Day 59: 6 doors?

I don't even know what kind of car this is...but there were lots of people in it, and they left the door open with it running...apparently they weren't worried about it being stolen. Oh the things you see at Walmart.

Quote of the Day: "Hey I'm going to Walmart." "Ok, I need to go too. I just need to go grab my pants."~my roommate and I

Day 58: shine

Some graffiti near the Old Mall in Macon

Day 57: CABG

I got to watch open heart surgery! CABG x 2 using the mammary artery and great saphenous vein. It was super cool and all the nurses and doctors in the room were really great teachers. One of the doctors decided to quiz me periodically and I answered all of his questions correctly!! Yay me! Probably the coolest part was after they opened the patient's chest, you could see her beating heart and every time she breathed her sternal incision would open up as her rib cage expanded and you could see everything. I got to watch them stop the patient's heart (with potassium, one of the dr.'s questions), but I was standing at the patient's head so everything was upside down for me...so that was different. And this may sound weird, but I REALLY wanted to take a picture of it. I also REALLY wanted to touch her heart...but I know that is not sterile and they would have practically killed me if I'd tried but that would have been SO cool!

SO, since I couldn't touch it or take a picture I found this picture I drew when Mrs. Milner taught us about the heart last year...So this was basically what it looked like:

except the heart wasn't cut in half...just use your imagination, pretend it's beating and there's lots of fatty tissue everywhere.

Quote of the Day: "It's just like everything else in life. The dog won't do it because he knows that women are stingy..." ~Dr. B

Day 56: Reflective Journal

These are all the notes I wrote while I was at the hospital that I'm not using in my journal...so basically this picture shows all the time I wasted coping useless information...yay...also note how messy my handwriting is...blah.

I was also told that my journal should only be about 4 pages, I have 5 and I know I left a lot out.

Quote of the Day: "I feel like a midget just dropped kicked me in the knee" ~Marcos

Day 55: Poop

I don't know why, but I love this driveway.

I watched a man die today. I watched the monitor as the blood pressure dropped. I watched as his breathing stopped. I watched as a family slowly realized that their loved one was gone. I watched a family grieve. I watched a wife kiss her husband for the last time. I watched… and waited...and I felt completely helpless. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so restless in my life. It’s hard to just watch as someone dies. It’s even harder to watch if their family is there watching with you.

But the hospital is always busy and there’s always about a billion other things going on so it’s easy to not focus on the hard moments. It’s easy to find the humor in a situation and laugh. Luckily the patient in the next room was a bit of a character and his antics helped everyone laugh a little…especially when he pooped on the floor. I probably wouldn’t have laughed if I had to clean it up, but it was Bethany’s patient, so I thought it was hilarious.

Quote of the Day: "Go get your zip lock bag and some rags" ~Sheryl

"It's leaking... this makes me feel awkward..."

Day 54: R.I.C.E.

Free Pancake Day!

Tuesday Morning Pancakes!

I'm kinda accident prone and I had been doing pretty good about not hurting myself (it's been about a week), but today I elbowed a window sill/booth at IHOP ...and it won.

I don't think you can see it that well in the picture, but it's kinda swollen and starting to bruise...

Quotes of the Day: "What's taking so long? It isn't brain science!" ~Meagan

"I've got that pen too, but I didn't like the way it writed" ~Bethany

"But she was a madam. So she was like an expert at making guys happy" ~Mrs. Sewell

"I'm not like Zach, I don't have basic wilderness training" ~Mrs. Sewell

Examples of intentional infliction of emotional distress: "Handing a mother her stillborn child in a gallon jar of formaldehyde" ~Legal and Ethical Textbook (seriously this is written in my textbook)

Day 53: Busy Boredom

this is on a book shelf on the 1st floor of the health science building...

Day 52: Light bulbs

I got more Birthday Cards! I really like the pineapple that Emma drew for me. I think that's the best drawing she's ever made!

I also replaced all the blown light bulbs at Ren's house and inadvertently blew a fuse...it wasn't my fault, one of the bulbs was bad.

Day 51: Practicum Day 4

My clinical faculty person called me at 9:30 and told me that if I went downstairs and helped in this class by volunteering to be a burn patient then I could leave at 4 pm. At 12:00 I went down and they said they didn't need me. My teacher person made me stay till 7:00. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to go home early.

The time that I should have been walking to my car.

Quote of the Day: "Hey! Slow your roll! Just slow. Your. Roll." ~Tech at the hospital talking to a patient who kept yelling at everyone

Day 50: My Perfect Place

I used my Utopia Salon & Spa gift card to get a massage and it was wonderful. About half way through it Marti stopped and asked me what I was doing to be so tense. I told her I was in nursing school and she said "Oooh! I'm so proud of you!" She wasn't able to get all the knots out of my back, but she did loosen it up some! Afterwards she gave me a lecture about needing to learn to relax cause my "shoulders are touching my ears." ....that can't be good...

Day 49: Busy, busy

Practicum Day 3. Woke up at 4:30 am. Got home at 8:20 pm. Mute Math & Sean Kingston Concert (that I didn't go to), but lots of people stayed at my house so they could go. And Sarah came to visit! Didn't go to bed till 3 am...it was a LONG day.

Candid

Take 2: This is a horrible picture. Ryan was talking and eating, Andrea looks ok, but I'm sleep deprived. Overall: this is not a very attractive picture.

Day 48: another sun-less day

2nd Day of Practicum

Bad News: Woke up before 5 am got home after 8 pm...it was like it was night all day long cause I didn't get to see the sun.

Good News: I got to ride in the back of a cop car! Which is on my list of things that I want to do before I die (I don't know why), but I was super excited!

This isn't the actual cop car that I rode in, cause I'm pretty sure that the cop driving me from the parking lot to the hospital already thought I was crazy for being so excited about riding in the back of his car. So I know that he would've thought I was insane if I asked him if I could take a picture too...

Day 47: "Wah-Wah"

I only have 1 class on Tuesdays and its right in the middle of the day (12-2). We're supposed to be learning about the Legal and Ethical aspects of nursing...but whenever my teacher starts talking I don't really hear anything. It's like the teacher on the Peanuts Cartoon, you can hear Charlie Brown ask a question, but the only reply is "wah-wah." If she were an animal, she'd be a bird...she actually reminds me of the teacher on Jimmy Neutron. Anyway, I drew and colored and made flowers in class today to stay busy. She kept walking by me, and I was kinda waiting for her to say something to me, but I think I talk the most in our class discussions, so she can't say that I wasn't paying attention.

There was more, but I gave them to Amy and Ansley.

(Ansley, look I colored them)

Day 46: Class, Evolve, Study

my teacher gave me some practice questions to do in my free time....

(there's over 200 questions)

Day 45: Valentine's Day

I've never had a good Valentine's Day, but I must say that this was the best one so far. My nieces and my sister woke me up with Valentine's Day cards, I went to church, and saw the movie Valentine's Day with Ansley.

At church we talked about how Valentine's Day is a time to make an offering of love. While Jesus was in Bethany, Mary took an alabaster jar of pure nard and anointed Jesus; pouring it on his head and feet, then she wiped his feet with her hair. Mary took a risk and offered Jesus her most expensive possession. We hold back to protect ourselves from pain, rejection, risk, suffering...but all Jesus wants is our heart. Which I think its easy to give your heart to God, the hard part is accepting God's love in return.

Day 44: What do you want?

Saunders has an error, and wasted at least 4 hours of my time.

It stressed me out, but luckily my beautiful nieces were here to make me laugh.

"What do you want?" ~she's gonna make a great waitress...in her tiara and footy pj's

Day 43: SNOW!!!

Snow in Georgia! I didn't get to play in it though because Saunders consumes my life...thank you nursing school.

Day 42: Practicum

This is the book I'm reading. My sister got it for me for Christmas. I read some of it after my first day of practicum and Florence Nightengale is amazing.

Day 41: I use post-its like an addict uses needles

So tomorrow is my first day of practicum. I am going to be in the CVICU at an AMAZING level 1 trauma center, magnet hospital. This practicum is like my dream job! I am so incredibly excited...and yet I am so terribly nervous! It's like when you're little and you wait in line for 4 hours to meet Mickey Mouse (who is your hero). Then after all that waiting, you finally see him and he is so big that you run away crying (true story, I was 2). Anyways, that's kinda how I feel now.

I really do love Mickey Mouse. My mom bought me Mickey Mouse Post-its and pens for Christmas. I also love Post-its. I have them everywhere. I actually have some just randomly stuck on my wall, desk, bible, alarm clock...

Quote of the day: "Oh. You were practicing that in the shower and I got worried." ~Cameron on Modern Family

Day 40: pj's + free chicken + friends = stress relief

Breakfast for Dinner! If you wore pajamas then you got a free breakfast entree, I just love Chick-fil-A!!

Meagan and I were twins! (we have the same pants)

I can't remember what Meagan was laughing at, but apparently it was funny...I love her laugh!

Quote of the Day: "I'm gonna call him Wood....together we'd be Har-dur!" ~Amy

Day 39: "Since I rarely hug I’m relying on your expertise on duration" ~ Sheldon

Even though nursing school is consuming my life and I'm stressed out beyond reason, this has been a pretty good birthday! I got phone calls from all my family (this is the 1st time that all 3 of my brothers called me on my actual birthday), I ingested copious amounts of sugar, and all my friends have found ways to make me smile today...

Also, I have the best roommate! She got me a birthday card with a pineapple on it, an ice-cream cake, and the cactus cups that we had at El Tequila! (see day 28) I also got 31 Days of Praise from Ansley which she talked about at Tuesday Morning Prayer. I'm so excited about reading it!
Quote of the Day: “The best thing about this book is the way it smells” ~ Ansley

Day 38: Your Next Step may change your Life

I forgot to take a picture earlier today so I had to resort to finding something in my house.... This is my pig. My Nanny made it (she has ceramic molds and kilns and stuff) and my mom painted it for me for my 1st birthday. It is now 21 years old. I don't really like pigs (they're mean), but my mom called me miss piggy cause I was a fat baby and I like food...and I was mean, so that probably was a fitting name...

Day 37: Let the Celebrations Begin!

The older I get the longer my birthday celebrations last. As a kid we'd spend a day or a weekend doing fun stuff as a family or with friends. But now that I live away from home I get to have my birthday every time I visit someone...which I'm not gonna lie, is really cool. So its more like my birth"month" than my birth"day".

Tonight was the beginning of the festivities and my awesome sister (who might be starting project 365!) always does something really nice for me. She made me a steak dinner and some delicious cupcakes (she knows that food is my weak spot), she is so creative!

Then she gave me the best present ever!!!

I also got to spend the day with 3 of my most favorite people:

(I realize that Sam is not technically a person, but he was my 1st nephew and I just love him)

Both of the girls just got hair cuts...they look so much older now. Sadly I ended up spending most of the day working on modules...

Saunders, I highly dislike you...notice that I was on screen 1 of 532, this is only 1 of the 5 lessons in Module 10...thank you nursing school for consuming my life...

Day 36: I like commas, I sprinkle them like pepper...

I discovered several things this week:

1. I will barter for baked goods. (I spoke on a Women's Sexual Diversity Panel so that I could get free brownies...)

2. I know like 20 people (that I actually talk to pretty regularly) who were born in February.

3. There is a small brick retention wall in the bushes next to my house (I wish the retention wall behind my house was brick instead of stacked railroad ties...maybe then we wouldn't have roaches living in it)

4. Rain boots are quite possibly the greatest thing ever invented, but boys don't wear them {although, they will wear snake bite boots (which are also water resistant) but only if there is a possibility that they will be bitten by a snake}

5. The "Jesus Picture of the Day" on Matthew Paul Turner's blog "jesus needs new pr" are hilarious and surprisingly disturbing at times...

6. I really like commas ...and ellipses (is that the plural for ellipsis?)

7. My room is very dark.

8. There is a light in my upstairs hallway.

9. Having a light bulb in it make the stairs/hallway much brighter.

10. Using that light does not decrease my chance of falling down the stairs.

Day 35: "Women are crazy, angry, and looney due to penis envy"

Wal-mart lies....

I was on facebook earlier and I found my dog!

For my 9th birthday I got this little white puppy. He was absolutely precious...until he threw up on me, but I still loved him! I named him Blizzard cause I thought that if he'd ever got lost in a blizzard then you'd never be able to find him (I was a pretty creative kid, especially since I lived in Southeast Georgia where it NEVER snows). Like a year later we moved into "the city" and we had to chain Blizzard up outside, which he didn't like. One day I woke up and he was gone, chain and all. I was devastated and I felt guilty for chaining him up. I can still remember praying that he would find a good home. About 8 months later we went to help our old youth pastor move and there was my dog. Apparently Blizzard pulled his chain out of the ground and ran five miles before a cop found him and took him to a pound. The next day our old youth pastor adopted him, which was a miracle cause Bob hated dogs. Anyway, I just found that family on facebook and they still have Blizzard. He's like 13 years old now! He's a little fluffier than he used to be, but I would recognize that little fur-ball anywhere. I don't know why but just seeing him has put me in the best mood!

I was trying to find a picture of Blizzard as a puppy, but instead I came across some of the ridiculous things from freshman year that my roommate and I did. We wrote what we called "Woman Law" which was a response to the Man Law that our guy friends always talked about at the time and the lame woman laws that other people had come up with. We had like 100 laws, but I only found 6:

1. When your roommate/most-amazing-person-in-the-world's boyfriend is being hit on, you should hit that person in the face.
2. A roommate should not give said roommate's boyfriend a sexual innuendo card on his birthday, or else said roommate will stab her in the face.
3. A woman cannot make a picture of a prettier woman her profile picture, nor can she lie on her facebook status
4. If your roommate/suite-mate wants to have sex then she and her partner must get a hotel room
5. A roommate cannot dig out locks of your hair from the trash to give to people who could possibly be obsessed with you, if said roommate does so then they are thereby subject to a thorough beating in the face.
6. If a woman is eating ice cream then it is not expected for said woman to remember anything that a friend tells her.

(These were all based off of actual events)

Day 34: Crying is good for your immune system

I didn't have a good day today. But I have some pretty amazing friends! I went to Meagan's and we watched a sad movie (Marley and Me), had a little wine and some chocolate... and I cried.

I don't really cry that much, it's kind of a rare occurrence. So it felt a little weird to cry because of a movie...but its ok, because crying is good for your immune system.

Day 33: Hungry?

So I bought an article of clothing and when I got home I realized that the label said Jezebel. Who would name a clothing line, Jezebel? I automatically think about Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, King of the Sidonians (1 Kings 16). She was thrown out a window and "some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her underfoot." Then her flesh was eaten by dogs....which makes me think that maybe whoever came up with this label name wasn't aware of the Jezebel in Biblical history. Now whenever I wear that piece of clothing, I'm gonna be a little wary anytime a dog comes near me.

Speaking of eating...tonight was Tuesday night dinner, and it was at my house. I made brownies!

They were delicious!!

(they were for dessert...I made real food too)

Day 32: Peace

I was at Ansley's house and didn't have a picture for today yet so I took one of a picture on her wall. It's kinda funny cause this is actually one of my favorite verses, I just didn't really read it until I got home. But I like verse 7 even more. Philippians 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your

requests to God.⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and

your minds in Christ Jesus"

This is the scripture I read the day I got my acceptance letter for nursing school. I was so anxious that I cried almost all day because I didn't get a letter when everyone else did. Turns out my letter was placed in the wrong mailbox. It's hard to believe that was almost 2 years ago and now I'm already looking for jobs. I just hope and pray that the peace of God stays with me so I can get through this semester.