Lullaby....

There is nothing that puts me to sleep faster than Mr. M, one of my former teachers, expounding the fascinating topic of 4th grade-level grammar to a group of bored university students.

Writing papers comes in a close second. Just finished a paper on bioterrorism. Fascinating subject, really, but for some reason, the rhythmic clicking of my keyboard was more soothing than Brahms' lullaby. So the clicking got slower, and slower and slower..... yes, I was falling asleep while typing.

Apparently, my paper was not scary enough. Bioterror is scary, especially considering viral hemorrhagic fevers (my topic). But though scary enough to keep some people awake at night, not enough to keep me awake at 5:55 in the evening.

Maybe I just need some food to wake me up.

No, what made me wake up was the pounding of little feet running down the hallway of my house. My niece is here for a few days, and Dad sent her to get Aunt Rachel to come to supper. My niece is absolutely adorable. Both of them are, but one lives farther away so I don't see her as much... too far away to come get me for supper, anyway.

I'd better go get nourishment before I fall asleep again.

Spring Break!

At last, it has come! Spring break!

My teachers graciously assigned us myraids of paperwork so we wouldn't get bored. :-)

No, we've had the assignments for quite a while, so I got most of mine done ahead of time so I can spend my spring break like other college students.... working on my Honors thesis! Wait, what did you say? The beach?? THAT'S what people do for spring break?

Well, instead of storing up some liver poisoning and sun cancer for my future, I will be contributing to the sadly small body of knowledge about nursing education. I hope. It all depends on whether or not I got enough data in my interviews to draw conclusions or not. I hope I don't have to do all my interviews over again!

But before I settle down to work, I'm off to a "women's ministry planning retreat" with a group of ladies from church. That should be fun. And then off for the weekend, then back to work.


Time to go!

On a roll...

Wow! Another post! That must mean I have something really interesting/exciting to share, right?

Nope. It means I finished my test (see picture at left) and I have an hour before I have to be back in class.

There are some interesting things about nursing school tests. Usually on a test, there is a right answer, and three wrong answers to each multiple choice question. In nursing school, there are two right answers-- each one was in your notes, each one was in your textbook as something you should do, but you must remember which one comes FIRST.

Example: Your patient is 10 minutes post-op. Patient is pale with tachycardia and thready pulse. You suspect hemorrage. What do you do first?
A.) The hokey-pokey and turn yourself around
B.) Check under the patient's sheet to see if blood is pooling beneath patient
C.) Take patient's blood pressure
D.) HA!! Gotcha! You were HOPING to see an option to choose both B and C because they're BOTH RIGHT but you CAN'T because this is nursing school!! *cackle* You can only vacillate hopelessly between the two answers, knowing that whichever one you pick you will be WRONG! Ha ha!

It's very demoralizing to have your test cackle at you.

But usually, with each question, there are two answers that are just silly. And two that are so close... I still don't remember what the right answer was for the above question. Or what course it was in. I remember thinking, "If the patient is so soon out of the operating room, we would have a cuff on him to take BP... so I would hit the button the machine to take his BP while I'm looking under the sheet.... but that's not an option... is my test really cackling at me? Weird."

One thing that helps is that you never select "Notify physician." Or almost never. And the answer is not administer antispsychotics and apply restraints, unless it is referring to fellow nursing students who are standing up, screaming, and tearing out their hair as their tests cackle in unison across the classroom.

Two more words of advice: Kegel Exercises. If it's urinary, and not an infection, it's Kegel Exercises.

Well, that wasted about fifteen minutes. Forty-five to go.

I don't know how I would make it through without the Lord's help. He has given me such a peace about tests over the past few months that I've hardly been anxious at all. Even my huge HESI test (that covers the past 3 semesters of material and if you don't pass you have to repeat all your courses), I was nervous about beforehand, but the day of the test I was as calm as a sea cucumber. I think I was calm because so many people were praying for me!

I'm very thankful God has given me the opportunity to be in university and study nursing. I'm glad to be here and learn.

Even if my tests do cackle.

Wow, another post!

This would be a really good time for me to go do something more productive, but I am tired of being sensible.

The question actually is, now that I'm not fasting, what will I choose to eat? And how much?

My boyfriend Scott and his community group just did a month-long media fast: no movies, television, radio/music player, or novels for a month. Mere days before I found out they were going to do it, I was thinking about it myself. The point was to find out how much time you have to pray and put your energy into constructive things if you cut out distractions. So I joined them, from 90 miles away. Almost. I did read a novel and listen to my mp3 player (worship music) while I exercised. I've tried praying while running before, and I don't usually make it past, "Oh, Lord, really, please help me survive this! And I hope it's been twenty minutes by now..... WHAT?? Only thirty seconds?" *groan* Oh, and while I studied, I put some worship music on. So I was keeping the spirit, if not the letter.

The first two weeks were the hardest. It took about a week just to get out of the habit of turning on the radio wherever I go, and to stop turning on the TV all the time.

Before I continue, I must comment that I have the most wonderful parents ever. You see, they (and I!) like to watch TV while we eat supper, especially since NCIS runs all the time here. We would mute the commercials and talk about how things went through the day, and what was going on. But they knew it would be really hard for me if they kept doing that (I did kinda tell them it would be nice to eat together at the table so I didn't have to eat by myself in my room!). So they gave up their TV time while I was around so it wouldn't be distracting for me. Aren't they great?

I wonder what I've learned....
1.) I do have more time than I thought.
2.) I still wasted time on my discussion boards at school, and next time I should limit myself on that, too.
3.) Set realistic goals.
4.) I don't ever want to live by myself. Mom and Dad were gone for a long weekend to my brother's house in Kentucky, and with them gone and no TV, no Adventures in Odyssey (yes, I do still listen to those...), no radio/music, and no people around the house... I was as lonely as a non-conformist lemming. (does that sound as funny outside as it did inside my head?) Grandma and Grandpa were here, of course, but Grandpa usually has the TV on downstairs, and sometimes conversation can be difficult. The most fun was when some people from church came over for a game night. But the rest of the time was not so fun! I think that was the first weekend of the fast, so I was in withdrawal, too. :-)

Well, it's getting time to pack up my computer for the night.

Goodnight!