they always come home for christmas

Home sweet home for 32 delicious days of break, the longest vacation since the beginning on nursing school. I can literally feel the stress leaving my body.

1. Really pleased with my grades this term. Pulled a 3.94 (A- in research, dullest class ever, haha) but I got a 99 on my med/surg final, which is really exciting.

2. Watched the lunar eclipse two nights ago. Dragged my siblings out of bed for it. The sky was brilliantly clear and the moon was amazing.

3. This is the Break of Childhood Revisited, in which I am trying to stuff in as much film and literature as possible from an earlier time in my life. This includes reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, watching the original Star Wars trilogy, and at the nursing student post-finals celebration, I accepted the challenge of reading the Harry Potter series as well.

Six days into break and I've finished Fellowship of the Ring and watched A New Hope. Can I do it?

I want to go snowboarding.

student nurse

eu estou estudando para ser uma enfeirmera.

('I'm studying to be a nurse' in Portuguese)

Student nurse. The words that define me and will for the next 14 months, not that I'm counting. It's both a blessing and a curse... a blessing when I ask a stupid question or do something asinine and then realize it, brushing it off with a "oh, I'm just a student nurse and I don't know very much yet" and receive a pat on the shoulder and maybe a bit of helpful advice, or when patients appreciate the extra TLC and attention that students are able to give. A curse when I introduce myself to a patient and receive a brusque "when's the real nurse gonna come in?" in reply, or when I stand around waiting helplessly for a real nurse to show up and assist me in administering narcotics or insulin (juniors can't without a licensed nurse).

I'm learning how to work the system, though. When patients ask me how long I've been in school, I answer that I'm graduating next August, rather than admitting I've been in school since January (and giving shots to real people since April). They hear "August" and are satisfied. Not that I'm bad at giving shots. I'm good at it. And for those other skills, I can fake confidence like you would not believe.

Patients are assigned an acuity level (number indicating how hard they are to take care of). I got my first level three today (harder than a level two) which made me feel like a big girl, which was awesome, and I am a fan of being challenged. I hate complacency. In other news, I'm still a "suppository virgin" -- the words my preceptor used when she found I hadn't given a missile pill yet. I almost had to today, but the patient refused at the last moment.

I have one more week of clinical at the big beautiful hospital with the gorgeous view. I hate getting ready to say goodbye just as I'm finally starting to get to know the staff and get used to the general run of the place.

I can totally do this nursing thing.

I love it.

they promised me this kind of exhaustion was "rewarding"...

Fourth week of med/surg clinical is officially over. They let me have two patients this week (at the same time!). Result: my boredom has ended.

Highlights:

-Successfully inserted a catheter. First cath, first try... never thought it would be such a thrill to poke rubber tubes into people.
-DC'd 2 IV sites, a catheter, and a hemovac. All this means pulling tubes out of various body parts.
-Made a patient's day by faxing her scrip to her hometown pharmacy... and it went through! (My lesser-known superhero name is Technologically Incompetent Girl)

In other news:

A cardiologist, a PA, an OT and a PT all treated me like an actual nurse and not just a probie today. By this I mean they asked me questions, discussed patient care and generally did not treat me like an idiot. Trust me, when you're a student nurse, it's cause for a party when people take you seriously. Or at least seriously enough to discuss stuff with you.

It was pretty funny when a patient asked me about something, and after talking to my preceptor and the occupational therapist (OT) about it, we told her to ask the doctor. The doctor came in while I was in her room, so she asked him. He said he didn't know and asked me.

Now I just have to get them to let me watch a surgery, like the cool kids on the ortho floor.

who said this was gonna be easy?

Thanks, bff, for the reality check. Among the embarassing blunders I made yesterday:

-Struggled to divide 2 by 4. No kidding.
-Read "grains" as "grams" on a med calc test... whoops
-...and then forgot how many milligrams are in a grain (60).


...sigh.

Can you tell it's dead week? Should be renamed "hell week". This too shall pass.