). Just when you think this story is looking up, her son is HIV positive. Diagnosed at 6 weeks old. But he's awesome. And doing well. She showed us tons of pictures of her son, her family, her dogs, and she talks to us about her medications, costs, health, daily life, etc. Then she lets us drill her with questions. It was awesome. And I learned a huge lesson in not judging people.

Tuesday I just had theory, got my SUPER PROCRASTINATED PAPER back in class which I was actually semi freaking out about. Got a 93%. This is both a good and bad thing. It's good because it's an awesome grade. It's bad because I started this paper at 7pm the night before it was due and did only 1% worse then I did on the last paper I wrote that I worked on for DAYS. This is not good for encouraging my procrastination. Meh, still awesome. I also had my first LEI (elderly client) visit on Tuesday which was good because I need to do three this semester and I was kind of getting behind on that. Oh and we talked about cancer this week. Which I am super interested in. WINNING.

Wednesday and Thursday I had clinical. I can clump these into one since most of my learning experience came from one patient that I had both days. So Wednesday I meet my nurse and go in the room to meet my patient, she's 81, and I walk into the room and the nurse introduces me. She immediately gets super pissed and keeps saying "No student, I don't want a student, no students." Awesome, bring on the good day. The nurse basically tells her it will be fine, I promise her we will have a lovely day, and I leave the room thinking this day is going to completely suck. So I go in a few minutes later to get her vitals and do her assessment. I stay super polite. She is super rude. I try to make conversation. She looks like she hates me. I inadvertently make a joke and she actually smiles. I'm happy because maybe I can win her over. Then the doctors start coming in, and she is even more rude to them. Literally they walk in, she stares at them and says "What do you want." Then she insults them and tells them they don't know what they are doing essentially. Then she looks at me and winks, like now I am on her side. Boom. Now I'm winning with her. As the day goes on she continues to be rude to everyone that walks in the room but she keeps getting more open with me. She tells me about her son and her dog and her life when she was young. Don't get me wrong, this woman is absolutely still the boss and ordering me around like it's her job, but she is at least being nicer. She seems to hate me the least out of everyone that comes in her room so I take what I can get. I spent the whole day telling her that "She's the boss." Moral of the story, by the end of the day we are getting along pretty well and I'm feeling pretty good about myself for making it through my day and winning her over as much as I honestly feel anyone could have. So I go to tell her that I'm leaving and thank her for being a good sport she says "Oh, when are you coming back?" I tell her tomorrow morning. She says "Oh...are you going to be with me again tomorrow." I semi laugh and tell her "If you let me." She says "Yeah, I guess I'd like you back tomorrow." BOOM. I was really happy that she wanted me to come back and that she finally was feeling comfortable with me. So I was with her again all day Thursday (plus another patient, only three of us got to take 2 patients this week so I felt good there too). We talked a TON on Thursday and I spent lots of time in her room just chatting and helping her wash up, brush her hair and teeth, etc. It was a really great learning experience because it showed me that patients who may seem difficult may really just be anxious (she had a lot of anxiety) or frustrated and need someone to spend some time and listen to them. It was very eye opening and also gave me a lot of confidence in myself and my communication skills. I also felt good this week since I got complimented a few times by my instructor and also because she asked if I wanted two patients this week and only two other people got to have two patients. So it was a really good week of clinical for me. Next week I spend one day in the ICU and one day in the OR! Exciting for sure.

Friday I had my second LEI visit because I needed to get another one done and Tuesday and Friday this week both happened to work for us. Also my client is going on vacay next week so we needed to get these bad boys done. So yeah, busy, crazy, but GOOD WEEK. And I got a TON of homework done with weekend. At the risk of saying this too many times in one post- I. AM. WINNING.

150 days to go! (And other number related milestones)

For those of you who don't know, I'm mildly obsessed with countdowns. I have a countdown app on my phone now that is counting down until a variety of things, mostly KCON Pinning and Grand Valley Graduation. Pinning is August 6th and our actual "graduation" when we are done for good, and graduation for Grand Valley is April 30th (we have to walk because there is no commencement ceremony in August when we are really done). So yesterday marked 150 days to go until PINNING, when we are DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR GOOD! It's kind of a big deal because it means we only have 5 months to go. And tomorrow will be only 50 days until Grand Valley Graduation, where I get to rock the cap and gown and all that fun stuff. It's all happening really fast all of a sudden and I can't believe that in five months I will be done with nursing school and studying for the NCLEX and being a real nurse. Tomorrow is also when it will have been 100 days since I made my paper chain countdown! So when I get back to school at the end of Spring Break I will have to take an updated picture so everyone can see how much shorter it's gotten.

Moral of the story: I can't believe how time is flying now and that we are this close to being done with school! :)

Enjoy my funny picture of Elmo and the Count. Even they are excited to count down until August.

Saint Mary's: Round 2.

I apologize for my lack of blog entry last week (as in the week before last week) but it was because we didn't have clinical that week! The only thing we had last week was lab and theory on Monday and just theory (and our second paper due) on Tuesday. I started this paper on Monday, bringing my procrastinating to an all new level, so I hope it doesn't wind up biting me on the ass. I got a 94% on my last paper so I'm feeling pretty hopefully that I will be fine on this one. So all in all, it was a pretty low key week and then I was able to come home for a few days which was MUCH needed.

This past week then, we started our second rotation of clinical for this semester, which is another med-surg rotation. We were supposed to be on 3 Lacks, which is a brand new progressive care until for people over 65. Unfortunately, it didn't open when it was supposed to and now it isn't opening until March 28th. Big bummer. So for the first three weeks of our rotation we have to be on 6 South, which is a renal/GI/GU floor, so we are seeing a lot of kidney and liver failure patients, patients on dialysis, etc. It's an OLD floor. Like so old that they don't have showers in the rooms, you have to walk to community showers (freshman dorm style). They still have semi-private rooms with two people to a room, and old school pull down wall computers. It's definitely different than I'm used to since the last two floors I have been on have been BRAND NEW. I guess it's good to get to see something totally different. We do at least get a little room on this floor that we can kind of use as our "home base" to put our stuff and work on our paperwork and charting. My instructor is definitely more hardcore than the last few instructors I have had. Not that she's mean, she just expects a lot out of us. She warned us on the first day that if she comes to check meds with us and we aren't ready, she will just walk away and move on to the next person. I don't feel that stressed about it though because I pretty much know what I'm doing. Also there are three of us in my group that have an advantage because we have been at Saint Mary's before so we are super comfortable with their whole charting system. Definitely a bonus for us. Because we were more comfortable with the charting, the three of us were the only people who got to go meds this week. This was actually really great because we got a lot of one-on-one with the instructor since there was only three of us.

Wednesday we didn't do any patient care, we just did St. Mary's orientation, orientation to the unit and surgery orientation (we get to do one day in the operating room and one day in the Intensive Care Unit). So Thursday we got to get on the floor and start by taking just one patient until we get used to the floor and where everything is. My patient on Thursday was actually a really great one to start with for a few reasons. First of all he was SUPER nice and really a good sport about having a student, Second he was diabetic and needed a lot of blood sugars and insulin injections, which was something I don't have a lot of experience with and I got to learn a lot, and third because he had a TON of medications and IV piggybacks, so I got a lot more experience with that. It was actually a really good day, my instructor helped me out a lot, and I was able to learn a lot.

I think this rotation will be really good and I think I'm going to learn a ton from this instructor. I LOVE being back to having clinical from 630am-230pm, which I NEVER thought I would say, but compared to having clinical from 1-8pm, the morning clinical is awesome. I love being done and home by 3. I'm also really excited to be able to spend another day in surgery, and get to spend a day in the ICU. Next week is just a regular week on the floor for me and then the next week is my surgery/ICU week. Then *fingers crossed* the new unit opens and we will MOVE!