Mind is Racing yet...

I'm lying in bed trying to prepare my body to go to sleep since I must awake at 0430...

Yes! That's right. For the love of nursing school, I must get my little bunny head out of bed at 0430 so that I can make myself breakfast, dress myself in maroon & white scrubs, freak out a few times making sure I have my paperwork, ID badge and key for unit before I meet the rest of my group in the mall parking lot to leave by 0530 and drive to Waco for our Mental Health clinical at the VA hospital. Whew!

I probably won't have much luck falling asleep before 2200. And if I become lucky, I'll be asleep before 0000 = midnight. I'm not the best at falling asleep or staying asleep but I would probably win the Gold medal for mind racing!

I have had a lot on my mind lately and I shall list them instead of paragraphs because those are just too boring to read...in no particular order...

1. SCHOOL
2. Clinicals
3. Clinical paperwork
4. School schedule ...long story...
5. Headaches and the possible causes
6. Justin and the absence of hugs
7. Weight gain...leading to...
8. Finding time to Workout
9. Making the grades to possibly apply to Nurse Practitioner school in the future
10. Budgeting money
11. Vomit...it's following me...I'll explain later because it's slightly funny yet not really
12. Friends...miss them...
13. Family...missing them even more so...
14. Puppies...I love my parent's dogs like children! 
15. Should I sign up to volunteer for another organization? Google Morning Glory Ranch
16. Prayer life
17. Managing time...am I doing it right? Yet I know I could do better because...
18. TV = I love the shows I record too much!
19. Horses ...I miss riding...and jumping...and barrel racing...and Horses!
20. My Grandparents. I pray to my grandfathers a lot. I pray for my grandmothers a lot too. 
21. Living alone & trying not to become a Schizophrenic Paranoid adult (just had an exam over the subject and had to watch A Beautiful Mind)
22. Finding time to do the things I want to do such as cooking healthy meals, crafts, etc.
23. Disaster Day...March 20th...then the planning begins for DDay 2015!
24. Having I covered everything?
25. Oh...worrying about worrying...HA!

It's kinda sad how long this list is but probably the possible cause of my reoccurring headaches. I have a prescribed med to help with them but I have found that caffeine and yoga help reduce them. I had blood work done and my numbers are pristine! When I went to my follow-up on Monday, my blood pressure was 117/79 and my pulse was 55!!! Really?! I usually measure it between 60 and 70 but who knows. I am healthy and am very blessed to be. I am a curvy girl and have body issues but then I go to the gym and I think, "I may not be the smallest or the strongest but I am healthy, smart and have good things going for me."

Oh about VOMIT...LOL... So Thursday in the hospital, I went to round on my patient, take her vitals and do my initial assessment. She said she was nauseated so I immediately put on gloves and put a basin on her lap. She tolerated the assessment very well and the Clinical Teaching Assistant said I did a good job. When I went back to my patient's room a few minutes later, she vomited into the basin. I was glad I gave her the basin and the act or sound did not bother me UNTIL...(dun, dun, dunnnnnnn)...I had to measure it. There's this thing called I's & O's (intake & output) that nurses have to do especially when ordered. My patient had I's & O's so I had to measure her "output." Yes. I gagged. Yes. It smelled. Yes. I'll stop there. (I'm sure my mother and father are freaking out I'm putting this on the blog, but I have a point!) It's a part of nursing. I handled it very well until...............the toilet pipes blew water everywhere and needless to say, I probably got toilet water and possibly vomit on me. Whatever. Life. I got over it then....

...Sunday, in 0800 church, a little boy threw up. No one heard it because I think we were singing the Alleluia but I saw the puddle. I contemplated getting up and following the boy and his mom and making sure he was okay but I figured I'd say a prayer for him to feel better. Yet I was distracted by the dad cleaning up the puddle and using some aerosol spray to cover up the smell. I dislike smelly aerosol sprays. And this wasn't my last incidence with vomit...

...Monday!!! I was waiting to go back to see the doctor for a follow-up on my headache ordeal and this lady walks to the bathroom, asking another lady quickly if she can go because she had to vomit and proceeds to go in. You could hear her. Then the girl's male significant other tried to check on her but she was locked in. He got the clerk, who got some nurses, followed by a doctor and proceeded to get her in a wheelchair to take her to the back. She was okay but my nursey-spidey instincts were going crazy by that point!

Long story short, I want to be a nurse. God created me to become a nurse. I want to be an awesome nurse! So please pray that I can achieve this goal and that my stress and headaches decrease because I seriously will start resorting to eating chocolate anything while getting massages if I don't start feeling better! ...LOL...

Love y'all,

A

P.S. Another reason I'm going to be a Nurse - coercing Justin to get his Flu Shot this past December. 

He HATES needles..........he he he

Foodie Taking Too Many Naps

In the past 2 weeks, I've come to realize that I love food and naps TOO MUCH. I get a hankering for a particular food and that's it, I must make it or a variation of it to curb my craving. I've started cooking interesting meals such as boiling red potatoes and sweet potatoes together then mashing them with butter and garlic. Oh so yummy!

The next craving I had was mac n' cheese but it took me awhile to get to making it because I had other leftovers to eat first. After boiling whole grain noodles and using yogurt instead of cream or milk as a base, I added onion and bacon and peas. Little did I know, yogurt gives an interesting taste to the dish but my bacon and onion made up for it.

And of course, don't forget I have the sweet tooth of the ages! I have to have some sort of sweet thing every day...not good for my hips...yet sometimes it's healthy and sometimes it's sinful. Friday, Kerry & I treated ourselves to cupcakes for successfully completely our simulation labs. Then Saturday night, instead of running to the store for ice cream or frozen yogurt, I made oven-dried apple chips. They made the house smell HEAVENLY and tasted very delicious but the mandoline is an evil contraption. I cut my thumb pretty bad but no worries, the nurses in training knew what to do and I fixed myself right up!

As for school, our first Med-Surg (medical-surgical or Adult Health I) Exam is tomorrow. I've been preparing a little bit at a time for a week now and am getting more comfortable with the content. I have 2 books that are very helpful instead of just reading the power points over and over. I order another review book to help me through this semester and the reviews on Amazon said it will continue to help me through my next Med-Surg or Adult Health II class next semester.

I have my 1st Mental Health clinical in Waco on Wednesday. Our 1st exam is next Monday and I have yet to start preparing for it. I also ordered a review book from Amazon to help me in that class because I'd rather read that than a giant textbook that has too much information!

Anyways, I have a busy week with a partial paper due, exam and 4 clinical days in a row with paperwork to get through but I can do it! I just can't take as many naps (sad face).

Oh! Those naps...yeah, I like to nap...a LOT! I have never been one for naps until the past couple months. I don't understand why but I need to stop the cycle. It's not only cutting into my study time but I haven't been working out as much. Yet another reason for napping is that I've been suffering from severe tension headaches. I went to the doctor and the eye doctor and nothing is severely out of whack but I have a med to help.

So as long as I stay up-to-date with my assignments and studies, take less naps, and not cause any headaches this week, I think it'll be a good long yet fun week!

Love,
A

One of my concoctions - Almost Stuffed Bell Pepper