Rain rain go away!

Ugh, a Nor Easter hit this weekend and is drenching us with rain and more rain. It is suppose to be a beautiful fall here and instead, it feels like winter! Driving to Clinical today I saw that people still want to drive like it is dry and sunny out. I came across 4 accidents at least on my way today which caused me to be 30min late for clinical, normally I am there 20min early. On the way home I saw at least 2 or 3. An 80 mile round trip commute is bad enough without having to deal with this kind of traffic. Generally I am going the opposite direction of traffic so it doesn't take that long.

Today was the conclusion of our second week of clinical. I have had the same patient for both weeks and I am really enjoy him. It is a dementia unit so many can not talk like my guy...ok he can talk some but usually it is totally inappropriate. When I am saying inappropriate...I mean inappropriate and words I would not repeat her on this blog.

When I arrive I take his Blood pressure, temp, pulse and respiration's. Then I get him bathed, dressed and up in his wheel chair. We stay through lunch and feed them which for many is worse than feeding a 1 year old.

When I got to clinical today, my patient was not responsive, clammy, and sweating. I immediately got my clinical director and we evaluated him. In the long run it came down to being "nothing" as far as the staff were concerned. His blood sugar was not the cause, his temp was not high, and his blood pressure was low but they didn't seem concerned. So we left it at that but both agreed that something was probably coming on. I will be interested to see next week if anything comes of this.

There are a couple lady's who love to sing and sing they do...even if completely off key! So all day I was serenaded. I enjoy working with these people but look forward to moving on. It is hard when you can't talk to some or others are talking nonsense. Though I will say one nice thing is, when you ask them to do something, or take something and they say no...all you have to do is turn around and say "Hello so and so I am glad to see you, would you..." Inevitably they forgot that 2 seconds ago you asked them the same thing and they said no and this time they say yes.

Our next rotation will be in the hospital and with Ortho patients (hip fractures ect). This will be a demanding floor but I am looking forward to moving beyond the basics which is where we are at now. For many it is intimidating doing what we are doing now but for me I have been doing this and more in the hospital already so it is just a matter of fine tuning it to the way they want it done.

Test number 1

I spent all last week and this past weekend studying for a test on Monday. It was our first of six exams for the semester! On Sunday night I went to bed early to get some good rest and I woke up at 5am. I decided to go for a run in order to try and burn off the stress. Instead I ended up throwing up! Doh!

Our exam was at 9am so it was a very long morning. However, once we got the test things went pretty well. For the first time in my life I was going to be exstatic just to get a C. After the exam though as people were talking I realized that I probobly did pretty well.

Well drum roll everyone! :-)

The average score in the class was a 72%. THe highest score was an 84% and I got a whopping 80%. I can't believe it...I am never one of the high scores. Well, that gives me some confidence going into this year...Thank you God!

Today we reviewed the tests. They make everyone put everything away including pens and pencils. You are given 30min to review the test and then you won't ever see it again! Strict huh? I have always used my tests as study guides for the final but we can't even go into the teacher after today to look at it. However, as soon as that time was up I wrote everything I could remember that I made mistakes on.

The good thing was that my errors were not knowledge based errors. So obviously my studying is good. My errors were symantic errors...that I can work on.

Well on to the next test in just 2 weeks or so. Our teachers were nice enough to explain they only get harder from here on out. Darn it!

Exhausted!

I think I have hit a wall! I am only 3 weeks into school and I have already hit a wall. How sad is that? I have been going to school 5 days a week and working 2 days a week. When I am home I am reading or studying much of the time. When I lay down to go to bed my mind is racing so fast that I can't even fall asleep.

Yesterday, I came home and was mentally fried. I tried to look at the books and my notes and I realized it was futile...I needed a break. Today I came home and am feeling kind of sick....headache, nauseous, and exhausted. I tried to take a nap but this brain of mine is on overload and I drifted for a measly 10 min and then I was laying there wide awake. Now I must try to pull myself togethor and study. I have a test Monday so I have a lot to do before then.

On Monday I got the results of a math test that we had to take. You had to pass the test with an 80% and no matter what you got 80 or above you just receive a pass. So I passed by the hair on my chinny chin chin. phew! This is one of those test that could fail me from the program. They give you 2 or 3X to pass and I know that a few did not pass...but thank God I was not one of them.

Class is going well. Finally this week we began our clinical times in the nursing home so I only had to spend 3 days sitting at a desk listening to someone talk at me. Today I started at the nursing home where I will spend the next 4 weeks. We go there on Thursdays and Fridays each week. Today was a basic orientation to the facility and then we were given our patient that we will be working one on one with. The floor I am on is an alzteimers unit. Beginning tomorrow I will actually be working with my patient.

If you would like to contribute to the....

SaraJane nursing school fund you can go to any local bank...Ok I am just kidding. However, I do have a praise. It is a huge praise. My Car is Paid off!!!!! Yes can you believe it! That is a lot of money each month that has now been freed up. This was a blessing from God through some great people. I can't tell you how great it is to see God provide. Every time I wonder if I made the right decision He makes it clear that I did through things like this.

Now when I look at the daunting task of paying for school and living expenses I can only look at things like this and see how true the Bible is when it says that He will meet our every need. It probably isn't going to happen that $25 or $30000 is dropped in my lap but it is in the small things. A hundred dollars here, no more car payment there etc!

Waiting on Tropical storm Hannah

We are expecting to get hit with tropical storm Hannah on the coast. However, they are predicting that we will expect plenty of rain and wind as well as flooding. I don't think it is suppose to reach us till Saturday night or Sunday morning but tomorrow is to be rainy all day. It is also going to be very humid...as much as 100% humidity tomorrow morning. by mid afternoon it will drop to around 70% humidity which is still very high. Sounds like a good weekend to stay inside, study and enjoy the AC. When it is humid out it does not matter what you do it seeps inside. If the AC goes off for an hour then it becomes very muggy inside. So I don't expect our AC will be off much tomorrow.

And they say Oregon is rainy. I have had more rain this summer! At least generally Oregon is Sunny and dry during the summers :-)

Week One is complete...

And they haven't kicked me out, nor have I failed a test. I am doing pretty good so far. Mind you I haven't had a test to take so I guess there really wasn't a test to fail.

I had 3 days of class this week. We won't start clinicals for 2 weeks so in the mean time it is just class and lab. I enjoy my teacher. She is very good and seems very excited to help each one of us be successful. I heard her say today to a lady in the office that she was very excited for this group of students and that it was a good bunch. That was nice to hear.

So all my fears are not gone but at least they are easing us in. Ask me in a few weeks how crazy busy it is. In the mean time I am enjoying some time to get a routine down. My teacher made a comment today that she was very impressed with those of us who read and that it was obvious in our discussion and questions. I can honestly say I read everything. I was a little to intense in the beginning. It took me forever to read 5 pages and I had 2x as many notes written for those 5 pages. Since I have scaled back my notes and focused on noting the bold stuff, defenitions, and the extra boxes. By the end my reading was much faster.

This weekend I have a ton of reading to do and I have my first test next Friday (math for pharmacology), and on the 22nd I will have my big lecture exam. Next week I will begin work again. I am working 10 8 hour shifts a month which is part time and maintains my health insurance. It also minimizes the loans I have to take out. I am going to try it for a month and see how it goes. As long as I can handle it I will continue.

My class is made up of 30 students and maybe 5 of them are guys. The ages vary but maybe only 2 of them are in their 40's. The rest are in their 20's and a few are in their 30's by my best guess. It seems to be a good group of students.

Now the countdown begins till Aug 14th which is my last day of class! So far and yet it will come flying up I am sure. Thanks for all of your encouragement.

My last weekend of freedom!

So this past weekend was my last weekend to do whatever I wanted, guilt free, and no homework hanging over my head. On Saturday i went to Six Flags Great Adventure with my brother and his family. When we got there it was a bit humid but the crowds were great. For it being a holiday weekend and a Saturday we could not believe how quiet it was. Our longest wait in line for a ride was maybe 20min. That is unheard of but was great.

After a little time in the kids section, my sister n law and I decided to go over and do the inner tube ride. It is a giant innertube that has seats for 12 people. Sean was not so convinced however, and kept saying, it seems like we are going to get really wet. We explained over and over that we did this ride before and didn't get very wet (famous last words). As we got on the ride Sean decided to put his old rafting skills in place and proceeded to guide the thing down the rapids. At every spot where the water would splash up he had us 3 girls in a prime spot to get soaked and soaked we got. Sean finished the ride dry while us girls were soaked. Doh!!!!

After that, I manged to convince Sean to go on the roller coaster Nitro with me. Check out this Roller Coaster....



Nitro climbs up to 230 feet and then plummets 215 feet in a 66 degree angle gaining a speed of 80 miles per hour, wow! Talk about fun. I usually am a chicken when it comes to rides like this but my roommate Audrey talked me into it early in the summer and now I am hooked.

After that we went on the wooden roller coaster called El Torro. Sean convinced me on that. I decided after the last time I was there and had gone on one of the wooden roller coasters that I didn't like them. They are bumpier, jerkier, and make you feel like you are going to fly off the tracks. They just don't seem fun to me. This wooden roller coaster was higher and faster than the one Audrey and I went on which seemed even less fun.



When I was thinking how to describe this roller coaster I thought I would look on line and see how others describe this...well here it goes "El Toro focuses on height, speed, and the holy grail for coaster lovers: airtime. The ride delivers nine moments of weightless nirvana. The ride begins with four huge, successive drops. It finishes with some highly banked moments and some devilish, twisting elements that look wild." Ok if that doesn't freak you out. The thing goes around 70 or 80 mph and the first drop is extremely high. When we were going down the drops I was freaked out because not only was it really fast but it gave you the impression that you were going to have your head decapitated by the wooden beams above. I even tried to duck at one point though the g-forces were so strong it only seemed to give me a kink in my neck. In all reality I was not even close to being the tallest person on the ride and I was at the back so if no one else had there head cracked by the beams was it all that realistic for me to be afraid of that...no...however, you don't have time to be logical. Sean and I decided to wait for the back row. It would be less intense. However, the guys in front of us as we were climbing the first 188 ft hill were asking us if this was our first time. I said yes but we did just do Nitro so it should be fine. They proceeded to explain to us that this was way worse than Nitro, way faster and way scarier. They also said that being in the back we'll be lucky to stay in...so the back wasn't the way to go I guess. By this time Sean explained to them they had successfully freaked us out. Then came our first drop.

When we were finished my sister n law tried to convince us to go on the ride called King da Ka which is a very short but intense roller coaster. You climb 456 ft and go a maximum speed of 128mph as it drops you straight down. No thank you! However, I said I would go on it just to see the look on Sean's face. I proceeded to inform my sister n law that I said yes because I knew Sean would say no. Thank God I don't have too mocho of a brother because otherwise I might have found my way on that ride.

The night ended with a fun "Glow in the Dark" parade. The kids loved this and it was very creative as you will see the pictures.

Not bad for a big hurrah weekend. I ended the weekend by going over to help Sean weed out his front yard and mow on labor day weekend. He said he didn't mind doing it by himself and would feel guilty that I was spending my labor day weeding...but I took it as a great opportunity to spend a little one on one time with my big Brother. We ended the night with dinner at the Franklin Steak house for a little Labor Day grub. I love having big brothers!

Here are some pics from our Great adventure day!

Nursing school update

So I went into the school on Tuesday to take a Pharmacology for Math challenge test. They require this class for admittance into the nursing program. I spent my vacation studying math. When I arrived I felt pretty good except for the IV infusion problems. When I sat down for the test I just prayed "Lord please don't let there be many on the test and if there is please help me to remember." Well, after the test I sat and waited for it to be graded. I was sooooooo nervous, I couldn't stop shaking. Tests freak me out anyway but I knew that if I was going to have a chance to be in the program that I needed to pass this test. A half hour later the dean walks in and says you passed but you need to work on the infusion problems. Thank you Lord was all I could say. I will have to know those but at least I have some time in order to get better acquainted with them.

At this point I have passed the test but still don't know if there is a seat in the program. Mind you the program starts less than 24 hours later. As I was sitting there they were discussing another students who they were waiting on to let them know if she was going to be in the program or not. Then they realized that she hadn't taken the math challenge and they weren't going to wait on her anymore. Sweet I thought and then they said ok you are in. I could not contain my excitement.

I promptly texted my brother to let him know and he proceeded to tell me to triple check before I told the world. I figure that since I have now sat in on orientation, bought my books, bought my uniform, began studying, and saw my horrendous bill that this constitutes a safe time to inform you all that I am officially in. Yippee!

Wednesday was the first of a 2 day orientation where they proceeded to scare the living daylights out of each one of us. I am now wondering what they were thinking when they accepted me and what I was thinking when I applied. I will spend 28 hours in class or clinical time and then will have a boat load of studying. Throughout the semesters I will have must pass tests on top of my other tests that if I do not pass I will be dropped from the program. My grade will be based on test scores and my license will be dependent on a major test. Have I told you lately that tests freak me out. I am a B average student in college because they had papers and other assignments to help our grade. I have major test anxiety and even if I know all of the material inside and out I have managed to fail tests. I had a teacher help me with this problem and it has been better but it doesn't take away the anxiety I feel.

I also know that I need to work in order to make it financially through this year and that is going to be tough. I have yet to find someone in my program who is doing so. Ahhhh! I really hope that I can do a lot of one-to-one babysitting jobs at the hospital which will allow for lots of studying but that is still a ways out of possibilities.

Though as I have panicked this past week, God has brought me comfort. First and foremost in the fact that He has directed every step of the way and that has been evident. Just in the process as things have been back and forth I have had a peace that God was in control and that I could trust that. In the end He showed Himself as He moved mountains to get me into the program less than 24 hours from the start.

Also on Wednesday I went to Church and the pastor taught on Isaiah 40. I won't put it here but I highly encourage you to read through it all. It was amazing as he started in saying "Comfort oh comfort my people." Then He goes on to talk about the Glory of the Lord and preparing a way for Him referring to the coming of Jesus. "The grass dies and flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord will live forever." The word of God and Jesus will live forever as we pass, and this earth fades. Then Isaiah talks about the supremacy of God "Who has measured the oceans in the palm of His hand? Who used His hand to measure the sky?.....Can you compare God to anything?...God sits on his throne above the circle of the earth..." This leaves you thinking of How great God is and how could he care about the little things in our lives like nursing school or a test. Yet He doesn't leave it there. He goes on to say that "The Lord is the God who lives forever, who created all the world. He does not become tired or need to rest...He gives strength to those who are tired and more power to those who are weak...The people who trust the Lord will become strong again. They will rise up as an eagle in the sky; they will run and not need rest; they will walk and not become tired."

Though God is great and mighty He does care about his people and He will lift them up. As nervous as I am about this year I can take comfort in the fact that He guides our very steps. He opened the door for nursing school and he will guide me through.

Thanks for all of your prayers this summer and I look forward to them as I continue into the next phase. Next September I will cross that stage with my diploma in hand.

Photos from my trip to Oregon

Tryon Creek State Park in the heart of Portland, Oregon. This is a beautifully wooded park with lots of trails and fun stuff to see.




My friends kids from our hike at Tryon creek park.




My friends from the running group I headed up at Portland Running Co. I had a chance to go run with them again and then 6 of us went out to dinner afterwards.




Portland at night. Oh I do miss the beauty of this place and having the mountains all around. I miss being just an hour away from the beach and an hour away from the mountains.








My friends Larry and Nancy. We went to dinner in downtown Portland and then walked the waterfront. There was the Louis Palau Evangelistic event going on at the water front. On the other side of the waterfront we got to see the Hood to Coast relay runners make there way from Mt. Hood to the Coast. It is a 30 some hour event. You have 10 runners and each runs 3 legs. They run through the night and end on the beach for a big party. I'll run a marathon before doing that. It isn't the distance it is the 3 different legs and sitting in a van in between as well as the lack of sleep.








This guy was carrying a boa constrictor through the crowd of 50-100000 people before the police kicked him out. Is he crazy? The thing hasn't eaten in 5 months, I don't want to find out when it becomes hungry again.