I just wanted to thank everyone for thinking of me while I was in the hospital. Also special thanks to Mike for being by my side the entire time. I'm lucky to such a wonderful guy in my life. And thanks to mom and Debbie Martz for coming down to visit me on Friday. It was nice to have family around me while they were figuring out what to do with me! I definitely enjoy being the nurse rather than the patient! I am feeling much better now and I am grateful for that. It's coming down to the end of the month and I have alot coming up.
I wrote before about the 'check-outs' I have to do for my health assessment class before I start clinical. I had the history portion of the check-out tonight and I passed! I'm not sure of my exact grade on it but we had to get a 90% or above so I'm super glad it's over! The physical portion is Friday morning and when that is over, it will be such a relief! Then I can start putting what I have learned into action! So exciting for me :)
Well, I have to get back to work. I've gotta get caught up on anything I may have missed while I was in the hospital. Hope everyone is happy and healthy :)
xoxo
Monday, September 27, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
no words
Hello friends! I AM SUPER SUPER SUPER SUPER BUSY!!!! AHHHHHH! I cannot wait til September is over! One of my classes ends and then clinicals begin!
In order to begin clinicals, we must "check out" of our September health assessment class (this is the reason I cannot wait til September is over....because then I have one class already out of the way!!! YAY! :).
Let me see if I can paint you a picture of what I have to do to move on to clinicals....
In our nursing lab at Georgetown, we have 4 rooms that are "mock office rooms." They look identical to an exam room you have experienced in the past in any doctor's office. There are 2 checkouts we have to do. For the first, we have to complete a history on one of our classmates. Our classmate will act as the patient and we enter one of the mock rooms as the midwife and we go through an entire history (which includes current demographic info, medical conditions, medications, family history, past medical history, surgical history, and a complete review of all their body systems) while our professor also sits in and makes sure we hit everything. We have 30 minutes to do so and then once we leave the room, we have 15 minutes to write up the entire history as if we would in a chart.
For the second checkout, Georgetown brings in actors/actresses that are known as "standardized patients." We will enter the room, much like the history, except these aren't our classmates but real people that we've never met or seen before. We have to act as if we had already done the history part of the appointment and we are moving on to the physical exam. We have to do a COMPLETE head to toe exam on the patient. And I capitalized complete because it is extremely extensive. I won't go into detail but to sum it up slightly we have to check all cranial nerves, look in the ears/nose/eye/mouth, check all lymph nodes on the body, all pulses on the body, listen to the heart, listen to the lung, feel for the liver/kidney/spleen (although the spleen and left kidney shouldn't be palpable unless they are enlarged...betcha didn't know that), listen to bowel sounds, check all your reflexes, check your hearing, check the strength in your arms, legs, wrists, ankles, AND THE LIST GOES ON. It's just alot alot alot of stuff! It's nice to know how to assess all of this stuff even though most of it I may never have to do again in my time as a midwife. I just hope I remember to do everything! So anyways, we have 30 minutes to do that and then 15 minutes to write it up....just like the history.
I am completing the history portion of this next Monday the 27th and the physical portion on Friday the 1st so think about me/pray for me on those two dates! Although I'm feeling confident that I will do fine :)
I'm really excited for clinicals even though I do not know where I am going to be placed yet. I'll have them either one or two days a week. I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned and beginning to create and organize the way I plan on conducting my exams. This semester we are in offices/clinics and next semester we will be in the hospital. Things are going to be happening so quickly but I am excited :)
(side note: Frank just farted in his sleep and it is absolutely disgusting :) Speaking of the little guy, he has become quite the city dog! He enjoys walking/running around the city and I've been surprised but he has no interest in any dogs we come across. He's kinda like 'yeah i'm cool, i'm tiny and i'm running in the city, and my mommy's cool, yeah yeah yeah". Haha. I kill myself. Anyways, Mike and I took him to a dog park on Saturday. There are a bunch of trails that lead into this HUGE clearing that is surrounded by woods. Once you walk into this clearing, you definitely don't feel like you're in DC anymore (because of all the trees, etc). So people come and just unhook their dogs off their leashes and let them run. At first, Mike and I kept Frank on the leash but about ten dogs came running over to see who the "new guy" was and of course, as you can imagine, me with Frank on a leash......who doesn't like going too too far away from his mommy....who is about 3x smaller than any other dog.....on his leash...trying to play with the other dogs.....on his leash.... if you can't tell, "on his leash" were the key words....Needless to say, I quickly took him off the leash since I was all tangled up in it, Frank was all tangled up in it, ten dogs were tangled up in it, and not only because of the leash, but I was trying to dodge a gazillion dogs (aka. trying not to trip and fall on my face). ANYWAYS, Frank LOVED it. He was EXHAUSTED. (and gross I might add....one of the dogs had a slobber problem and thought Frank resembled a lolly pop or something). We had a great time. We had brought a blanket, wine, and cheese for a little relaxing afternoon with Frank but it didn't take long before we knew that wasn't going to occur :) It was a great afternoon with my boys :)
I think that is all to report. I'm enjoying everything I'm learning, I just have "work overload" everyday! But I expected that and it keeps me busy :).
Hope everyone is healthy and happy. Hope to see you soon :)
In order to begin clinicals, we must "check out" of our September health assessment class (this is the reason I cannot wait til September is over....because then I have one class already out of the way!!! YAY! :).
Let me see if I can paint you a picture of what I have to do to move on to clinicals....
In our nursing lab at Georgetown, we have 4 rooms that are "mock office rooms." They look identical to an exam room you have experienced in the past in any doctor's office. There are 2 checkouts we have to do. For the first, we have to complete a history on one of our classmates. Our classmate will act as the patient and we enter one of the mock rooms as the midwife and we go through an entire history (which includes current demographic info, medical conditions, medications, family history, past medical history, surgical history, and a complete review of all their body systems) while our professor also sits in and makes sure we hit everything. We have 30 minutes to do so and then once we leave the room, we have 15 minutes to write up the entire history as if we would in a chart.
For the second checkout, Georgetown brings in actors/actresses that are known as "standardized patients." We will enter the room, much like the history, except these aren't our classmates but real people that we've never met or seen before. We have to act as if we had already done the history part of the appointment and we are moving on to the physical exam. We have to do a COMPLETE head to toe exam on the patient. And I capitalized complete because it is extremely extensive. I won't go into detail but to sum it up slightly we have to check all cranial nerves, look in the ears/nose/eye/mouth, check all lymph nodes on the body, all pulses on the body, listen to the heart, listen to the lung, feel for the liver/kidney/spleen (although the spleen and left kidney shouldn't be palpable unless they are enlarged...betcha didn't know that), listen to bowel sounds, check all your reflexes, check your hearing, check the strength in your arms, legs, wrists, ankles, AND THE LIST GOES ON. It's just alot alot alot of stuff! It's nice to know how to assess all of this stuff even though most of it I may never have to do again in my time as a midwife. I just hope I remember to do everything! So anyways, we have 30 minutes to do that and then 15 minutes to write it up....just like the history.
I am completing the history portion of this next Monday the 27th and the physical portion on Friday the 1st so think about me/pray for me on those two dates! Although I'm feeling confident that I will do fine :)
I'm really excited for clinicals even though I do not know where I am going to be placed yet. I'll have them either one or two days a week. I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned and beginning to create and organize the way I plan on conducting my exams. This semester we are in offices/clinics and next semester we will be in the hospital. Things are going to be happening so quickly but I am excited :)
(side note: Frank just farted in his sleep and it is absolutely disgusting :) Speaking of the little guy, he has become quite the city dog! He enjoys walking/running around the city and I've been surprised but he has no interest in any dogs we come across. He's kinda like 'yeah i'm cool, i'm tiny and i'm running in the city, and my mommy's cool, yeah yeah yeah". Haha. I kill myself. Anyways, Mike and I took him to a dog park on Saturday. There are a bunch of trails that lead into this HUGE clearing that is surrounded by woods. Once you walk into this clearing, you definitely don't feel like you're in DC anymore (because of all the trees, etc). So people come and just unhook their dogs off their leashes and let them run. At first, Mike and I kept Frank on the leash but about ten dogs came running over to see who the "new guy" was and of course, as you can imagine, me with Frank on a leash......who doesn't like going too too far away from his mommy....who is about 3x smaller than any other dog.....on his leash...trying to play with the other dogs.....on his leash.... if you can't tell, "on his leash" were the key words....Needless to say, I quickly took him off the leash since I was all tangled up in it, Frank was all tangled up in it, ten dogs were tangled up in it, and not only because of the leash, but I was trying to dodge a gazillion dogs (aka. trying not to trip and fall on my face). ANYWAYS, Frank LOVED it. He was EXHAUSTED. (and gross I might add....one of the dogs had a slobber problem and thought Frank resembled a lolly pop or something). We had a great time. We had brought a blanket, wine, and cheese for a little relaxing afternoon with Frank but it didn't take long before we knew that wasn't going to occur :) It was a great afternoon with my boys :)
I think that is all to report. I'm enjoying everything I'm learning, I just have "work overload" everyday! But I expected that and it keeps me busy :).
Hope everyone is healthy and happy. Hope to see you soon :)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
...
Mike's mom, Annette, put up some pictures from Labor Day.
Doesn't Frank look hilarious??!?!?
She is holding Buttons, one of their four dogs.
Random thoughts:
-Artichokes are my new found love.
-Pushup popcicles are my old love that has recently surfaced again.
-I spent quality time in the library today.
-My schoolwork NEVER ends. It is absolutely impossible to not get behind or even get ahead!
-In response to above statements, I am working hard to get things done and stay on top!
-I got a shock collar for Frank in hopes that he will be nicer to those who live here and visitors. Upon opening the box, I learned that Frank will not be getting 'shocked' but 'stimulated' instead. The small change of words actually makes me feel better about jolting the little guy.
-Speaking of Frank, he's just so darn cute. And such a good study buddy (he sleeps).
-Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday.
-It's bedtime.
-Goodnight.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Busy bee!
I've been super busy so its been a few days since I've written. Mike and I went home this weekend and it was nice to get back to Waynesboro and see my family. I've missed them! Monday was a long day with class from 9-1 and again from 2-8. During our lab we practiced male and female genital exams on actual actors and actresses which was such a great experience. The male and female I had made me feel very comfortable and taught the exams very well.
Today I had class from 9-4, talk about a long day! I'm looking forward to the rest of the week because my classes start to level out and I do not have as many. Mondays and Tuesdays are my long days and then the rest of the week is much less of a load. Now it's time to catch up and keep up!! Keep me in your thoughts, September is jam-packed!
Today I had class from 9-4, talk about a long day! I'm looking forward to the rest of the week because my classes start to level out and I do not have as many. Mondays and Tuesdays are my long days and then the rest of the week is much less of a load. Now it's time to catch up and keep up!! Keep me in your thoughts, September is jam-packed!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...
Sigh. I have loads of work to do. I think it seems so overwhelming because I'm trying to cram it all in today. I am heading home this weekend and would much rather spend time with my family than knee deep in books/work/papers. I have missed my family so I am excited to see them! Sorry so short, not much to report!
"do not go where the path may lead. go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -ralph waldo emerson
"do not go where the path may lead. go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -ralph waldo emerson
Monday, September 6, 2010
Labor Day.
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And now another week starts....tomorrow I have two midwifery classes so I am excited about those. Wednesday I have a research class, Thursday I am off and Friday I have a class 8-4. So this week shouldn't be too bad. Hopefully.... :)
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| Franker after going for a swim in the lake! |
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| We seriously didn't plan the matching outfits! :) |
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| Mike on the jet ski! |
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