a weekend for the books :]

Thursday has arrived, which is actually Friday for us! what a GREAT day, and week!

 lets see what happened this week:

- started clinicals at St. Tammany Parish hospital
- successfully shaved my 89 year old patients face! even his wife said he looked handsome!
- completed 2nd gero test - very glad that is over!
- Paul proposed, and I said YES!



I am so thankful/ excited/ blessed to be engaged to him. I pray that God will continue to be honored by our relationship and that we will be more for His kingdom as a couple. He is such an encouragement to me in so many ways, and I cannot wait to do life with him!

Aimee and I along with our moms are doing the St. Tammany Heart Walk this Saturday out at Fountainblue State Park. We are super excited about it! Shout out to Shannon Martin for doing such a great job organizing and recruiting everyone! love you roomie!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! : ]

James 3:13-18 - wisdom from above

last leg!

Hey readers!  It's Aimee! Just another Manic Monday- filled with tracheotomy care/suctioning, the routine psych quiz, and of course, the usual, never boring conversations with nursing friends.  :]  -good news is that somehow we missed traffic coming home! 

(we are still trying to figure that one out..) 

On another note, tomorrow will be the beginning of our last leg (aka 4 weeks) of Med/Surg clinical!!  Definitely not looking forward to waking up at the lovely 4:45 AM (and yes, for those of you wondering, it really does exist...unfortunately...) I'm a little nervous about starting these next 4 weeks after getting used to psych clinical but pretty excited about the experience we will get from being on an Oncology Unit.  <hello weekend filled with careplans and nursing books!> I cannot believe that we only have 6 weeks until the end of 3rd semester!  It has flown by for sure.  I feel like I have reached the "wall" of this semester in motivation for studying.  It has been so hard lately to study or do schoolwork.  Hoping to find this motivation sooner than later! <yikes!>  With these last weeks of the semester being super crazy, I love that I can find my solace in knowing that I'm not in this alone.  That God is with me every step of the way.  It's so hard getting caught up in our crazy schedules and I find myself sometimes trying to just include God in my day, but in all actuality I should really be centering my day around Him!  Making sure He comes first in every part of it -just something that I've been thinking about lately.  As much as like to blog/procrastinate, I should really be studying for my super hard Gero (old people) test. -at least I have some pretty great piano music to get me through! (thanks Pandora!) :] -Aimee

Something to smile about: 

"But each day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing His songs, praying to God who gives me life." -Psalm 42:8-       

Unlucky Pencils & Pajama Jeans

 Hey yall! Hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday

My teacher brought her new pajama jeans to class today. Ha!

She passed them around the class so we could feel them and even offered if anyone wanted to try them on.

We also took an insanely hard Adult test today. I did not have a pencil, so Aimee kindly lent me one of hers to borrow. (Now you have to understand that pretty much every nursing student has "lucky pencil" which they use to take tests. Occasionally these pencils lose their luck over time, leaving their owner to find yet another "lucky" pencil. I have personally never classified any of my pencils as lucky.) Well apparently this pencil's luck ran out a long time ago.

 Needless to say, that pencil now resides in the trashcan of the North Oaks Diagnostic Center.

This Tuesday was our last at Southeast.
On Wednesday we went to Generations, which is an outpatient clinic for the mentally ill to come during the day for various types of therapy as opposed to being in a hospital full-time. We were able to sit in on an activity therapy session - we played Bingo! The next group was more of a psychoeducational group, where we discussed adapting/ lifestyle changes. It was so interesting to see the therapist guide the conversation, lots of skill and practice!

 Then we went to lunch with Ms. Hatheway and discussed the past few weeks of clinical. I really enjoyed having her as a teacher - it's refreshing to have teachers that are so passionate about their work and for their patients.

  Going into psych clincial I was convinced that I wouldn't like it. It has been my favorite clinical experience this far - and it truly changed my perspective of those affected by mental illness.

And! I am going to pick up Paul from the airport in a few hours! YAY! So thankful he is able to come in for his birthday! Crawfish boil tomorrow with his family - hopefully this beautiful spring weather keeps hanging around!

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

 2 Corinthians 12:9

... unlucky pencil, may you RIP in the now unlucky trash can ...

Hi friends! Well, we've survived another week of the "3rd semester of doom".  I cannot believe that we are on the last leg of this crazy semester, but I'm thankful to see it go so quickly! We had another brain-cell killer of a test today, but we are in belief that our unlucky pencil was at fault.  So needless to say we quickly disposed of that pencil as soon as we got done with the test.  -no we aren't superstitious, just ordinary nursing students :]  Yesterday was our last day of psych clinical; what a sad day it was.  However playing BINGO with the patients made my day!  I can definitely say that psych clinical was a perspective-changing experience, and one that I will never forget!  

Now that our test is over-

... moving on to BIGGER and better things ...

 

-yes, my weekend will consist of reading this ginormous book!!

Something to smile about:  

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."  Lamentations 3:22-23

Hope y'all have a great weekend! 

-Aimee :]

"Now all glory to God, who is able, though His mighty power at work within us, 

to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." -Ephesians 3:20 

  

-I read this verse this morning and was reminded that we are never alone in the tasks that lie ahead of us.  Days like today can seem impossible, but when it's all said and done, I know the only way I survived was through Christ alone.  I was reminded that my success today did not come from me - I mean I studied and prepared for the exam- but ultimately, it was through God that I was able to be successful.  Sometimes it's so easy to take credit for our successes, and so easy to forget about the One who made them possible.-    

Hope you all have had a beautiful day!  :]

-Aimee 

Helloo Monday Morning...

 3/21/11 Manic Monday Nursing Notes

0615: Kelly wakes up.  Aimee resting comfortably in bed.  No distress noted.  Eyelids closed.  

0630: Kelly consumes 100% breakfast.  Aimee still resting comfortably in bed and in no apparent distress.  

0700: Kelly gets ready for the day.  Completes all ADLs per self.  Aimee drowsily awakes to turn off alarm clock and returns to restful sleep.  Denies pain or needs.  

0740: Kelly makes lunch and mentally prepares for a long and draining day.  Aimee wakes up FINALLY out of deep sleep.  Little distress noted considering we are leaving in 20 minutes.  

0815: Kelly and Aimee off to face another Manic Monday.   

0840: Baton Rouge Traffic is the 8th wonder of the world.  Will continue to assess during commute. 

0930: Arrive at our destination aka PJs Coffeehouse.  Cause of traffic still unknown. 

0945: King Cake Coffee = success.  We will surely make it through the day now! Will continue to assess VS as coffee may increase BP and HR.  No distress noted at present time.  

1000: Blogging vs. studying...hmmm... current nursing dx: Alteration in Decision Making Process r/t lack of motivation secondary to virtually impossible psych test as evidenced by barely passing previous tests.  Goals: Students will make a passing grade on Psych test #2 within 3/21/11.  Will implement studying intervention right after we finish blogging.  : ] 

Well, it's not even 1100 and what a day it has been! We are also scheduling for 4th semester classes today!?!  And everyone knows that nursing school scheduling week will be the next reality TV show.  LOL! 

Well readers, as much as we would like to continue procrastinating we gotta blast!! Gotta test to pass!

Have a great Manic Monday! (and week)
Aimee SLUSN and Kelly SLUSN
(SLU Student Nurse)

Over halfway!!

Hey guys! Its been forever since we have blogged, but the good news is we are over the hill of the hardest semester of nursing school! YAY! So what has been going on... lets see :]

We are currently in our psych clinical rotation. We were both unsure of what to expect going into it, and didn't really know if we would like it. But with one week left, we are not looking forward to it ending!

The patients there are seriously indescribable, and we have fallen in love with them! Being able to spend time with these patients one on one has really given us a whole new perspective on "mental illness". The type of learning that we have gained in the clinical setting is so different then what goes on in a classroom. We have been able to see the personality,  hilarious humor, and individuality of each one of the patients - and truly believe that this experience has allowed us to better view humanity and nursing in a holistic manner.

Next Tuesday is our last day there, and we are gonna throw a little going away party on the unit with all the guys. We have a feeling that they will be extremely excited because some of them have been asking about having a party since day one. haha. There may even be a little dancing - this could get interesting.

We have round two of exams coming up, so this weekend should be awesome! The last clinical rotation will be on an Oncology Unit, which we are looking forward to.

Oh yeah... we are scheduling for 4th semester on Monday - not only are we over halfway with this semester, we are over halfway with all of nursing school. This is weird.

We will do our best to keep blogging as we go, but we will leave you with a picture with our newest form of transportation to school. Helps a little with Baton Rouge traffic.

Love, Aimee and Kelly :]