The Best Line So Far…

So, um…..Can I waste drugs with you??

This STILL cracks me up! All narcotic medications have to be disposed of with supervision for obvious reasons. The above line is the usual line I heard while doing my OR rotation. It always made me giggle!

Two Down Two to Go!!

Yes, the final tests are over and we have had the happy hours celebration! WooHoo! Two down, two to go.

Finals were not so bad. I did well in th skills and clinicals. I did passable in lecture as did the vast majority of the class. The bottom line, is, I am still in the program. Sadly, not everyone can say that.
At happy hour, we all discussed how well our class has meshed. We have a great class of a wonderful mix of people. We all work together, party together and generally have great time. A rare thing I believe.

Nursing school is just a blast for me. I love the people, the patients, the learning and the unknown. Fear is really such a hindrance. I don't look at things as fearful, just the next adventure.
What does the next semester hold??
I will let you know.

Just a Body Part…

My last rotation this semester in nursing school was OR, that is, the Operating Room. I loved it. I did find some things quite interesting about it.

Namely, once you are anesthetized, you are, in fact, just a body part. You are draped and covered so that nothing appears except the offending region of your person that needs to be operated on. This made me both comfortable and slightly uneasy. Of course, this allows the surgeons to do what they need to do, operate without any distractions. However, if does remove the fact that there is a whole person under all those drapes. So, it is good and bad in numerous ways. The anesthesiologist keeps tract of the whole person, i.e., is that person under all that still breathing and is the person still asleep! Out cold is very important!

I did really love OR. I liked the teamwork: everyone has a job and everyone does it. I liked knowing that all the instruments had to be arranged and accounted for. Yes, I am an organizational nerd. I liked the music too, surgery is a great place for good tunes. I was able to get past the cold. The room is 60 degrees F. So, yes, you freeze your ass off if you are not careful.

But I did really enjoy my OR rotation. OR ranks high on the list of possible avenues of nursing once I graduate.

Yeah, gotta graduate fist!!

Two semesters down, 2 to go!!

My Nomadic Life

Yet again, my things are in storage. I am getting used to it. The moving part sucks, but since I am a “no stuff” person, it is not as bad as it could be. I am house sitting this summer for a fellow nursing student. He and the kids are going to be with his wife as she is out of town with her job till October.

I really believe that when you are on the right path in life, a way makes itself available to you. This is a good example of that. I had to move very unexpectedly from where I was ( the house I was renting sold) and was kinda stuck as to where to go. So this has worked out for both me and my fellow student. He knows his home and 2 dogs will be loved and well cared for and I can stay somewhere and take my time as to where to live next.

I hope to stay for a bit where ever I land this time around. At least for a while…

My one desire when I finally land in my own place this fall is a cat.
I want a cat.

So I am torturing myself looking on Petfinder.com!!

Home again, home again, jiggidy-jig…

Almost Done with Number Two!

I have only 4.5 weeks of school left. That includes one more lecture test, the lecture final, one more skills lab hands on check off and the skills lab final. I have two more major assignments due in the next two weeks.

I cannot wait to be done with this semester. So far, the grades are great, and I am having a blast. I have work lined up for the summer to keep me busy and to keep me funded. So far, I am keeping my head above water.

All of this still includes martial arts and some tiny bit of personal life.

However, between now and finals, I have to pack, move, somehow gently sell my mom's car as she is having her license revoked (how does one do that gently??), figure out how to get her around and re-schedule her life, plan to attend my brother's wedding in June (lives in New Jersey) and organize three part-time work schedules.

Oh and taxes.....crap. Can anyone say extension??

Thank the gods for my palm pilot.
I seem sorta busy, but I am having a great deal of fun. I kinda like the challenge of keeping it all going. I am really looking forward to getting away this summer somewhere and somehow. That is in the beginning stages of planning.

I really miss diving. But it will have to wait for a bit.

It is really quite busy but I like it.
I am still the one driving the car of life.

More Analogies to the Animal World

It is Spring yet again.
Considering what normally happens in spring...

Male posturing and competition.
Courtship.
Breeding.
Babies.

That is very obvious in the animal world. How does it relate in the human world?
Human beings are one of the few species where the females can be more flambouyant than the males. Typically it is the males that have the colorful plumage, large, fluffy coats, or horns with which to compete for females with. Generally, this makes the males more visible and thus, more susceptible to being eaten.

However in the human world, both genders are generally more visible with the females being more visible than some of us would wish at times. This is one difference.

I have also come to understand that after battle, often times men have a major increase in libido. Why is that? I think it may have to do with the age old fact that males at battle usually battled for breeding rights. At the end of the battle the victorious have rights to breed.

Our civilation, our culture has leaped ahead of our evolution through our technology, food production and the like. Our biology has yet to catch up with our society's evolution. Biology just does not move that fast.

Maybe males going through battle still have that biological memory if you will, that the reward for battle involves rights to females. Just a thought. Maybe this also has something to do with why in raging battles, the raping of women also happens. A horrible thing, but similar behaviors can be seen in numerous animal specieswhen taking over other groups' females.

I also have known of women who are very taken with men who fight over them. Some of these women often encourage such situations. Not healthy, but a fact.

So the idea of battle being a prelude to rights to females and the right to propogate genes may not be so removed from our species.

Just some random thoughts.....

Update after Terrell

I realize I have not blogged in a while. So here goes to rectify this!!

I have finished with Terrell! I cannot communicate how happy I am to have that all done. I never thought the words, “I can’t wait to get back to med-surg,” would ever cross my lips but they have with relief. Terrell was not somewhere I ever want to return to. I did live through the experience. I will say in the defense of Terrell, the staff were very interested in caring for the patients. Most of these people did really need to be there. It was unusual that a patient at Terrell did not need to be there. I ran across one, but it was unusual.

New Job!

I am now a hearing screener for newborns at Baylor downtown.

This is really a great deal of fun. Mostly the babies are adorable and the people there are happy; new baby and all. I have only wanted to run from the room with two children so far. I feel badly for some of these babies and what they are obviously born into.

I do really believe we should have requirements for child bearing. By and large, the job is great and the hourse very flexible.
Yeah!

Reasons for comfort:

Through life, you find some people you can be yourself around and some you can’t.

Why is that? I have come to the cursory decision that it is acceptance, a lack of judgment, love; that defines this comfort. Those people you can be around, those who will not judge you, those who will trust you beyond doubt believing you will make decisions that are good and that you have the strength to make those good decisions regardless of the situation- these are the people that we find comfort in being around. There are no “uncomfortable silences” b/c they know you just need time to think and be quite. They let you come to the time to talk in your own time.

These things sound so small and so easy. But these are very difficult things to do: not judge people, be patient, trust them, have faith and love unconditionally. So very hard to do.

When you find such people hold gently and nurture them. You should be able to be the same person no matter who you are around. This I think is the best goal. It is such comfort to just be who and what you are no matter.

Purtis Creek

Camping this past weekend was at Purtis Creek . Sometimes you just have to get out of town for the weekend!
All things were packed into the car and off we went. Of course, there is always one thing forgotten and this trip was no exception. The infamous green bucket of cooking utensils, headlamp, and camp soap was left behind. Alas, the best laid plans....

Since it was the last weekend in February, the trees were not yet green with foliage. However, there was the cutest of light green "fluff" to them as they were just beginning to sprout forth new leaves. Everything had the appearance of fuzz. As night fell, the stark, leave-less trees silently stated one word to me: patience.
Simple because they were waiting.
I liked the stark contrast of naked branches against the waning sunlight. We saw birds galore and we still have several to identify.

The Saturday dust/wind storm was something else. The morning began with, "Wow, it is all hazy outside." Walking throughout the day proved to have grit attached to it but you didn't notice until you got back to camp because you were so distracted with trying not to take flight in the high winds. When we did get back to camp, several tree branches had landed very near the tent. We decided that since Mother Nature had provided firewood in such an obvious fashion, gathering and burning it all would be just fine. We had a grand fire.

Purtis Creek is a small camp ground but we had practically the whole camp ground to ourselves. We camped in spot #60, on the other side of the dam and there was not a soul around us. Perfect.

We have another trip scheduled for Dinosaur Valley. Who's in??

One Down, 5 to go…Psych!

I have just come home from my first day on the psych unit. As some of you know, I was not looking forward to this. Between personal family experience and recent friend experience, I was simply not looking forward to going through the psych rotation.

The first day has come and gone, and really it was not that bad. Granted, I have not been to Terrell yet, that is next week, but so far, it’s ok. We sat in on group therapy today. This entails the patients all coming together to discuss what they are feeling, fears and other thoughts. The vast majority of people were there because of severe depression and/or having attempted suicide.

The real theme I heard in this group of sad, depressed people was a lack of connection to other human beings. “I am just so lonely since my husband died,” or “I just feel the loneliness come over me,” were both common statements.

What I heard from these people is this: they don’t feel like people care about them. What’s more, they don’t know how to go about changing that feeling. Many of the people there had been abused or taken advantage of in terrible ways. Honestly, I could relate on some level to how some of the patients were feeling.

Why is it that we can be so mean to each other? Are our lives so busy that we forget to care about our friends or about our families? The therapist said something sadly very funny: “Yeah, any major family holiday can make anyone want to starting using [drugs/alcohol] again.”

So very sad, and yet so very true.

I think the part I have the hardest time with is the simple fact I identify with some of these people. I know how they are feeling and what they are going through because I have walked their path.

Of course, it begs the question, why am I not also in their shoes? Why am I not also sitting here on the other side of the table? Why is it that I have not been on that other side of the table at least once before?

To me, there is only one obvious answer to that: Friends

A gift I seem to have in abundance.

Ya’ll, I am thankful for every one of you.

Yes, you too…

The Realm of the Mind

Blog

I have dealt with a few people in my life that suffers from mental illnesses, family and friends both. The most challenging of those illnesses is Schizophrenia.

Mental illness is truly fascinating to me. One person talked about how once the voices were under control with drugs, visual manifestations began of real people. Just as real as any physical person in the room.

How does the brain do this? I have always known that perception is your reality, but this is a whole different level. The perception-real to the person experiencing it- is something that does not exist in the physical world. People who are not there, voices that are convincing enough to coerce a person to act on the suggestions- these are real to the person experiencing them.

The brain manifests an entire entity or entities.
Begs the question; are we just vehicles for the entity that is the brain? Do we just house that existence? The brain makes up entire personas, some are coping mechanisms, some are friends, some are alter egos.
How does the brain do that? What combinations of neurons and synapse make whole other people that the person recognizes as separate from self but still sees as real? It is amazing to me that we can house whole other consciousnesses. Wow.

The brain is an uncharted territory right here on earth. I think it will remain so for quite some time. I hope the exploration continues…

Second Semester...Slam!

Well, here I am in second semester of nursing school and slammed is the word.
Word....
As Stephani would say.

We are busy, busy and I am worried I will not keep up at times. I sat down this week and put all of my due dates and assignments into my palm to try and keep up. I am sure it will be OK. (Please...?)

On the job front, the newborn hearing thing looks pretty good as I got feedback on that today.
On the teeth front, I need a crown. Yuck.
On the martial arts front, my right foot is better, but still painful. I kicked my instructor and he blocked with his knee, crafty man. Big bruise but dodged the broken bone bullet.

Otherwise, things are doing pretty good. Except the weather is not Moose friendly. This takes the fun out of travel to and fro....


More later!!

Barbaro Passes On...

Sadly, Barbaro, the race horse has been euthanized. A great loss to racing. Micheal Matz is also in the show jumping community, so I was very familiar with him and his philosophy of horse management. If they chose to euthanize Barbaro, it was warranted.
Sad, but at least he is not in pain.

Another manufactured holiday is upon us.

I was wondering where exactly Valentine's day comes from.

I decided to find out. Its history is a bit murky but still wrapped in the lovely blanket of love.

I have never thought much of this holiday. It seems to be yet another method of our over-commercialized society to force people into spending money in yet another frivolous fashion. Make no mistake, I am not a tightwad, I just don't need an entire day, on a national level, to remind me to tell the people in my life that I care about them.

Why can't I do that every day?

In any way I choose?

I know we are all very, very busy and it is easy to take the ones you care about for granted.

Maybe the take-away message for Valentine's Day is this:

Remember the people you love and cherish them everyday. They have a choice as to whether they are in your life or not. Be openly thankful for their presence in your life. People need to know you love, appreciate and value the investment they make in your life.

So say so.

As often as possible.

Valentine's Day is just a reminder.

Komodo Immaculate Conception

This is a great link to the article about the Komodo dragon giving laying fertile eggs that have now began hatching into wonderful little dragons!! Many of you know my penchant for dragons! I have read about the phenomenon of reptiles being able to produce fertile eggs without a male. This is the first documented case for Komodos which are endangered. So far all the baby dragons are doing great. The article fails to state if all the little ones are female. In some reptiles, gender is dependent on incubation temperature. I can't wait to see how they all do!

Cool New Shark!

This is a great link about a Frilled shark. These sharks are very rare to see alive and swimming, but one was filmed in Japan. Sadly, the shark died shortly after being moved to the aquarium for observation.

There have been more and more of “rare” sea creatures coming to the surface or being found. Is it that we now have the technology to see these, or as in this case, the creatures are making their presence know.

This begs the question(s), why are they coming our of their normal habitat of deep in the ocean? Is there no food? Are they becoming ill more and more? Do they do this normally and with the higher population of the planet, people are just noticing them?

I cannot help but think the human race maybe affecting the planet so intensely that we are altering the balance of the ecosystem. There is plenty of theory that states the human race is driving the next major extinction.
Just a thought…

Australia has strange things to offer...

Ok...just FYI, I did not encounter this problem while diving in Australia!! Our diving saw minimal sharks (damn!) and none of them attempted to eat us head first.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070123/ap_on_re_au_an/australia_shark_attack

Back in School-Psych!

Yes, this semester is our Psych semester. I have to admit I am not looking forward to this. Having spent time with my father in this setting, I have negative memories of anything to do with Psych. We have to spend rotations at Terrell and Wysong. Both mental institutions. It will be interesting to see the mental health field from the view of a practitioner vs a patient. I am sure there is much to learn, but I will have to get past my uncomfortableness. Growth happens no matter where you are.

I am sure, as happens with all psych-studying students, I will see lots of the definitions of conditions existing in myself or others around me.
Please save me from self-diagnosis!!

Ice Day in Dallas

School was canceled today. I have been home all day with the exception of the run to the post office. In between movies ( The Illusionist-excellent, Little Miss Sunshine-worth watching just for the last 20 minutes!) I saw lots of info-mercial TV. I never watch TV. Usually it is reading text or reading and listening to music. Or just the music.

So, I have to ask, when did we come up with coloring books for kids that do not require practicing staying in the lines??!!?? Or even crayons?? There is this advertisement for coloring with "any tool, even you finger" and the color appeared in the picture, perfect, in the lines and with texture.
Crazy!
Oh, you mean coloring, aside from being fun, was to help with hand-eye motor control? Oh the horror that we might want the kids to a) imagine a color for the picture, b) color the appropriate section and learn to stay in the lines, or c) take time to finish the picture and make it look nice. No, can't have any imagination or personal interest now can we??

And my all time favorite...we can't possibly want the kid making a mess.
Kid = Mess
That is how it is supposed to be. Just like men are wired to look at women, kids are wired to be messy. Neither of these are bad.
The mess is part of learning.
How else would they learn to clean up??