Life of a student nurse

I am so very tired. I have worked the past two days, 24 hours. Not altogether, obviously. But two twelve hour shifts with less than twelve hours between the two shifts to go to the gym, eat supper, pack a lunch, shower, call my mom and sleep. It's wonderful and stressful all that the same time. Wonderful, because I love my job. Stressful, because you never know what is going to happen next on our floor.

Two words for today = Projectile vomit.

Yup. I am officially skilled and trained to take care of each and every one of you when you are urging after the time I had today with some patients. Not much comment other than you really HAVE to love your job to keep doing this day in and day out.

I immediately came home and dunked every stitch I wore today in the washing machine, poured on some scalding hot water and a couple of cups of detergent and my "mess" of a day was long forgotten. I'm going to take a hot, relaxing shower once my laundry is complete and perhaps read a book for the rest of the evening.

What do you do on a Saturday afternoon?
I clean up poop, pee, vomit, blood, give needles, hang IVs, dress wounds, pull out staples, pull out stitches, look at xrays, write up reports for doctors, take blood, give blood, put in IVs, be a shoulder to cry on, and brighten someone's day with a smile and helping hand.


Hope you all can go out and enjoy your long Victoria Day weekend :)

Update.

I haven't blogged in almost a week, which is a long time for me. I find it hard letting a day go by without blogging my life's daily events. So, what's new, you ask? A fair bit. I had a fabulous birthday last weekend and started preceptorship this past Wednesday. I found it fabulous.

As previously mentioned, I'm working on a general surgery unit. I am learning so many new things. A very weird fact about my floor: we do a lot of plastic surgeries and one of the therapies often used is "leech therapy". Yes, leeches. UGGHHH! But it actually works for blood circulation disturbances after a surgery. Weird, hey!? Not sure if I'd want leeches on me after getting out of a surgery, but it helps patients recover a heck of a lot faster and removes all the toxins from the blood. My rotation on general surgery is going a lot better than I thought it would and it is so incredibly interesting!

Birthday weekend? Probably one of the best birthdays by far. Some pics of the last lovely weekend:

Karaoke on the 6th:





Party on the 7th:














I still don't have my pictures uploaded from my actual birthday, but they're coming!
My actual birthday was spent relaxing, watching "Funny Girl" with Barbra Striasand in it and eating my favorite meal of chicken fettuccine alfredo, Greek salad and orange dreamsicle birthday cake for dessert.. Yummy!

Hope you all have a lovely Saturday!

Where to work?

I graduate in one year and I still ask this question, "what am I going to do with my life?" A lot of people are dumbfounded by this question, as most respond, "Well, you're going to be a nurse, aren't you?" Yes, I will be a nurse, but the next question is, what kind of nurse do I want to be? Nursing is such a broad area to work in. There are so many specialties and different fields of nursing to go into. I guess I'm lucky in that sense, but it sure does make decision-making harder!

For the winter semester of 2012, I have to pick a location of where I want to work for my last semester of university. Usually people pick the area where they want to apply for a job in. I've got it narrowed down to three areas but I still have NO sweet clue.

1. Oncology
2. Emergency
3. Obstetrics (working with newborn babies and mommies)

I was initially thinking psychiatry, but after doing my clinical in oncology, I thought, NO WAY! I loved working with the cancer patients SO MUCH! Emergency would be cool and obstetrics would be so cute.

I start my first day of preceptorship tomorrow (basically where I job shadow a nurse for two months) in general surgery. Surgery is not the area I really want to go into, however, I know I'm likely to learn a lot. I'm praying that it goes smoothly.

Please say a prayer for me! I'm kind of scared :(

23 years and I'm still kickin'!

Wow, I feel old today.
23 years is really something. Could I have pictured myself this way at say, 7 years old, how my life would look at 23? I remember a time when I thought 20 was super old. I thought I would have kids and be married by then. Definitely not. But I am happy with where I am in life right now. I don't think I'd have it any other way!

My party last night was the bomb.com. I had a TON of fun and all my favorite people showed up. It was a non-stop night of dancing, great food and great people to share it with! I'll be posting pictures very, very soon!

Also, today is a very special day for my Momma.I wouldn't be celebrating today if it wasn't for her! I was born on Mother's Day of 1988 and every 5 or 6 years, my mom and I have the priveledge of celebrating Mother's Day and my birthday together.. Love you, Momma!



Happy Mother's Day to all you special Mommas out there :)

I can't wait to spend the rest of today with my mom, boyfriend and brother. :)

I can do ALL things...

I feel empowered to write yet another journal for today, which is something that rarely happens. God's been using so many things, particularly movies, blogs, etc... to try to get my attention lately. Well, today was no exception. I saw the movie "Soul Surfer" today with Matthew. It is a true story about a young teenage girl named Bethany Hamilton who's dream is to become a professional surfer. On Halloween of 2003, a shark suddenly bites the left arm off of Bethany while she wades on the water on her board. Bethany is immediately rushed to the hospital where it is declared she has lost 60% of her total body blood volume and her life is in danger. After several weeks in the hospital, Bethany is finally able to go home but must learn to adjust life with only one arm. This greatly threatens her dream of becoming a pro surfer. In the movie, Bethany gives up initially on her dream, but inspiring words from friends and a heartfelt missions trip to Thailand finally gives her the courage to pursue her dream after all. She recites the ever so popular verse in Philippians 4:13, "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me." She learns that God is with her, through it all, and is there to make her dreams possible, even with an arm amputation.

I was so inspired with this movie. I feel as though lately, and for a while now, I've been so pessimistic. Maybe it was on account of my effort to see things realistically. But I have to constantly remind myself that God is still able to work through all of life's obstacles, great and small, and all it takes is a little bit of prayer and faith for God to make the impossible, possible.

I have to keep the idea in the back of my mind constantly that I CAN achieve all my dreams with the power of Jesus Christ.

I have been making a list of goals I want to achieve for myself, both long and short term:

1. Save money
2. Finish my nursing scrapbook
3. Get to Vancouver, BC for the end of August
4. Get my license
5. Learn to play the piano
6. Graduate
7. Get a job in a field of nursing God wants me to work in (Hopefully in BC!)
8. Go to Israel / Middle East in October 2012 as grad trip
9. Go on Missions Trip (I've always felt a passion for Southeast African missions, but I am willing to go wherever I feel the Lord calling me)
10. Become involved in a church's music ministry again (in another province. Hoping for BC!)
11. Get married
12. Have kids (Jesus can handle my endometriosis =) )
13. Go to grad school

That's as far as I've got. I like to take things in stride. =)

I need some prayer. Lots of prayer, actually, to consistently be optimistic and faithful in God.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding. In - all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." - Proverbs 3:5-6

Lazy Days

I have been officially out of school for 20 days now, and I have been feeling very unproductive. I had a huge list which I made up prior to finishing my last exam of everything I wanted to accomplish for the weeks I had off. I, unfortunately, have not been the most productive. At the same time, I feel that it is good sometimes to sit around and do nothing, considering how manic I was this semester. I felt like I never stopped. I have also been catching up a lot with my friends, something I NEVER get to do while I'm in school, unless with nursing friends. I spent last Saturday night watching Toy Story 3 with 3 girls I've grown up with since before Kindergarten. It was so nice to catch up and cherish the free time I currently have since I know the busyness is coming for me again starting next week.

I think it's okay to kick my feet up sometimes and do absolutely nothing. I love the luxury of getting up anytime I want, without feeling the need to set an alarm in the morning. I love going to bed whenever because I don't have to get up early.

This has been the theme song of my life for the past three weeks (minus the "hands down my pants" and "sex with a girl" part... awkward!) :

The Lazy Song

Bruno Mars is awesome.

My only "things to do" this week are to get ready for my birthday party on Saturday night. I cannot believe it. I will be 23 in less than a week.

I'm so pumped for my party. It is going to be so much fun! Words cannot express how much I love dressing up in silly clothes, listening and dancing to crazy retro music, and being with all my favorite people in the world.

I'm going to treasure these lazy and mindless moments. They never last long =)

Royal Wedding Chatter

Were you one of those CRAZY people who got up at 4AM to witness the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton? Well, I was! Oh,indeed. Prince William has been my celebrity crush since who knows when, so I had to shed my last tear and watch him start a new life with Kate early Friday morning. It is also an important moment in history for me. When Willy becomes king one day, I want to be able to say to my grandchildren that I witnessed his wedding "way back" in 2011. Also, my dad's entire family lives in England, so it would be a disgrace for me not to watch it.

Witnessing the happy couple exchange vows made me want to get married ever so soon. I have been planning my dream wedding since I was 4 years old. I simply CANNOT wait for the day to come soon enough. But I've learned to wait and be patient on God's perfect timing =)

I love marriage. I love watching people who are so head over heels in love with one another to finally gain the opportunity to become one for the rest of their lives.

So many people are cynical about the whole idea of marriage and think it is a waste of time in today's society since most end up divorcing anyway. I just think that the entire meaning of marriage is lost so much that not many even bother to try anymore. People need to understand that while the wedding itself can be a fairy tale, you have to work hard to make a "happily ever after". Is does NOT just come naturally!

I sincerely wish the best for Will and Kate, despite my raging jealousy of wanting to be a princess.

But Kate looked ever so stunning on that day. Her wedding dress was perfect. It wasn't at all what I had expected her to wear, but she still looked breathtaking. Kate has also become my official fashion icon from now on. Sorry, Katy Perry.

Dress Like Kate by eve_anna_joy featuring a linen blazer

Polyvore is amazing.

I can only dream for the best day of my life where I walk down the isle to be with the one I love. But for now, I can only pray and dream. God's perfect planning will all work out =)