So many titles...I'll just make a list!

I have cheated myself.  I have absolutely cheated myself out of almost 90 days of memories.  Not only have I cheated myself, I have cheated my many faithful followers.  Luckily, my name was not listed in any obituary.  I am still alive.  I have been busy.

It started out like this:
I started to have really horrible pains in my hands (bilaterally nonetheless).  It became so bad I couldn't even play Scramble with Friends on my phone!  Not sure what was going on there, but I am better now.  I was in such desperate pain I even went to the doctor!  He did a complete neurological assessment on my (I could have done a better job) and gave me some Mucinex-D.  Huh?


1st Clinical Rotation Ends:
I survived the mean old bat that made me look like a fool.  We ended everything on good terms.  When she sat down with me and had my evaluation, she made a startling revelation that she had made a mistake and "misunderstood" me.  And she was sorry.  Too late, lady!  You dashed my self-confidence.  That was February 22nd.

2nd Clinical Rotation begins:
We expected the worst: Care plans out the wazoo, nurses notes, patient assessments, you name it.  My wonderful group members and I were terrified!  What began with high expectations later became "just do it as a group", or "just do one care plan"...Our instructor who is also part of our faculty was overwhelmed herself with grading papers, teaching, etc.
We were on a step-down telemetry unit on a cardiac floor.  Sick patients.  I officially became a victim of sexual harassment by a patient.  He had COPD.  I really encouraged the tripod position with him.  One day I had to urge him out of the bathroom because he was in there with no oxygen!!  I was freaking out!  I helped him back into the bed and checked his O2 Sat.  71%!!!  (Normal is 95-100 and even 90 isn't good except for people who compensate).  The next day I accompanied him to the Pulmonary Function Test.  This is a test that essentially measures your lung capacity).  I thought I was going to witness death that day.  That was on a Wednesday.  When I returned to the floor the following Tuesday, he had been discharged.  Alive.
I learned a lot on the cardiac floor.  Many skills, many assessments.  I even assisted with a chest tube removal with a PA!!  Both the patient, his wife, and the Doctor had a running bet that I was going to hit the floor.  They told me that after it was over.  I hadn't really thought about it before, but not much grosses me out anymore.  Later that evening, my kid got her shoestring caught in her bicycle spoke.  I thought I was going to have a panic attack!  I can handle a chest tube any day!

My Garden:
Soon after the weather had warmed and my allergies had set in, I began my garden excavation/renovation.  It was a massive undertaking.  While my classmates cursed me for having already taken Applied Pathophysiology, I was playing in the dirt.  Beautiful. Orange. Dirt. Clay.  Fertile. Wet.  It became my obsession.  I successfully installed a drip irrigation system.  It was so detailed.  I could sit on my stool for hours just staring at the little tubes, hoses, connections, and trying to figure out how or which way I would hook them up to make them most effective.

  The wonderful thing about my garden is that there is no limit to the amount of flowers I can have (more on that later).  I discovered these wonderful flowers called Proven Winners.  They are nothing short of amazing.

Spring Break:
Somewhere lost in time there was Spring Break.  I graciously volunteered to take on the artistic portion of our group project on Venous Thromboembolism.  It was time consuming.  The perfectionist part of me kept adding things.  I think that I spent about 24 woman hours on it.  It was well received by everyone.  I had kudos coming from every direction.  I put so much effort into this that I wondered "why?" when it was over?  Why did I do all this?

New Addition To Our Family!:
Somewhere in the middle of all this Spring Breakin', Clinical Rotations, and gardening, my husband decided it was time to bite the bullet and add a new little heartbeat and mouth to feed into our family.  I had been very skeptical for a while, mainly because I have some OCD issues when it comes to the cleanliness of my house.  I have a place for everything.  What I do not have a place for is pee and poop.

Meet Lexi, our new Maltipoo.  She was born on December 23, 2011.  She is an absolute hoot.  Her and Ruby go together like pees and carrots.  They are constantly playing (Ruby needed some help with her expanding waistline), following each other around, and sleeping together.  They are AWESOME!

As long as Lexi doesn't have free reign over the house, she is doing amazingly well at potty training.  I couldn't be more pleased.  And she loves the girls, too!  And mud!

Square Foot Gardening:
While in the hospital one day I met a patient's wife who was carefully mapping out her landscape.  She explained to me the in's and out's of Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening Technique.  I thought, "What else do I have to do these days?"  I gave it a try!

I made my own trellis using 1/2" electrical conduit and rebar.  Also 7x7 nylon netting so that my cucs, squash, cantaloupe, and tomatoes grow vertically (I know tomatoes don't grow any way BUT vertically).

I will jump ahead several weeks but will come back later and update Easter.

Remember the Bully?
Well, the director of our Nursing School (AKA the TOP DOG) invited all interested students to participate in a focus group with her.  It was six per group, and believe it or not, not that many people signed up.  I am glad I did.  We sat around and with the support (and initiation) of my peers, told the director everything that had happened to me in the first semester.  She was sad.  Seriously.  She had tears in her eyes.  She said that she was so sorry I had to endure that sort of treatment.  She said she was also happy that I had told her because scholarships are being handed out next week.  And guess who is the front runner for the Single Mom Scholarship??  Yep!  You guessed correctly: the Bully herself.


Who's Who...
Yep.  I am now one of them.  I was inducted just a couple of weeks ago.  I was one of only TWO nursing students and one of only 57 at the University.  Except I didn't pay $19.99 for their cord.  Maybe later.  We'll see.

Finals!
Today I took my final Junior Nursing exam.  I really did not study like I should have.  More than two days of studying may have been more beneficial to me.  I signed in to the test, answered 17 questions (of 85) and was booted out.  This happened six times.  Finally an hour later I found myself in a different building being reassured by Dr. Abrasive herself that I was going to be okay.  Okay.  She said "You know this stuff."  Was there ever a question that I didn't know this stuff?
So the whole time I was answering questions, 10 of which were PILOT questions, I was thinking "OMG, I really don't know this crap. I have debt. This whole nursing school thing has been wasted.  Clinicals were a waste".  I was dying inside.  They were tricky.  I submit.  80.39%!!!!  I will never be a Junior college student again.  I AM A SENIOR!!!


Next on my update list...
-->Trip to Walt Disney World!! (May 5-9)
-->Garden updates and propagation project using cuttings
-->Anything else I may have forgotten
-->And more pics!!