Another test…

Meds Publishing, Calculating Powdered Meds: 25/25.

Also I visited my Godparents today, and met MC from Cheezfrenz (along with several of the TenGazillionHouseCats). \o/

Long story short

Long story short: Pharm Quiz 1, 102. Fundamentals Quiz 4, 100. Cultural Awareness (Meds Publishing), 10/10. Pharm Quiz 2, not graded yet. Clinical week 2, awesome. Weekend, rainy. PotatoeBabies.com at Festival, crazy fun. Today, not so great, actually. I got home from school and Mike was here—he went to give the ratties their medicine this morning and found that Nuku had gone to the Rainbow Bridge during the night. I’m glad he didn’t call me at school, but I’m bummed that he was here all day by himself. More school tomorrow.

Teenie

Smelling like dog and feeling good

5/8/08

This morning we had a class on “study skills and time management”. It was kinda stupid but fun; took a couple quizzes and found out I suck at time management (DUH!), did some group activities/games, and laughed a lot. Then we had medical terminology. Easier than pie. After lunch was more Fundamentals, covering the text chapters “Sensory Perception” and “Comfort” which was mostly about pain management. Not all that exciting, but the instructor has lots of interesting stories and often goes off on tangents while giving real-life examples. Her lessons could easily be called “Story Time With Mrs. S.”

On my lunch break I went to my parents’ house to see Alesis. When I walked in the door she was lying on her doggy bed in the dining room, waiting to see who was coming in. Her buddy Missy (another Big Black Dog) took care of the running-to-the-door-barking bit for her. Once Alesis realized it was somebody she knew coming in, she got up and came to the door. I petted both of them, then said hello to Grama-Grama (my grandmother—called Grama-Grama by my nephews to distinguish her from my mom, THEIR grandma) and started to get down on my knees to talk to Alesis. She realized I was going to play with her, and KNOCKED ME OVER! There I was, flat on my butt with Alesis trying to climb in my lap while licking my face, and Missy trying to see what Alesis was doing (also getting in my lap in the process), and Grama-Grama looked down at me and laughed. She said “You’d never know that dog is sick, by watching her! She’s still so full of pep and so interested in everything.” Grama-Grama is right; Alesis doesn’t seem to realize she’s old and sick. All she notices is that it takes her longer to go up and down stairs (due to arthritis). So I sat on the floor and let the dogs climb all over me for a bit. I went back to school with black fur all over my uniform, smelling a bit like dog, and feeling fantastic. Some part of my mind knows that Alesis is not long for this world, but she’s still enjoying life and that’s what I’m going to focus on.

Tomorrow we have our first A&P quiz. Wish me luck!

Hopeful,

Teenie

Asepsis

5/7/08

Today was awesome. The morning class was Fundamentals again, and the lecture was on Asepsis—the differences between medical asepsis (clean technique) and surgical asepsis (sterile technique), hand washing, types of microorganisms, hand washing, nosocomial infections, hand washing, standard precautions, hand washing, the ‘chain of infection’, hand washing, personal protective equipment, and hand washing. This afternoon was the first lab class, during which we learned how to put on and take off sterile gloves, masks, goggles, and gowns. We also practiced…wait for it…hand washing! Most of these things I already knew, but I’m trying to take in as much as I can and look at things as if they’re brand new to me. When I was in the GRCC nursing program, I was doing what I’ve always done in school—putting forth the least possible effort required to skate by. In retrospect, I’m glad my clinical instructor failed me. When you’re dealing with people’s lives, you CAN’T just skate by, and I needed to learn that. I think I’ve studied more in the last 3 days than I did in 3 weeks of school before.

In other news, Alesis has bladder cancer. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_transitional_cell_carcinoma.html

The vet says she has about 2 months left without surgery, 4 months with. She will not be having surgery. She IS now on Piroxicam, an anti-inflammatory that also has anti-tumor effects, so she might improve some. I’m keeping in mind that she’s 12 years old, and that’s a pretty darned good life for a dog. I’m also going to visit her after class tomorrow. I’m planning to sit on the floor so she can curl up in my lap for a while—when I first got her, she was about 4 weeks old (yes, I know, too young to leave momma dog, but that decision was made before I met her…my then-boyfriend’s brother was feeding her beer…rage building…deep breath…okay!) and could curl up in my hands. She weighs about 45 pounds, but she still thinks she’s tiny sometimes. Silly puppy.

Tired,

Teenie

Day 2

5/06/08

Today was better. It was a more ‘normal’ day, I guess. The morning class was Nursing Fundamentals. Today it included the history of nursing as a profession, health care systems (hospitals, primary care centers, long term care, etc), and a little bit about leadership. Lots of talk about ‘you’ll hear more about this in Level III but here’s a general overview’. At lunch time I walked over to Meijer; I drank my soda at midmorning break because I was feeling so tired and I needed to get another one. Note to self: bring 2 sodas tomorrow. While I was at Meijer I got a call from my mom. She took my dog, Alesis, to the vet yesterday because she (Alesis) has blood in her urine. They didn’t find anything wrong with her kidneys or bladder on x-ray, but as it happened her hips were visible and she has almost no hip joint left. Poor old girl. She’s had arthritis for a while now and it’s not really surprising, seeing as she’s turning 12 this month. Anyway, she goes back to the vet for an ultrasound tomorrow to figure out what happens next. Back to school. The afternoon class was more A&P, which included a lot more of ‘you’ll learn this in Level II-III but right now you just need to know the function of this (organ, system, whatever)’. We got quite a few study guide sheets today, which makes me feel a lot better. If something’s not on the study guide I don’t necessarily need to SQ3R it or make a vocab card, just read it once and maybe go back to it when I get done with the stuff that is on the sheet. Only one chapter to read for tomorrow, and I got it done about an hour ago (including vocab cards), so now I’m watching the Tigers play the Red Sox. Not a great game, but it’s relaxing nonetheless.

Slightly less whelmed,

Teenie