My blood pressure prayer

"Dear Lord, please help me figure out this diastolic blood pressure. I just can't seem to get it. I feel as though I am the only one. I have been listening hard, diligently, no less. I am following all of the rules. I have even tried listening for the Kentucky and Tennessee sounds that I read about in my health assessment book. Just please let it happen for me soon. Amen."

On a lighter note, we have been blood pressuring it up in school. We have to find the arterial occlusion pressure and then add thirty to that number before we begin pumping the sphygmanomaomanomonometer (lol). I am proficient in naming and palpating the 9 lymph node sites. I am coming along with my safe entry, safe exit. I have been using my beautiful cocker spaniel as my patient for that. She must think I am crazy. She is probably saying "If you stick that cuff over my paw so help me....", but she is a trooper. I found this awesome new feature on my awesome new iPhone called voice memo. With it I can record lectures, my method for safe entry and exit, and steps for obtaining blood pressure all in my own, cute little voice. It is amazing!

So I have found the most awesome nursing videos on YouTube. Actually you can just googlesomething like "nursing videos hdryver ". That is the lady's name who makes them. She is super spunky and a nurse that I aspire to be. Check it out! She is so funny and matter of fact at the same time!

Quick update while I should be sleeping...

My only follower Kelsy would like to know who exactly Mrs. Faux is. Kelsy, this is for you! Mrs. Faux was originally an acquaintance of mine connected through our daughters Girl Scout troop and then I found out she was a fellow pre-nursing student. I should have known from the start that she was bad news. She is all about name brand clothing. She points out what people where by their insignia. "Oooh, I love that Ann Klein dress you are wearing. Where did you get it?", "is that a Nautica bathing suit you are wearing?". These are just a few of the ways she makes herself pompous. She would even ask my kids where they got their "cute" bathing suit!
So she had started to talk to me about other people. My friends. I would change the subject. At that point it was just this past June and we were hanging out at the pool everyday with our kids. I got sick of her and all of her talking about other people. I quit going. Simple, right?
Well the following week I found out about a scholarship opportunity for military spouses. It would award us simply for being a military wife by giving us $6000 for use toward tuition, fees, and expenses. AwesoMe, huh?? So I signed up for the scholarship and headed to the University to see what I needed to do next. I then received a text from Mrs. Faux. She asked "did you apply for that $6000 scholarship? I replied "yes". That was the last time she would text/speak to me.
Today a funny thing happened. We were on our break from class and I went to the restroom. Whe I came out of the stall, she was standing there waiting. I laughed thinking to myself that her poor butt had to sit where mine once was. Was that porcelain seat good enough for her toosh too? And then later she was coming out of the classroom and didn't even hold the door for me. She just let it slam! Meany! She can't even treat me with the courtesy that she would treat a stranger with

On another note, we worked on HEENT today. Pretty easy, huh? Tomorrow we will be taking each others blood pressures for the first time!!

Can you say OVERWHELMED?!?

So I have officially completed my first week of nursing school! It has been an amazing feat. It started off with me being sooo nervous about having an encounter with Mrs. Faux Fortunate. Well, I did! She sits two rows behind me. I, being the stellar student that I am sit on the front row! That shows that she is not too stellar. So to back things up just a little, I arrived thirty minutes prior to class starting. Tis would provide me the opportunity to get my seat that I wanted. It worked. We get a break every 50 minutes to use the bathroom and go outside for a Vitamin D infusion. Well, I had went to the second floor bathroom and I was heading back to the stairwell guess whonwas coming right toward me?!? I smiled, simply because I was caught off guard, and said "hey". Mrs. Faux, being the real pill that she is, almost dislocated her neck swinging it away from me to ensure that I would know I was not welcome to speak to Her Highness. I hope she gets a Charliehorse. That is what she deserves! Anyway, so I went back to my other acquaintance and told her of this event. For some reason my acquaintance acquaints herself with Mrs. Faux. Why? Because their kids play together she says. So I gave her the scenario that if I knew someone that was treating her badly, I would not justify my friendship with them because my kids play with hers. It drives me nuts. Why can't people see exactly what is front of them?

Back to school, which IS the reason for this blog...the first two days were horrendous! It was all orientation and I think that they were basically trying to scare our socks off. Yes, I know I will be busy in nursing school, but overall, is it really THAT difficult? Last semester I took 8 classes. Yep, 8. I am pretty familiar with medical terminology, I understand all the basics of human care. Pharmacology calculations seem to be easy so far. I am good at ratios and proportions. I guess the hard part there will be remembering Meds.

My first clinical rotation is September 26th at the local nursing home. I have a really positive outlook on that. I fear the bed bath. I never even considered that nurses would give bed baths. I don't know what I was thinking. So I just wanted to update to let off some steam about Mrs. Faux. More later as it comes to mind!

The end is drawing nigh...

So here I am at 0135 on a Sunday morning (gotta get used to using the military time) reading my "How to the Get the Most from Nursing School" book. I am counting down the hours until my freedom is lost once again. I am hopeful that it won't be that bad and I will still have some semblance of a life. I admit that I am nervous. I am trying to overcome some interpersonal issues I have with Mrs. Faux Fortunate. I am trying t figure out how I can avoid her for the next two years. Maybe I should rename her something like Mrs. She Doesn't Deserve a Second Thought From Me. That would be a good name for her! Nah, I will just stick with Mrs. Faux Fortunate. I really like the word "faux" and actually use it quite often because it is a great descriptive word for so many people. There was this one chick in Alaska who I termed my Faux Friend. I had to drop her like a hot potato because I could no longer put up with her materialism. More on her later, but speaking of materialism--I got a new iPhone yesterday. I am completely enthralled with the Apple world. It just makes so much more sense. So I had a Droid X before and now it belongs to my hubby. He is really enjoying it so far, playing Angry Birds mostly.
Today I cleaned my house and did all my laundry. Tomorrow is going to be a good day and hopefully it will be filled with R&R. I look forward to watching our favorite family show, Big Brother.
In 24 hours I will be in a Melatonin induced sleep having nightmares about my upcoming day. Okay, maybe not nightmares but you get the picture! Stay tuned!

Officially DONE!! Until Monday!

I aced my last exam today. It covered renal, gastro, and musculoskeletal. I made a 97.5. I also started reading my book of leisure, well I am actually picking up where I left off back in may before I started my summer class. It is Firefly Lane by Krisitn Hannah. Still no pictures...darned iPad!
Update on nursing school...I got an email today showing the changes in our schedule for the first two days. I have to be there at 0800 both days and each are filled with lectures and orientations! Ugh! I have to use my brain on the first day. What a bummer. Aim ready to get it over with but hope that I dont lose myself in the process. I must take time to enjoy life and smell the roses!

Almost done...

I am taking my final pathophysiology test tomorrow morning. When I began this class 10 weeks ago I expected to either fail miserably or at least make a C. Well, I have managed to pull an A! I seriously need to work on my self confidence. This class has taught me that I need to pay closer attention to detail. There were several assignments that I missed one silly little thing and the professor took off 20 points! Tis is also the professor that will be teaching me pharmacology starting next week. Note to self, make checklists! I will not be at the mercy of this woman's red ink pen! I am in my final week of preparations to begin school. I sat at the financial aid office today for two hours waiting to decline the $6000 they were trying to give me in student loans. I REFUSE to graduate in debt up to my eyeballs. I will not fall into the same category as thousands (or millions) of other college students. I will continue to make sacrifices where I can to assure that that will not happen.
We had a really great time in Florida this past weekend. It was hot and terribly muggy but that is what is to be expected in August! I had every intention to post pics on my new blog as soon as we got back but of course I forgot my camera! One problem I have when staying in hotels are those flashbacks from shows like 20/20 where they go behind the scenes with blacklights and show you what's really hiding between your hotel sheets. Because of this I constantly wear my shoes around the room...and cringe when I have to get in the shower.
Now that I am done with my class I plan to squeeze in as much leisurely reading as possible. Kristin Hannah has become one of my favorite authors. She writes of hope, faith, and sadness (not in that order). The first book I read of hers was Night Road. One of the best books ever! Well, maybe not better than my Twilight series but then again that is a totally different genre! So, I highly recommend it and Night Road is a great introductory book to her style of writing. I wonder how many books I can squeeze in before life ends on Monday?!?
Pictures are coming soon!

A quick update

Today it was 105 degrees. Absolutely, ridiculously miserable! Unfortunately I had errands to run today. I bought $483 worth of nursing books today which was only six books (medical dictionary, NCLEX review guide, nursing fundies, heart and lung sounds CD, drug guide, and nutrition book). I still have 12, yes...12 more books to buy. All together they will end up costing $1700. I am thanking my lucky stars I have a scholarship that completely covers the cost of these. I tnk it is ridiculous that so many are required. It will be interesting to see how many are actually used.
The end of hanging out with my kids for the summer makes me kinda sad. While they are at school I actually miss the little buggers and can't wait for them to come bounding through the door.
I have been pondering how I am going to simplify my life to effectively and sanely make it thru my first semester. I am talking specifically about meal planning, laundry and cleaning. I am a clean freak! I use cleaning as a diversion from studying. I must stop this erratic behavior. My cooking habits aren't much better either. I feel the need to prepare large meals each night that require way too much time to prepare and just as much time to clean up. Thanks to my HE washer and dryer I am able to knock out significant amounts if laundry in no time! So I can officially knock laundry off my list. One less thing to stress over.
I am going to be stretched in many different directions. Thankfully I have someone to watch my kids. That stress was relieved not too long ago. I am hoping my kids will step up to pack their own lunches this year. My mom thought this idea was appalling! Lol. I think this is the least they could do to help around the house!
So two more day until we leave for Florida. It will be a really nice break from a seemingly hectic summer. Maybe soon I will be able to post some pics!!