Fall Break

I woke up Thursday morning knowing it was going to be a good day!

How did I know?

Because not only did I eat a food on the lowest of my hierarchy of breakfast foods, but I did so out of a pot!

Why in a pot? I didn't have any clean bowls left =(

Nothing was going to ruin my day!

 Not even a 50 minute delayed flight out of RDU.

I don't know how US Airways always manages to screw up their flights between RDU and Charlotte, but they do it. At least they are consistent. 

I did SURVIVE and make my way to Houston.

Lance never fails at getting me the prettiest flowers. 

They change every time too.

These smelled amazing and they were strong enough to smell up his room all weekend =)

We were both starving and decided on dinner at Pub Fiction where I had my very first Sangria. 

 I ordered a burger and he ordered the club sandwich.

We split them.

Friday Lance took me to see the new apartment.

This was the last trip I would be visiting him in the "old" place. He moves into the "new" place next week.

This is a place that has balcony decorating contests.

I'm so in!

On Saturday we went to the Battle of the Piney Woods.

SFA vs. Sam Houston State University (Lance's alma mater)

BUT

first I had to break a mirror and have 7 years bad luck

SHSU still won!

walking to the Tailgate 

The Tailgate made me feel like I was back in college.

Well, the college experience that I never had...hah hah

I got to meet a lot of Lance's brothers that he pledged with along with some new guys.

oooo, I also got to ride the metro for the first time

It rained off and on all day. Luckily the game was inside.

That night we went to a new bar, Celtic Gardens.

We watched the first game in the ALCS. The game had a couple of weather delays allowing for us to bar hop and play some games at Barcadia. 

Celtic Gardens

skee ball at Barcadia

giant Jenga at Barcadia

I awoke Sunday morning 2 hours earlier than Lance. I decided to finish up this week's discussion for my online class and post it for my group (it was my turn to post...so lucky to do it over fall break =/)

It was a wonderful and relaxing day. 

It was raining and we opened the window to listen to it while we watched our first date movie: Little Fockers. I asked Lance if this was the first movie we saw together in theaters and he answered quickly with a "yes" and then told me he saved the ticket stubs! How cute =)

The second ALCS game was postponed due to weather, so we ended up watching more TV the rest of the night.

Monday morning came and it was time for me to go.

Lance dropped me off at the airport and we said our goodbyes. 

I won't see him for another 2 months =(

This might be the longest gap.

I headed to McDonalds in the terminal to catch some breakfast and overheard the employees talking. One of the girls mentioned she was trying to get into nursing school. Then another employee proceeds with saying that he doesn't want to go to college because there isn't a smoking section. Hard to believe that is what's stopping him.

While I was boarding the plane I witnessed a 2 year old having a stage 5 meltdown. I'm talking face down on the ground, pounding her arms, and screaming. It barely even phased me. What had Peds done to me?

I did absolutely nothing yesterday except laundry....after I unpacked. 

I watched several hours of DVRd TV shows and passed out.

I woke up today and did my Community Health Quiz and then went grocery shopping.

I picked up some orange lights for the fireplace.

I then proceeded with completing 2 Maternity quizzes.

That was followed by watching a Research Lecture and reading a chapter in the book.

It is time to relax and prepare my mind for a full week ahead.

Flu Devils

The first thing I did yesterday morning was finish my PIP (performance improvement plan) paper for Leadership/Management for nurses. 

Once that was taken care of, I was free to go out for some exercise.

I grabbed some lunch afterwards and then started to pack for my trip to see Lance!

I finished up the evening reading this week's material in Maternity.

I also watched a video my professor made to help us learn to determine due dates.

I began to doze off into slumberland, but this week's RadioLab podcast kept me awake once again.

This week: there was a story about a lady who wound up in the ED with transient global amnesia. Her memory would reset every 90 seconds. Her daughter recorded a video of the loop her mother goes through just about every 90 seconds. This went away in about 24 hours.

I, personally, would be freaking out if this was me or my mother. They are both so calm and all I could think about is how great her daughter's communication and patience is. She would be a great nurse.

Here is the full podcast:

The story I'm talking about is after the intro...maybe 8-10 minutes in.

I woke up this morning 30 minutes earlier than normal because class started early. We had our exam review over the test we had last week in Maternity. I missed some I thought I got right and got some wrong I thought I got right.

For lunch I went to Subway with Stesha over in the clinic. We ran into some FNP students and joined them while we ate.

We had a short little part of class in Leadership to go over the two papers that are due this Friday (one is the PIP I mentioned above). The rest of the period was free time to work on the paper. I went straight home to get working on the second one.

A porta potty tried to stop me in my tracks.

I came home and wrote my SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats) paper. 

I finished a little after 3 and had time for a run.

I drove back up to school to get my very first Flu shot by the Duke Flu Devils. Some of my fellow students are getting community health hours by giving the shots. The shot itself did not hurt (my peers are gentle)....but about 2 hours later I got hit with a case of the drowzies. So far nothing else has gone wrong, but I'm crossing my fingers. I hope it doesn't make me feel sickly. 

I was sad to hear that Steve Jobs passed away this evening. 

So young.

Apple's Home Page

I ran some laundry and I'm almost done packing. I'm about to pass out for the night.

Pumpkin Pickin'

I've been busy busy busy with school/school work/ and actually having fun.

After a 12 hour shift on Friday, I went to TGI Fridays to watch the end of the Rangers' Game. Sadly, we lost (we're ahead now 2-1). 

I was exhausted and had another 8 hour shift on Saturday.

I came home Saturday afternoon and planned on doing nothing.

I caught up on all my DVR'd shows and then turned on the next game in the ALDS.

I can't just sit and do one thing, so I got out my Research work that was technically last week's stuff.

I got it all out of the way and did my write up for the week's clinical.

The weather has been so nice that I have been sleeping with the window open.

I slept in as long as I could on Sunday and then worked on my Mind Map/Plan of Care for Peds.

I only had one little part left to do, but I was starving.

I went to Whole Foods for maybe the second time in my life to eat some stuff from the hot bar.

It's like my favorite foods on one plate. hah!

I had just a little more to finish up on my plan of care and then I submitted it...one hour later!

woohoo!

Some Starbucks got me through it.

plan of care 

I went for a nice run.

Some neighbors had a fire going.

I woke up this morning with only one thing on my mind: picking out a pumpkin!

First, I had to wait for Stesha to complete her plan of care.

I decided to go for a run.

After I showered off and got ready, we headed to the farm!

Ganyard Hill Farm that is!

We played in a pile of corn kernels, picked cotton, went through a hay maze and a corn maze, went for a hay ride, and picked out a pumpkin!

Great day!

After all that was done, we finished our assignment for Community Health.

We ended the night with a scary movie (Case 39) and ordered a pizza.

Slapped Cheeks

Hello blogosphere.

I know! Back so soon?

You bet!

My cohort can't seem to get through a lecture without crying their eyes out. These professors keep showing us the saddest video clips I've ever seen!

Get the tissues and prepare to cry.

You have been warned

It takes a really strong person (family) to go through something like this with such courage and strength.

The point my professor was trying to make (other than proving we are all saps) was that we become a part of families' lives. Through the good and the bad we are in their memory. We have the chance to support and help people through the bad times.

The rest of the class we were presented a lecture on infectious diseases. This is a Peds course, so we were mainly focusing on the common ones in children. 

It wasn't really a lecture at all.

10 of our CIs "dressed up" as children with 10 different diseases/ infections. 

Each group went to a CI to ask questions (as if they were a child with no parent or medical record presented in the ED) to figure out what they had by the clinical presentation and symptoms.

We had a tricky one. I wasn't put in a group that had to figure out chickenpox or measles. That would be too simple right?

Ours had Fifths Disease. We went through every other disease that we could think of and came up with nothing. Luckily, one of my group members used to teach grade school kids and came up with some random ones she had to look out for in kids in her class. Our CI helped us out a bit and let us know we were getting close. 

Fifths Disease also has a nickname of "slapped cheeks" because it looks like the kid has been slapped on their cheeks. 

I had never heard of it.

Each group had to present the disease to the rest of the class.

I found this way of learning very effective. 

I've had a huge headache all day and it just keeps getting worse.

I came home and tried to nap for 2 hours.

Nothing, just laid there. Never went to sleep.

I got up out of bed and went for a run.

Once I got back I was a little more motivated and read a chapter for my Research class.

I also filled out my clinical evaluation that I'm going over with my CI tomorrow.

Here is a photo that I first saw yesterday.

It is pretty old.

It is called "Hand of Hope".

I've posted the story below 

No one would’ve known that this child would become the poster child to support pro-lifers in their crusade to end partial birth abortions.  But, while the picture was meant to tell a story of a child having a phenomenal surgery in utero to prevent a debilitating disorder, that miraculous story was lost.

The infant in this picture is Samuel Armas, who is now nearly 12-years old.  His mother Julie Armas was made aware that her baby would be born with spina bifida and she agreed to a groundbreaking surgery that was to help prevent the effects of spina bifida in her son.  The surgery, performed by Dr. Joseph Bruner, had a remarkable, yet controversial, outcome. 

The legend told by photographer Michael Clancy about “The Fetal Hand Grasp,”  that later came to be known as “The Hand of Hope,” was that during the surgery, August 19, 1999, little Sam reached his hand out of the uterus to grab the surgeon’s finger.  But Dr. Bruner would tell reporters that both the mother and baby was under anesthesia and could not move.  He somehow manipulated the baby’s hand around his finger when Clancy snapped the photo.

Sam and his mom are happy with the outcome, however it happened. Sam will walk with legbraces for the rest of his life, but he is a great swimmer and is enjoying his life.  They feel that the picture has been so helpful for them and so many others that nothing else matters.  Read here for more on the controversial picture.

On a completely random topic:

She and Him are coming out with a Christmas album in October! I cannot wait

Also, the band Caroline County is releasing their EP soon and the CDs are now open for pre sale 

One of the photographers for Chelsie's wedding posted some pics in a blog.
You can find the pics here.

Bed time for me!