5 weeks in...and I seem to have disappeared

I haven't, really...just been consumed by this somewhat demanding entity in my life that is nursing school.  The concept of insane busy has ramped up a whole lot more this semester...to the tune of spending at least 10 hours each week for my Med-Surg clinical pre- and post-work, not counting the 7-8 hours of actual clinical time on the floor.  And that's just clinical for one class...I have plenty of work for the other classes.  I've decided that if I didn't need to sleep or eat, I would have a lot more time to get things done.  Unfortunately, my overall health and wellness don't really go for that, at least not on a long-term basis.  And I now have better knowledge that "long-term basis" refers to more than 1 night of not sleeping at all, and probably 3-4 nights in a row of minimal sleep (like, 2-3 hours).  Nursing school educates you in so many ways!  *sigh*

Things are going pretty good.  I've gotten a few clinicals under my belt, getting more confident around my patients and providing their care.  Still not a fan of the content area, but Mental Health clinicals have been interesting, both at the childrens' psychiatric hospital and at the various sites out in the community.  I really can't elaborate much, but I will say that humans can really, really suck sometimes..especially the parents of these kids we see at the psych hospital.  Especially when some of the kids get to doing better at the hospital and are released back into the hellhole that is their normal lives, and end right back up at the hospital.  Hello, people, YOU are what's wrong with your kiddos.  :-(

Med-Surg is probably my favorite, despite the crazy workload and the...umm, tribulations...with the new instructor.  We're all still in the learning curve, trying to find the best balance...and that's probably all I should mention about that.  Loving clinicals despite the crazy amount of weekly busywork to do.  Our time on the floor has doubled from last semester, we're more involved in the direct patient care process (as skills allow) and we're actually getting to do some procedures other than passing PO meds.  IV meds -- usually PRN morphine into peripheral IV's, but one classmate gave some scheduled meds into a central line (and the meds this patient was getting q2hr would have killed a horse...and not only was she not knocked out, she was talking coherently and walking around the unit.  Umm, yeah, OK...), lots of blood glucose testing and insulin admin, plus someone pulled a PICC line, someone pulled a Foley cath...and I'm saving this one for last...*someone* (ahem...ME!!) got to put in an NG tube.  And I have to say it was pretty darn cool to do it.  It was a textbook insertion on a non-textbook patient...in that he couldn't follow directions to swallow on cue.  Regardless, I hit the esophagus and stomach on the first attempt and my instructor said I did an excellent job.  I didn't give PO meds that day, but I think the NG tube insertion more than made up for it.  That was a week and a half ago and I'm still all jumping-up-and-down-excited from it.  Imadork.

First Med-Surg exam is under my belt -- got a good solid B on it, I'm happy with it -- and first Mental Health and EBP exams are coming up.  I'm trying to keep up with my text and ATI reading, hoping it helps with semester exams as well as the ATI testing at the end of the semester.  And other than that...just trying to keep my head above water.  Two more weeks of classes until fall break, then we're on the downhill slope of the semester.  Awesome possum.

Oh...and after almost a full year battling it...I finally "passed" my HepB titer and I'm now clinically compliant.  It took 6 vaxes and 3 titer checks, but I'm in the clear.  After all I've been dealing with this thing, that's almost worthy of a celebration...lol

'Tis Friday, which is my day "off" (ha...as if I really have a day off...), so after I get kiddos on the bus and delivered to school, I'm heading out for a much needed solo walk/run.  I do believe I'm going to have Frank accompany me (Frank as in Sinatra; accompanying as in his lovely voice from my Zune to my ears)...because I'm in an Ol' Blue Eyes kind of mood.  Then I have some cardiac reading, some psychiatric pharmacology reading, and some topic research to get to work on.  Yay, stuff to do.

Happy Friday, y'all...enjoy your weekend!