What's New?

It's been a very long time since I have written a blog post and I wasn't happy with my blog name. So I changed it (again) to a name that kinda reflects where I am right now.

Nursing: Well, I'm a Registered Nurse and I may share somethings about that.
Gardening: I am an old soul, hence my nickname:Grandma. And I LOVE gardening; flowers, veggies, fruits, herbs, all of them! I may share about what I'm gardening.
Riley: I bought a little Christmas puppy named Riley! She is a pure bred Yellow Labrador Retriever and she is naughty!
Wine: I love to drink wine and I may do some whining every now and then on here!

So what's new in my life? Well I am still working on 7 North at St. Joe's and I have good days and crazy days. I'm always learning new stuff every day and don't know how I would stop learning at my job. Every situation is different. Which makes my job NOT boring.

My parents instilled in me that money does not grow on trees and I shouldn't be handed everything. Anything I own I have pretty much saved up for and bought. They have helped, of course, but I was not just given everything just because it's the trend or everyone else has it. Why do I say this? Because since I started working in June, I have saved a pretty penny and I am now seriously house hunting!!! It's exciting that soon Riley and I may have a home of our own!

Riley! She was born on November 11, 2014 and I got her from Arrowcreek Retrievers in Hammond, WI. It was a snowy/crappy day on December 21st when my mom and I drove the 7 hours round trip to bring home my Riley baby. She's learning, but she still has a long way to go before she is a "good" dog. She is all puppy. Copper isn't too thrilled with her, but they love to play tug-of-war with their toys. Riley is bigger than Copper now and she's always jumping over her. Copper is awaiting the day Riley moves out, I'm sure.

I'm proud to say that I binge-watched Gilmore Girls this winter from the Pilot to the Finale. I will do it again, I'm sure. I am not ashamed.

I'm looking forward to this summer, a new house (I hope), getting to play in the dirt, taking Riley swimming and whatever else this summer may bring!

10 Weeks of Orientation

So I'm a new nurse with one day left to my orientation! To give a little background, I was hired by Ministry St. Joseph's Hospital back in March, where I've done my clinicals since October. After graduation, I took a Kaplan Review Course and then had 2 weeks all to myself in which I shamelessly played in the dirt: aka flower beds and vegetable garden. I ignored my NCLEX studying because my brain was fried. Then on one magical Monday, which was June 9th 2014, I started my career as a Nurse Technician/Graduate Nurse and now a Registered Nurse!!! I'm going to share 10 things I learned while on my orientation and maybe even a fear as they turn me loose, on my own to care for patients as a real as they can get RN!!!

1) In my first 3 weeks of orientation, I was cramming for my boards. I realized very quickly that was a stupid idea and should've taken my boards before I started work. I also should've been studying all along, but I'm a procrastinator by design and I don't work that way.  After 203 agonizing questions on July 2nd, one day later I was presented with my newly printed Nursing License!!! YAY!!!

2) Classroom Orientation days are horrifically boring!!! I'm thankful there were only 5 of them.  Some of the presenters were as exciting as watching mold grow on bread. I'm not even exaggerating. The only emotion I saw out of one of them was when she talked about how she used to drywall houses before becoming a nurse. Honey, you missed your calling, go back to drywall...in better news, those days are long gone!!!!! Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!!!

3) I FINALLY got my very first IV start!!! I had a whopping 4 attempts during clinical and they were all failures. I did get one in the first few weeks of orientation and that was rewarding. Then I spent a morning in OPS (out-patient surgery) to try some starts. I got a few but I felt like a black sheep of IV's since I had a streak where I missed 3 and the anesthesia tech I was with failed as well. I then got 2 after that. I'm still not very comfortable with IV's but maybe one day I'll figure it out.

4) Hyperbaric Chamber is as much fun as watching a goldfish in a bowl. Because that's what you are basically doing. Watching patients in glass tubes.  I had done this for clinical and it wasn't  much better the 2nd time. Basically what you need to know is don't send your patients down with any metal or lotions on. They will get burned and it may blow up the hospital.

5) In the same sense, I had to shadow for 4 hours in Telemetry. BORING! All I needed to know was what happened in the first 10 minutes. Thank God I had coffee, cuz those were some of the most boring hours of my job!

6) All of my shadow days were squished to the end of my orientation. That meant I didn't have much time on the floor in the last 3 weeks of my orientation. I did request and my preceptors agreed that I needed one more week. Well it was 3 more shifts, but it definitely helped.

7) The phone is scary! I'm not a phone person by any means. I have to talk myself into using one to make a call to someone that's not in the list of like 10 people I talk to regularly.  So when it came time to hold the phone at work, I was scared. It's not so bad anymore but I still don't like talking to the crabby doctors.

8) Orientation lasted my entire summer which meant that the first time in 20 years, I was unable to go to Hayward for vacation. I was okay with it, I guess, seeing as I had already took a trip to New Jersey in January and Household Reunion in April. Sometimes you have to pick your priorities and I guess it was nice to not have family drama for a week on the lake!

9) I learned this time how much I DO NOT miss being in school and even though I did have plans to complete my BSN soon, I have NO desire to do that anytime soon. Too expensive/stressful/boring/etc. I want to just work!

10) At the end I was released to a shift on my own on a Sunday evening. And guess what? I SURVIVED!!!

So now I guess I can go out there and conquer the world as a Nurse! 

Hair Detox, Day Six!

Hello again! I wasn't going to post, but there are some new developments that couldn't wait until Tuesday, which would've been the start of week two.

• Day Four I was feeling really under the weather with allergies and just felt really crappy. I almost had a weak moment where I just wanted to wash my hair with "normal" shampoo so my hair could feel clean, but I resisted!! I'm glad I did!
• Yesterday (Day Five) I was still feeling frustrated with the fact that my hair was frizzy, greasy and wasn't letting me brush it out all that great! So I read up on the suggestions for detox and read that adding baking soda to the wash can help with the oily feeling.
• Today (Day Six) I tried the Baking Soda, which was something I had never thought I'd do and I have to agree, it did cut out some of the greasy feeling. It made it a little easier to manage and brush and tie back. The one thing I did notice today which is making me stick to the detox even further was that when I went to clean out my hair brush, there was waxy gunk flaking off of the hair that was in my brush! I can actually see the crap that was in my hair!!! I WANT IT GONE!!! 

I am hoping that my detox doesn't take months since I start my job in a few weeks and actually need to look presentable (especially since I need to take a picture for my name badge) so I will press on with the baking soda and apple cider vinegar. When I'm feeling better I will take a picture of the progress so far.

Better late than never?

I was doing so well keeping up with my nursing school weeks! Then I missed a week and here we are a year later. So I thought I'd give an update of school and life. It's been an interesting roller coaster where somethings are worth remembering and some are not.

• I made it through all of my classes for 2nd semester! Health Alterations and Introduction to Clinical Care Management were completed in March and then I began Health Promotions and Clinical Care Across the Lifespan which concluded in May. Alterations was very interesting and I ended up doing quite well with a B! Remember that in every other program, that would've been an A! Gotta hate nursing grade scales! Alterations is a class that weeds out a lot of people from the program. I made it through. Yay! I also got through that lovely clinical. The one where the prof got so close to your face while grilling you and making you feel like an idiot that she spit on you. That clinical made me lose any and all confidence I had in my skills. It's been a work in progress getting it back. Promotions was all about OB/GYN, Peds and an introduction to Mental Health. Basically translated into BORING!!! Not my cup of tea. While the first half of the class I did quite well in, I struggled with the later but still managed to pull off a B- to pass the class. Thank God! In my Clinical I started out with the OB/GYN rotation at St. Mike's in Stevens Point. I was the one in my group who did not want to see a vaginal birth. I wanted to see a C-Section. Guess who was the only one who's laboring patient didn't kick her out of the room? Oh that's right! ME! I was able to bring another classmate in with me because this mom said "the more the merrier". It was on a cold April morning that I watched what some would call the miracle of life. I would call it disgusting. Seeing one vaginal birth is more than I ever would have wanted to and will be a very happy nurse if I would never see that ever again in my career.  On a side note, everyone else got to watch a C-Section while I got to look at a gooey crotch. Moving on....Clinical finished with a rotation at Children's Hospital in Marshfield.  It was a very interesting 7 day rotation.  My patients started with an 18 day old baby, then an 18 year old man. This was followed by a 13 year old boy who if I hadn't looked at his chart, would've thought he was 8. I was able to remove his NG tube which was the first one I did! Yay! The last two days ended with 2 and 3 year girls, and then an 8 year old Autistic Boy who screamed so loud I thought I was going deaf. I was never more grateful to be finished with the tiny humans. I have added OB/GYN and Peds to the "Not gonna be this type of nurse" list. I finished 2nd Semester and was eligible to take my Practical Nursing state Boards but decided not to waste the money. I had heard 2nd semester was the worst of the 4 and 3rd and 4th were smooth sailing. I heard wrong.
• I had made a really stupid decision as I entered my final summer break. That was to take online Mental Health and Community Concepts.  What in the world was I thinking!?!?! I remembered really quickly how much I truly despise online classes. It takes me forever to go through the lecture material and I hate having to motivate my self to do that. A few weeks in and I completely regretted my decision. I looked into withdrawing and then realized that a withdraw in the nursing program is the equivalent of a failed class. I then decided that I'd just stick with the class and find out all that it entails and then just retake it in the fall like I should've done in the first place. 
• Fall Semester! 3rd Semester! The semester that almost killed me! Not really, but now looking back at all of it, 3rd was my most difficult. If there was one I'd never have to go through again, it was 3rd.  I took once again Mental Health, in addition to Complex Health Alterations I and Advanced Skills. Skills was interesting where we learned how to transfuse blood, insert NG tubes, manage chest tubes, administer IV push medications, clean, flush & draw blood from all types of central lines and insert IV catheters. That was a lot of fun. Except the part where we got the opportunity to to try inserting IV's on each other. I opted to not sign that release form and didn't try because there is no way I was letting someone who's never done it before try an IV on me who's never had one before.  Skills came and went and I started my Intermediate Clinical on 7 North at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.  Going into that clinical was interesting because I was still nervous about screwing up constantly from my horrific experience in my 2nd semester clinical.  I actually ended up doing really well and ended up with 100% in my clinical experience portion!  I'm VERY proud of myself :D I also got to attempt 2 IV inserts, but no such luck on getting them to work. I got to do 2 observation days for that clinical, one in the PACU and one in Hyperbaric Chamber and following the wound nurse.  In PACU I watched an anesthesiologist place an Epidural. After the first two failed attempts he started in on the third and I started seeing spots. It was really nasty. I had to step out of the curtain. I hate needles and that was no exception! Taking Mental Health again was really boring because I really don't like that class at all. I did better than the first time, but I still didn't like it any more. I ended up getting an 89% on my final which was awesome!! Especially since if I didn't pass that class, I'd be kicked out of the program.  Then there was CHA I, that was a HORRIBLE experience. There was a new instructor basically read a script. The material was interesting but very disorganized and the exams were 30 or 40 questions long. So if it was a 30 question quiz, you could only get up to 6 wrong. Any more and it was a fail. With the 40 question exams, it was up to 8 wrong.  That's a lot of pressure.  I struggled and I ended up with an 85% on the final and passed. THANK GOD!!! 
• Which brings me to now and 4th Semester! Right now I'm in three classes: Complex Health Alterations II, Nursing Management and Professional Concepts and Advanced Clinical Practice.  CHA II is really interesting, is taught very well and I'm doing really well in it. Management is kinda really boring and I'm passing so far but it's not the easiest class and just hope I can get through the final.  Advanced clinical is great! Due to our class being larger than normal, and the current 3rd Semester being very small due to a lot of people failing classes in 2nd, the St. Mike's clinical group has been dropped and the 7 North clinical has been moved up to 4th semester! So I sent an email requesting to withdraw my clinical requests since I had put I didn't want to drive, so they had been 1)Riverview 2)St. Mikes 2nd Floor 3)St. Joe's 3 North (Cardiac).  I had asked to make 7 North my first choice and was granted my request!! I had LOVED 7 North during 3rd Semester and am equally loving it in 4th. In management we took a quiz to see if we are right or left brained, and I lean toward left brain or more organized. Makes sense, I hate chaos and love symmetry.  So I noticed that when I'd be assigned a nurse who was more scatter brained, I'd feel lost and behind, but those who were more structured, I would have a much easier day and then even have "bored" moments because every thing was done! Finals came early for me, as we finish all these classes before we are eligible to start our preceptor. I decided at attend Regina Angelorum's 20th Reunion the weekend before finals, and I even studied on the plane and at the airport! I'm very proud of myself. I'm very happy with my decision to take an impromptu weekend trip to Ohio. The day before I left I did SIMS, which was the worst one I've ever done.  I was grouped with two ladies who I really didn't know, so it was a challenge to figure out how to work together. In the end we didn't put in a second IV, hang blood or do a dressing change. However, I got a 93% on it. Not a bad grade but I felt lost the whole time. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that SIMS was worth 5% of my final grade and at that point, I was like "I don't even care about this." Originally our exams were scheduled for me to take my Unit 7 Exam on Tuesday and the Final for both CHA II and Management on Wednesday. Well I doubly impressed myself and studied my butt off and took my Unit 7 exam after SIMS so I only had to take the finals after reunion.  I had originally planned on taking Management on Monday morning and CHA II on Wednesday morning. That changed when I got home from the airport on Sunday and fell asleep instead of finish studying.  I don't know what it is about eastern time, makes me jet lagged for days when I come back out of it! Anywho I ended up taking both exams on Wednesday, CHA II in the morning and Management in the afternoon. I felt so sick to my stomach taking the first one cuz I knew that doing poorly would mean I wouldn't graduate. The exam was comprehensive of 7 units, multiple choice and then short answer. After I finished I found one of my friends who said I looked pale. I felt like I was gonna puke! Then I took my management final. That was corrected right away and I PASSED!!!! That was a HUGE relief! I then went to log onto the computer to see if my CHA grade was posted and it was, and by the grace of God I rocked that final!!! I had just completed all my nursing courses! All that remained was preceptor and you pretty much pass unless you kill someone! Just kidding, but still.

I'll write about preceptor in a separate post but for now I'll sign off!

Hair Detox, Day Three!

So I am three days into my hair detox using the Radiantly You Tea Tree Shampoo Bar.

Side view, Day 3

You're only getting a side view cuz lucky me, I have a cold or it could be allergies? I don't know, but I do know I don't want any pictures of my red nose!  I washed my hair this morning and I just took it out of a pony, that's why it's crimpy. So here's my two cents about the last three days or should I say the first three days?:

• Day 1: So I used the shampoo bar in the morning and I agree with some of the other reviews that it does lather nicely.  I've read that some people scrub it in their hair and it helps the detox along. So I tried that as well as just making sure it got all of my long hair washed. My hair is relatively thin, so I'm hoping that my detox goes faster (fingers crossed!) What else did I notice? My hair felt very waxy, like the strands were all coated in wax.  I followed the wash with the Apple Cider Vinegar rinse as was recommended and I used cool water.  I noticed that there was no hair in the drain! That's a plus. I don't shed that bad, but there is usually some hair that falls out after washing. The next thing I noticed that when I went to wring my hair out, it really didn't want to do that. Water poured out, but not like when I used normal shampoo and conditioner. When I went to comb it out, I had very few tangles, so the vinegar worked in that aspect! Then I attempted to dry it with the blow dryer. That took a lot longer than normal! I was a little time crunched cuz I had to get to class so I left with a half dry head.  My hair felt kinda soft and that was day one!
• Day 2: Nothing was very different in the washing department. Combed nicely, drying was not so fun. I did notice on this day that it looked a little shinier! So then I left for class with my hair down. About half way through the day I noticed my hair was very frizzy. So I threw it up in a messy bun. I also noticed as evening approached, it started feeling a bit greasy. Ick. 
• Day 3: Today! When I went to comb it out, it was VERY tangled, even with the Apple Cider Vinegar.  I had more time today to try to blow dry it, but I gave up after 5 minutes (yea, I'm impatient!) My hair was VERY frizzy and felt weird. Still waxy like day one. I ended up throwing my hair on the top of my head. I also noticed that it felt and looked greasy. It was as if I hadn't washed it, like it was the next day after washing. I'm a wash my hair every day person so I felt kinda gross.  Luckily, this was my last day of class and now I have 2 weeks of nothing until I start my job. Part of me wants to just wash it with shampoo, but the other part was like "You just paid over $10 bucks for this shampoo bar and it's only day 3, don't be a pansy!!"

.So this means that I will press on, and just see where it goes from here. Those who are post-detox say it's worth it in the end and that you shouldn't give up. I must persevere! 

Hair Detox, Day Zero!

Now that I have nothing to really do for a month before I start my job, I decided to try out the Radiantly You hair detox using the Tea Tree Shampoo bar.  Now, I'm not one into organic, all-natural products, but I thought I have a time period where I don't really have to worry about my hair looking good, so I can go through the detox portion now! In the end, if I'm not happy with the results, I can always go back to my normal shampoo and conditioner routine.  Today I received my tea tree shampoo bar in the mail and that means tomorrow I'm going to start! Therefore, I call today "Day Zero" since this is the day before.

Note that I hate taking selfies. Anywho, I'll try to take selfies periodically throughout the process and see if I get to the end of the detox or I chicken out and go back to shampoo and conditioner!
I also bought the Dead Sea Mud Soap bar. I'm going to try that out and then perhaps give my 2 cents on it.

So here's a toast to my hair hopefully being awesome in the next few weeks!!

Midterms in February?

So this is midterms week! So exciting! NOT!!!!!! I hate comprehensive exams. They are waaaaay to broad. I have the most difficult time studying for them. There is just such a plethora of information that I don't know where to start and don't know how in depth to study it. Fortunately for our Midterm it's 75 questions and 50 of them will come from the two units we are just learning now: Hematology & Immunology/Malignancy.  The other 25 will come from the previous 4 units: Intra-Operative Care, Respiratory, Cardiac & Musculoskeletal. So I know what information to spend the majority of my study time on. As intense as this class is, it is a lot nicer having just a single lecture paired with a Clinical verses three classes and a clinical like I had last semester. So far I'm doing alright (fingers crossed).

• Clinical was quite interesting. On Tuesday I only had one patient and was prepared to receive a fresh surgical patient. Well unfortunately (or fortunately) I never got one. So I had plenty of time to do what I was doing, but got caught up and bored. The reason I didn't get a surgical was a) There was a lack of them and b) Two classmates were on the list first, one because her patient went up to CCU and she had none and another girls patient went home so she didn't have one either. Wednesday I had two patients. The same one from Tuesday and a second one. That went alright. It was an experience in juggling 2 patients and how I wish they would've given us some tips or tricks. Oh no, that'd be too easy so we were just thrown to the sharks. I think I did okay...
• Friday I took my midterm. We took it on the computer over blackboard (the most evilest, stupidest online tool ever) and we got instant feedback. I ended up with an 83%. Not that great but I PASSED! I have adopted the same mantra as many of the ladies in my class have: 80% is Passing. Who gives a shit about grades anymore as long as at the end of the day you have that 80.00% or higher. You did it. You deserve a pat on the back. Way to go!

I really am sucking with keeping up with my entries but I'm a 2nd semester Nursing student in Health Alterations...that's excuse enough!
 5 weeks and 1 semester down, 12 weeks and 2 semesters to go.