today I met a patient.

Exciting, right? Sometimes the whole 'slow introduction to the hospital' thing seems stupidly slow. For instance, I've had a total of 10 in-hospital clinical hours and only 10 minutes of all those hours have been spent with an actual real human being. The rest? Spent talking about how to talk to our patients. I guess this is a big issue??

We also spent a fair bit of time going over our client's chart. And holy hannah, those are huge charts. At DP we have one big binder per floor. At the Glen, there's one big binder per patient. And in it you got your admitting papers, allergy papers, care papers, discharge papers, med papers, neuropsych papers, and all other types of papers!! It's all crammed into one binder. And it's true what they say - Doctors really do have the messiest writing. I spent 5 minutes trying to read a line of scrawl just to realize it said: "nothing significant noted in right arm". Gee, thanks Doc.

We met our patient who we'd be dealing with individually next Monday, and then every Monday afterwards. I have the fortune of being paired with a lovely patient, well on their way through rehabilitation. It's a little odd though, because she is the exact age as my mom and has children my age. I am in a position to help her, and semi-responsible for her care, yet the age difference put us at a difficult spot. She used to being completely independent and responsible for kids my age - not the other way around! So we'll see where these next few weeks take us - I hope a bond will develop!

D.

I am beginning to feel 'nurse' like. Sorta.

I had clinical on Monday!! And I survived! It was a really enjoyable day - although it was just orientation, I think the entire group felt pretty spiffy walking around in our scrubs and white shoes.

But we won't be feeling spiffy for long - although we looked good, our orientation was so randomly led that all 8 of us will be wandering around without a clue of where to go when next Monday rolls around. I can't tell you which floor the locker room is on, or which floor my unit is on. Our instructor is semi-retired, so I think she has taken a rather relaxed approach to life: as long we get where we need to be, within the hour, all is well. Which is fine, but perhaps not ideal when you are teaching. But that could just be my opinion.

Next Monday we are recording the 'health history' of our patients - learning more about them, their health, and what may have influenced their stroke. I'm looking forward to that because DP has taught me about how to ask the right questions. I'm not excellent at it, by any means, but I think I have gotten the gist of it which will certainly help next week.

Last semester I spent the majority of my time on Anatomy and Physiology. Anatomy was simple, Physiology was tough. Now, it has flipped: Physiology II has become the 'easy' class and Microbiology has taken the word 'tough' to an entirely new dimension. Thanks to Micro, I can no longer fill up my bottle of water from a fountain, or cut the moldy piece off a brick of cheese and leave the rest for later. I can no longer touch the door handles on public washrooms either - not that I liked to do that before. So on top of endless studying and memorize retardedly long names of bacteria, I am now afraid to touch anything shared by the public. Thanks, micro.

Kat and I are still getting along really well, which is surprising. I was quite anxious about living with her in the weeks leading up to move-in. We are polar-opposites of each other: from appearance to attitude, values, you name it. She eats chili for breakfast and cereal for dinner, puts on fake eyelashes and listens to electronica/rock. I love cereal for breakfast and normal 'dinner' food for dinner. I like jazz. And I don't wear fake eyelashes. But yet we have grown close to one another. Despite our differences, some of them more significant than others, we are having a blast living together.

Have a good Thursday!

D.

CLINICAL!

Clinical today, this morning, in a few hours. EEEEEEEEEKKK!

end of life.

Today at work a resident who I've come to really appreciate looked me in the eyes and told me he just wanted to drift away, close his eyes and fall into a deep, restful, and everlasting sleep.

In the moments where I am faced with life at one of its most heart-wrenching points, I find myself reaching to God for guidance. How can I understand the end of life at this time of my life? I'm young - all my generation does is look forward, plan ahead, think about the future, and worry being successful. But the elderly can think differently. Oldies have this ability to look back, reminisce, story-tell, and then hope for a quiet and peaceful passing to end their time.

I can't get my mind around life just ending. Sometimes, it takes everything I have to not cry when the people I've come to love tell me that it's time for them to go.

D.

friday!

Whoa, Friday already! I must say - this has been the best week of school yet. It feels as if so many things are coming together. I was actually so socially busy that I had to postpone some plans until next week. Unreal, right? Between Kat, my other roomie, a friend down the hall, study-buddies from class, a bible-study group (!!), and friends from high school, I no longer have enough time to fit all these visiting/social hours into my week. Which is just... awesome!! This is how it is supposed to be.

Clinical starts on monday - I'm not too nervous. However, the idea of taking the bus is making me really start to sweat. But I think I got that under control: another guy in my clinical and I are meeting before the bus comes, so hopefully that works out and I can just follow him to the hospital. I know that riding the bus seems to trivial, but to me it is overwhelming : which bus do I take? when does it come? where do I sit? why do some people stand? what if I'm standing and fall over onto someone? (which will likely happen!) what if I miss my stop? what if the bus just doesn't show up? and goodness, what about the bus etiquette? do I talk to people? do I stare at the floor and pretend to not notice them? Gaaaaah - this is what runs through my mind every second. I think I may go crazy before I even get to the hospital!

But for now, it is the weekend. Time to enjoy and relax! Have a good one.

D.

the coolest thing just happened.

Tonight I went out to a Beer & Wings shindig at a pub with my floor. I was feeling pretty apprehensive about going, but I stayed committed - I have a really good habit of bailing out last second. But I went anyways. I ran into my roommate and her friend as well, so I joined them with my friend and we all sat together. The evening turned out to be really fun and I got to know my other roommate better.

And it turns out that my roommate is a Christian. Which is a definite blessing because I had been hoping, praying, for some sort of a Christian influence this year and VIOLA! My roommate and I were placed together. After chatting more back at our room, she told me that she had been praying all summer specifically for a Christian roommate. We kinda just stood in awe at how our lives came together.

This is the most amazing, and direct/instantaneous way I've seen God work in my life. I asked for a Christian influence this year and boom - here's a God loving roommate. And by simply going to an event I almost backed out of, I started a potentially-great friendship. Imagine if I hadn't gone?

It's situations like these that make me just stop and marvel at how God has it all figured out. Despite my own perception of life, despite how hard I may think school is or how hard it is to build strong friendships, He has it all under control and in His good will. So tonight I'm extra thankful for His timing and planning, cause I know for sure that I couldn't do life without Him.

D.

curried chicken & clinical.

I think I may deserve an award. For lunch, I successfully made myself curried chicken over brown rice!! I know - curry chicken! Although I didn't make the curry and used pre-cooked chicken, this is an achievement worthy of becoming holiday because everyone knows the extent of my culinary skills. (But because my curry came from a can, I must admit that crazy-Mona's curry was better... but hey, she was Indian - she had that advantage.) Perhaps I am not a lost-cause in the kitchen after all!

Earlier this morning I met with my clinical group and instructor, which went really well. I have quite the collection of folks in my group - the 8 of us represent multiculturalism to a 'T": Canadian, American, Ethiopian, Chinese, Kenyan, and First Nations. Everyone seemed to get off the a great start, so I think this semester will be a lot fun. We get buddied up with someone else, then unleashed by ourselves to care for someone. Oh boy, I can only imagine what will happen 'sans' instructor. But anyways, next Monday is day 1 at the hospital so that leaves me 7 days to prepare: get proper scrubs, find my stethoscope, educate myself about strokes, and figure out the bus system. AHHH!

But besides that, I'm really enjoying school. I know it's only the second week of classes, but my routine feels more 'routine' than last year already. It's good to be back!

D.

week 1.

So all of a sudden it's Sunday and I'm sitting back in my room, trying to figure out where the first week of school went! I'll try to recap a bit.

I have successfully made it to each class! Which is super, considering several, if not many students showed up either an hour late or not at all to at least one class this week.

The professor for my Nursing lecture wrote her dissertation on dementia in seniors - turns out, she has a mad passion for the oldies!! I think that is so so so great. They way she teaches is centered around older-adult care as well. When she references seniors and how to appropriately care for them, I actually understand what she means from a 'I've been there! I've done that!' perspective. Sweet? I think so.

The other part of my Nursing class is the clinical segment - starting next week, I'll actually be in the hospital! My group is in the Stroke Unit. I really have no idea what to expect - seniors? adults? both? functioning? nonfunctioning? I have a mind-boggling amount to learn. Tomorrow is our info session where we figure out all the details. I really hope I don't mess up too badly when clinical begins. Like getting lost, going to the wrong hospital, taking the wrong bus, missing the start time, making a doctor mad, etc and etc. But what's the use in worrying now (I keep telling myself this!!) - there's nothing I can do but wait until next Monday. Then I can worry. :)

But I guess that's all for now - except that the leaves are turning colors and I love love love this time of year. Cheers!

D.

the night before school

Can you believe it?? Classes start tomorrow!! Here goes semester two! I think I'm ready... I hope I'm ready! I've figured out my binders, pencil case, & textbooks, have my coffee prepared for the morning, and have home-made apple crisp ready and waiting for breakfast. Anything else? And yes, I already know what I'm wearing... I find if I don't have an idea for the following day, the morning is a Disaster with a capital D. Seriously - just ask my mom.

Besides getting back into the school routine, I'm also getting into the residence routine. So far so good! Except for my zany roommate. She's a bit of a nutcase. Take tonight, for example: From the kitchen counter you can see the bathroom doors on either side of the suite. While my roommate's (the rommie I don't know) male friend was making popcorn, leaning against this counter, he was chatting with me while I sat in the living room couch, out of eye-sight of the bathroom door. Meanwhile, Kat was in shower. After she was finished, she thought she'd run from the bathroom to bedroom sans clothes or towel - its a short jaunt. So, after yelling "I'm bolting naked from bathroom!!", completely unaware of a boy in our kitchen, she opens the door to streak. And VIOLA - boy looks in her direction because of her garbled yelling and gets a full boob shot while trying to carry on a conversation with me. What a way to great our new roommates and friends!

Have a good Monday night,

D.