explodey things go boom

I had a conversation with a fellow nursing student the other day. It went something like this:

Me: "...now we're at war with Libya."
Her: "I didn't know that we're at war with Libya!"
Me: "Well, that's generally the idea when you drop bombs on a country."
Her: "Bombs? I thought we only dropped missiles!"

/facepalm

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.

living with insanity

Since Australia, which you can read about as I slowly and ponderously wax on about here, I have been fighting hard, and more or less successfully, to keep nursing school from eating me (I heard a rumor it eats its young if they don't run fast enough. I think it's not a rumor).

My first week back on this continent was grey and lonely. Ate TimTams, cried, tried to get the sand out of my hair. Jetlag and insomnia moved in.

My second week back, my favorite Dutch person came for a visit. Among other shenanigans: we went out for beer and hotwings, out for sushi and beer and VooDoo Doughnuts and we read children's books in Powell's, we went hiking, drank beer and jumped off a waterfall, drank beer and went to Fashion's Night Out downtown, went to Florence for beer and sandboarding on the dunes... figured out the theme yet?

...not sleeping! Wooooooooo!

My third week was the continuation of my descent into apathy, but my mom came to visit. She was in the Philippines while I was in Australia, so it was the first time I'd seen her since early July. Pilots soccer game in the pouring rain. <3

It is now the middle of my fourth week. A little resentful of class, nervous about the first med/surg test coming up, mostly bored at clinical. I think this is because I prefer floor nursing. Anyway. One two-hour class and then I am officially one-quarter of my way through this semester. Small favors.


If I can the stress level down and my time out-of-doors up, I can totally do this thing. 10 more months.

eve of the championship

Pre-final article round-up time. Click the links. They are funny. And short.

Pulpo Paul was correct in predicting the Germans would beat Uruguay to take third place (3-2 final), but it was an entertaining match and the Uruguayans led for a fair portion. How Paul the Octopus ruined Germany's Cup dream.

In regard to the absurd number of handballs that have changed results this cup, what would happen if FIFA applied Sharia law. In my opinion, France would not have been in the Cup at all but for Henry's double handball to send them through over Ireland, but I don't think Suarez's handball against Ghana would be talked about still had Gyan put away his penalty instead of bouncing it off the bar. To be fair to Suarez, any other professional in his place would have done exactly as he did.

Rafael van der Vaart of the Netherlands reflects on his teammate Wesley Sneijder's success this Cup. "I suspect he (Sneijder) has a gold vuvuzela in his pants."

Finally, an article that pretty much describes why I'm supporting Spain over Holland for the final, even though I love them both. La Furia Roja, Pulpo Paul thinks you have what it takes and so do I.

the revels now are ending

Sunday is the World Cup Final. It is the day Spain and the Netherlands fight for the right to be crowned the newest world champions. In 18 cups, there have been only 7 winners (I'm lumping Germany and West Germany together), and while the Netherlands were runners-up in '74 and '78, they have never won. Spain has never advanced past the quarter-finals, so it's a big moment for both Clockwork Oranje and La Furia Roja.

I am emotionally attached to both teams, especially since spending time in both countries, but I tip my heart to Spain. In all honesty, though, this is a dream final for me. I can't be unhappy. Pulpo Paul is predicting a win for Spain, but his rival, a "psychic parakeet" in Singapore, says it will be Holland. Does the wrong one get eaten? Stay tuned...

It has been a month full of early mornings and lots of beer. I found a soccer pub to haunt in Corvallis, at least two in Portland, and if I couldn't make it to either, I streamed the games in class. Don't judge me... some things are more important than (the mechanisms of) breathing.

I totally want a vuvuzela for my birthday.

Sunday is also the six-month marker of my adventures in nursing school. 13 months to go.

Med/surg clinicals ended (boo) but I'm happy to note that my med/surg 2 rotation in the fall will be on the same unit. I'm in the middle of pysch clinicals and hate them. I have evening shift clinicals and it is terribly boring and crazy people scare me anyway.

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.

we swing into class on ropes.

We had a substitute teacher in pharmacology today. We were learning about GI drugs.

Sound of helicopter outside classroom window. Grows steadily louder, continues for about five minutes.

Substitute: What is going ON out there?
Student #1: Oh, my ride's here.

Hysterical laughter from classroom. Helicopter noise finally subsides. 20 minutes later, a long, drawn-out boat horn is heard.

Student #2: Did you bring a boat, too?
Student #1: Yeah, my helicopter is parked on my boat while they wait for me. They're just early.

napping is my new hobby

I'm playing intramurals soccer. On turf. It's quite delightful, except for the serious carpet burns I get when I slide tackle people. Of course, that's why you're not supposed to slide, but sometime you just have to. Every game is total football for me. Oh soccer. You are balm to my school-weary soul.

In other news:

Grandpa: "I don't like that Reba lady."
Me: "Why? What'd she do to you?"
Grandpa: "She beat me when I told her I didn't like her music."

Hahaha.

nursing is srs bizness.

Epidemiology class. Talking about modes of transmission for disease. The prof asked us to give her examples for each type, so we did.

Sexual? Herpes.
Birth process? HIV.
Food? E. Coli.

Touching? COOTIES!


After the whole class finished snickering, she asked for a "real" example and the guy next to me protested that cooties IS a real threat. Yes, we are friends. Obviously.

Then we started arguing about how if vectors are living animals, are they still vectors when they die? For example, if a raccoon is carrying rabies, and it dies, and then you make soup out of it, will you get rabies from dead raccoon soup?

...yeah. I don't know either.

i don't remember signing up for this.

Spring break is over. Back to the daily grind. Mondays suck.

I gave a speech in communication class today. On why you should drink coffee (it's good for you, obviously). One of the guys said it was the best speech he's ever heard. He likes coffee.

In lab tonight we did blood glucose testing on each other. I ate M&Ms as fast as I could to see how high I could get mine while my partner laughed at me. 137*.

After that, we were doing neuro exams, got bored and had lightsaber duels and wizard fights with our penlights.

We also did restraints... we were practicing on a crib because it's easier to tie half-knots on round poles than on square ones. My partner and I were minding our own business and hammering the crap out of each other's deep tendon reflexes when we heard "HEY! SOMEONE COME TIE ME TO THE BED!" From our lab instructor.

Mondays are awesome.

*Normal blood sugar is ~80-120 (or 70-110 depending on which book you read)
**Obvously, stuffing your face with chocolate does not give you a fasting blood glucose.