Week 12 as a Level 2 Nursing Student

Week 12 totally trumped week 11!!! Not that week 11 was so fantastic that week 12 had lots to live up to, though. At any rate! Monday was a bit stressful because I was studying for patho after class before work at the gym. But I think it was a nice break to go to work because I had been studying all of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday afternoon/early evening. It's a nice bit of time for me to relax and not think about patho. So on Tuesday I went and worked out after my shift at the gym and let me tell you, it felt SO good. I think it helped me release all my pent up stress from patho and everything else. I felt so good that I went again on Wed between my two exams.

So, word to the wise, while it's important to be on top of your game and study hard and work hard, you can't put aside things that can help your mental health (like physical fitness). For me, last semester and this semester, I have been walking to and from school, but I don't know what it is about this semester, but it's been more difficult for me. I'm still loving the program and nursing, but I just haven't been taking care of myself very well. So I'm going to be going to the gym on Mon and Tue of every week to destress.

Clinical this week was great! I love it when family members are involved because they always ask questions and I get to practice my patient teaching. I don't necessarily always know the answer, but it becomes another learning opportunity for me. So this week I got to discharge a patient and we talked about diet, exercise, home care, and I got to teach her and her daughter how to empty a drain she had. That was a really neat experience for me because it was like I got to teach a skill that I learned this semester to a student. These weeks are really busy because we're able to do a lot more skills now but I love being busy because that means I get to practice some more! In total, I've done 6/7 dressing changes and this week, I got to do my first dressing change independently because my clinical instructor says he's seen me do them enough times! And as my instructor predicted, I'm becoming more organized after doing the tasks more times.

So those who know me well know that I've been talking about wanting to volunteer at a nursing school in Bangladesh next summer (2010). I emailed one of the contact people a few months ago and he responded saying that it was still too early on in my nursing education for me to go. Naturally I was pretty disappointed because I was so eager to learn about the initiative and even began to research some information on Bangladesh. It was really nice of him to offer to meet me when he came into town, though. So we had set up a meeting for this past Thursday to have coffee and just chat. Long story short, I think I'm going to Bangladesh in June of 2010!!!!!!!! I was so happy/thrilled/excited/surprised/shocked I almost started crying tears of joy after him and his wife left. I had to go to the bathroom to jump for joy. I was so excited and still am incredibly excited, for lack of another word. Time to start saving and reading up on Bangladesh and figuring things out!!!!! I've started looking up flights and looking at dates already, I'm so excited!!!!!!

It's been a great week!