Wishful Thinking

So...remember yesterday when I was all "springy spring spring" but I mad the caveat that I live in Colorado and rarely do we escape April without more spring snow?  Well this is what it looks like at my window today.

First it clouded up and the temperature must have dropped about 20 degrees.  Then the wind came.  Then it rained, and now it is snowing.  And Lena and I are both looking out the window wishing for spring to come back soon so we can go out and play.

Oh well, here is my unwanted excuse to sit down and do some studying.

Speaking of wishing...
It seems like every day, in every job, in every situation, there is always somebody wishing that "this day would just be over already!".  We all do it.  We're always in a hurry to get to the next "important" event.

*BUT*

If you knew it would be the last day you would see your friend, the last day you would talk to your mom or dad on the phone, the time you would kiss your kids on their way to school or the last "good morning" you would say to your sweetheart, would you still wish it away?

With recent tragic events in Japan and worldwide and events that may even hit closer to home, I think it is important to remember how precious life is, so hold your loved ones close.  

Don't wish away your days!  Once that time is gone, you cannot get it back.  Time is for love and for making memories - these things live on forever after.

Feeling Springy

Hello again, friends!

I realize I've been MIA for the last couple of weeks, taking some much needed vacation time to see family, and diving head first into the dynamic world of Adults With Complex Disease Processes (aka Med/Surg II).  I am so excited about this class for a few reasons:

1.  Our instructors are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful

2.  I feel like we are getting beyond the basics to the guts of nursing

and

3.  We get to have some input into the floor on which we will be doing our clinical rotation

(Oncology please with all of my fingers crossed!!)

Also, the weather is actually starting to look like Spring!

(Just a little late for Spring Break...)

I have lived in Colorado long enough to know that there is still a very good chance of having snow again before summer is here, but the trees are starting to bud and the afternoons are warm so I am hopeful.  Even enough so to have painted my toenails in anticipation of wearing flip-flops!

Also, I am "on" again in reference to my on-again/off-again workout program, and that puts a little extra spring in my step.  As an added incentive, my ten year high school reunion is this summer, so I try to keep that in mind as I am burning up the treadmill.

(What would I rather be doing...studying??)

Good music gets me through the workouts with a smile, with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals being my latest iPod addition.

(Grace and the gang also make great study buddies.)

***

What do you like to listen to when you study or work out?  Any suggestions for awesome new tunes?    

Halfway There!

Today is a day to celebrate!

I am officially finished with both Peds and OB (successfully complete!), and that means that I am halfway through my BSN program.

Hooray!

Notice the new countdown widget in the right margin :)

It also means that I am on Spring Break.

Hooray!

Although Spring only describes the time of year and not necessarily the weather in Colorado in March.

Plus, we are in the throes of March Madness, which is always exciting!

(And J. is only beating me by one point in our bracket challenge.)

AND

My very best friend Linsey celebrated the birth of her second child today.

Happy Birthday Trace Asher Bishop!

Hooray!

For spring break we are going home for some family time.  First to the mountains to be with J.'s family, then south to the plains to be with my most favorite family ever and ever!  In honor of going home, enjoy a little ditty by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros called...HOME!

I Like My Life!

I saw this web video featured on TV and loved it so much I just thought I would share.  Wouldn't it be nice if we could all be this positive, and start out our days like this every day?

Happy Monday everybody!

Welcome to 28

So yesterday was my birthday.  My mom and dad were able to come up for a visit and took me out to dinner for my birthday.  My mom also brought my favorite banana birthday cake! I was overwhelmed with awesome birthday blessings from friends and family - I am so lucky!

If you asked me if this is where I expected to be at 28 years old, I would have said no.  Now I know that 28 is not old, by any means, but up until now I always imagined having accomplished more by this point.  Like, being a doctor.  Or a wife.  Or a mom.  And attending my ten year high school reunion (this summer) with my husband and kids and career in tow.  Funny how things work out.

Now, if you ask me if what I imagined is where I would want to be right now, of course not.  I realize that things don't always happen according to plan.  I also know that I am exactly where I am meant to be.  So here I am, still in school, having fun in my tiny apartment in the city with the best "roomies" ever!

I do know that I am not a big fan of the night shift.  It's not the actual hours that I mind so much, but all of the kids are sleeping for the largest part of my shift.  Not only do I miss the patient interaction, but I hate sneaking into a dark room every four hours and trying my hardest not to wake someone up to get vitals and an assessment.

FYI, sick nine month olds are generally not too happy about being woken up with a thermometer in the armpit.

Since pediatric nursing is not something I was too sure about, I am a little disappointed to not be able to have that clinical experience during the day, for some more patient interaction.

I did, however, quickly rule out the possibility of enjoying a job in the pediatric intensive care unit after a trip through there one night.  Those kiddos are so sick and hooked up to so many machines - I could feel my heart breaking as I watched them sleep.

At least we only have two more weeks of this block (and two more weeks until spring break!).  In two weeks, I will be officially halfway through nursing school.  

Then the countdown to December 16th begins.

And with a little luck, I will have a BSN and an RN license in my hand before I turn 29.

OBjectivity

"The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

-Malcolm Forbes

I'm halfway through Spring block 1, waist-deep in the foreign world of Obstetrics and Labor and Delivery nursing.  I'm enjoying it more than I though I would, although there are some things about the culture of the environment that make me uneasy.

Clearly, there are ethical and moral dilemmas and questions in every field of medicine/nursing.  However, I find the lines of right and wrong and safe and just to be a little...mushy...in OB.  A large focus of our curriculum is to adjust delivery of care to patient preference including cultural and religious diversity.  But no other area of study has caused me to question my own values and feelings so much in order to provide patient care, because there are two patients instead of one. Decisions made by the mother and her family will affect the unborn child as well.

Some examples of the issues I am referring to are:  home birth, "lay" midwives, elective abortion, elective cesarean section, no prenatal care, prenatal genetic testing, illicit drug use and/or cigarette and alcohol use during pregnancy, homelessness during and after pregnancy...just to name a few. 

I have strong feelings about most of these things - as I'm sure you all do.  But what do you do with that?  How do you provide the necessary education to a patient without passing judgment on their decisions?  How do you care for a mother when all you want to do is shake her and say, "Are you crazy!?  Don't you know what you are doing to your child?"

Clearly, I have much to learn about objectivity.  Maybe OB nursing is not the field for me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I must be the luckiest girl.  I have the best family, friends, boyfriend and dog a girl could ask for.  And even though it doesn't have to be Valentine's Day for me to know that, it is a nice reminder of how loved I am and how many things I have to be thankful for.

And I will keep reminding myself of this as I am resting from today's clinical rotation to prepare for tomorrow's.

I know that Valentine's Day can be a "greeting card holiday".  I know that it can be fun and romantic for some, and lonely for others.  But never forget to count your blessings and be thankful for love - from wherever it comes.

And share it! 

Where there is love there is life.
-Gandhi