Misc. Update

I just completed week 4 of school which means that I am more than halfway done with my adult health rotation, just 3 weeks left!

This week was slightly uneventful. I had another test which went well. School this week was interrupted by a random snow/ice storm that left us with a day off on Wednesday. It seemed nice at the time until we received word that the lecture would instead be posted for our listening pleasure and yes, it would be on the quiz this weekend.

Clinical this week was a good one. My patient had had a partial glossectomy (part of the tongue removed) related to cancer of the tongue (don't smoke). Mostly all I did on Thursday and Friday was push heavy narcotics that before we weren't even allowed to look at. I pushed fentanyl and dilaudid in excessive amounts. I am now an expert in pushing medications IV.

OR Day

With my excitement over Obama and the inauguration I forgot to post about my OR day. I was able to spend last Friday in the general OR at Hopkins. It was such a neat opportunity! I saw a liver resection where they removed a gallbladder and 3 sections of liver from a person. It is crazy how adaptable our bodies can be after such a procedure. Did you know you can give away 70% of your liver to a friend and it will grow back?

Anyway, the OR is definitely something I might consider down the line in my nursing career but I am still too excited about interacting with patients to jump right to the OR.

A few facts you may not know based on what TV has shown you:

• They leave the lights on in the OR.
• There are more than just doctors in there.
• They do indeed play music, the type depends on surgeon preference. We had a nice mix.
• Cauterizing smells like wood burning.

That's pretty much it for now! I am in my third week of school already with my first test of the semester tomorrow. I also just found out Steve is coming to visit in three weeks so that really made my day!!

Obama!!

My friend Julia and I braved the elements today and headed out to hear Barack Obama speak in Baltimore. I debated whether to go but in the end I decided that this was a part of history I did not want to miss out on (despite the below freezing temperatures). Below are a few pictures of us getting progressively colder and more bundled as the hours passed.



We arrived to wait at about 10:30, were ushered through security at 1pm and were in position for more waiting by 1:30. It was a beautiful day though and they did their best to provide entertainment for us while waiting until Obama's arrival at 4:15pm!



While we waited various forms of entertainment were made available. We worked out with some trainer that once met Ray Lewis who encouraged us to exercise and eat our vegetables. Fortunately the calisthenics worked and actually returned blood flow to my toes.



Next this fantastic gospel choir came . . . I made a short video. Please excuse my shaky hands on all my videos. I did my best with my camera.



Finally was the time, we could hear the motorcade arrive. It was really amazing to see Obama speak. He has such a powerful presence. Below are my pictures and a few short videos of various parts of his speech. I can't wait to see the inauguration!

One Week Down!

My first week of school was good. My adult health class is very interesting . . . not so sure about the other two at this point. I have a TON more time on my hands this semester so I think I am going to have my friend Nellie teach me to knit!

My clinical was great! My instructor is fabulous and I think she will really challenge me and also help me to be very independent in my nursing decisions and really help me to think through the things that I am doing.

I think I said already but I am on a surgical oncology floor. I think I might love it but all the stories are a bit sad so that may be kind of tough. The majority of patients are post-op of GI, plastics and otolaryngology. There is a lot of head and neck cancer which means lots of tracheostomies.

My patient this week had had a temporal resection with a flap related to a squamos cell cancer. This essentially is when they remove the majority of one's ear and then take a flap of skin from elsewhere (this patient's thigh) and suture it over the surgery site. The patient was in such good spirits and his family was amazing I really enjoyed working with that patient. I got to do all the discharge stuff (LOTS of paperwork), morning assessments, patient teaching and even remove my first IV. I can tell that this clinical will fly by and I will get to practice a lot of skills!

Next week I get to start giving ALL meds which will be great! Last semester we could really only give a few things. Now we can do everything including any IV infusions, narcotics, insulin, heparin and even blood if its needed. I can't wait!

That is pretty much it for now. I started a countdown to graduation and it is currently at 195 days (including holidays, breaks and weekends). Now on to studying!

Back to School

After a three week hiatus I am back in school. I started class again today and it looks like it will be an interesting quarter.

My classes this time are:

• Nursing for Adult Physical Health (1st 7 weeks)
• Nursing for Child Health (2nd 7 weeks)
• The Research Process in Nursing (All 14 weeks)
• Information Technology in Nursing (All 14 weeks)

My two clinical courses are the adult physical health and child health. I will be starting in the Surgical Oncology unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital. I am super excited although I can't really say I know 100% what that means. I will also get to do an OR day which I am REALLY looking forward to!!

My winter break went by WAY too quickly but I got to do a lot AND I only have about 7 months left until the big graduation day.

I got three weeks off, spent time in Lynden with my family and time in Seattle with Steve and friends. Below are some pictures from my trip! Enjoy!

The trip started out with Tea with the Ladies at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle. (I am the one hiding in the back).

After that I headed up to Lynden for a week with the parents and LOTS of snow!

After heading back to Seattle, Steve took me to my first Seahawks game . . . and Holmgren's last. We also enjoyed the snow and the bonfire in Kirkland with Steve's family.

Christmas Eve was spent at the Ramsey's and Christmas Day in Lynden. It was even more fun than usual with everyone visiting and little Rian running around! The time with family was invaluable.

Steve and I also enjoyed the snow at my parents house and created our very own, very large snowman.

New Year's Eve dinner, compliments of Chef Stephen . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR!