8 years ago today was a day that changed my life forever. It was the day that I had surgery to correct/stop the progression of my scoliosis. At the time, I don't think I really understood how serious of a surgery it was, but I definitely did after the fact. Let's just say that 8 hours in the OR is no walk in the park. I had an awesome surgeon, Dr. William Horton, and some really great nurses who took care of me while I was at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. And, despite a complication the night after surgery that almost took my life, I was able to leave the hospital after only 5 days. I guess God decided that it wasn't my time to go.
So, at age 15 I learned a lesson about appreciating life and good health while you have it. Every day is a gift, and I try to constantly remember that. I'm blessed with a wonderful family, awesome friends, the chance to get a college education, 2 warm and cozy places to live, and so much more. And, after seeing so many people that I care about get sick and struggle with illnesses like dementia and cancer, I'm reminded about how lucky I am to be in good health right now.
I guess in a way I'm lucky to have the 13 inch long scar on my back because it helps remind me to be thankful for everything I have.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Graduation is right around the corner!
So much has been happening over the past month, and I'm not doing a very job of blogging about it...sorry! We've enjoyed a lot of great Alabama football games. The LSU game was one of the best we've seen as students I think! We had a few friends over to watch the Mississippi State game, and that was a lot of fun. I made my mom's white chili and hello dollies, and they both turned out really good.
Yesterday was the last day of my preceptorship. It went by SO FAST! I really enjoyed working with Carmon, my nurse, and I definitely learned a lot. Tuesday, I finally got the chance to start an IV. I've started several IVs on adults in past semesters, but this was my first chance to try on a child, and she was 2 years old! It was a great opportunity. Last night, I worked the evening shift (3PM - 11 PM), so that was a little weird. Every other shift that I worked was 7AM to 3PM, so I was used to waking up at 5:45 A.M. I'm glad to be finished, but I'm really going to miss the nurses on the unit. They were great!
All that's left before graduation is a group presentation during dead week and an NCLEX review course during finals week. Then....it's time to walk across that stage at Coleman Coliseum! I can't decide if I'm more excited or nervous about graduating...I think it's about equally both. I'm excited to finally be finished with all of this work. Nursing school has definitely been a lot more work than I ever thought it would be. I don't even want to know how many hours I put in studying! So, it's a good feeling to almost be finished with all that work. The past 6 or 7 weeks have definitely been A LOT less stressful. I've kind of gotten a little taste of the "real world" since I've mostly been working and not done very much school work. That's one thing that I'll definitely enjoy about being finished with school....LESS STRESS! But...it's also scary to be graduating at the same time. Pretty soon, I'll be an RN with a lot of responsibility that I don't know if I'm ready for. I feel a lot more confident than I did before I started this preceptorship, but I'm still nervous. It's a good thing that most hospitals have a pretty long orientation for newly graduated nurses because I'll need it!
Speaking of hospitals, the job search is not going very well. I've applied for 6 jobs at Huntsville Hospital, and 5 of them have been filled by other applicants. I haven't been called for any interviews either. I've also applied for 2 jobs at Crestwood and haven't heard anything about those. I guess maybe I'm not being proactive enough...maybe I need to start calling and bugging people?? I've also considered trying to find a job at a doctor's office here in Tuscaloosa for the 5 months next semester that we'll still be here...but I don't know how likely it would be that anyone would want to hire me for that short amt of time. We'll see. I also have the option (I think) of working in pre-op at Huntsville where I worked the past 2 summers. Cheryl told me before I left in August that she would hire me PRN (as needed) after I graduated if I couldn't find another job. It wouldn't be a full time job, but it's definitely great hours and I already know the ropes there (for the most part). I may call or email her here shortly...
Travis is staying busy with his classes as usual. He has a big test in quantum mechanics coming up on Tuesday. He's hoping to do a lot better on this test than he did on the first one so that he can pass the class. I think he can do it :) I feel like I've barely seen him at all in the past 2 weeks because I worked the past 10 days, went to bed by 9 PM and was getting up at 5:45 AM. He, on the other hand, was staying up til 1 or 2 AM and sleeping late, so we were on totally opposite schedules! It'll be nice to be able to stay up a little bit later now that I'm done with my preceptorship.
Tonight, we are going to decorate for Christmas finally! I wanted to do it a couple of weeks ago because we won't be here for most of December to be able to enjoy it, but we were just too busy. I'm so excited!
Tomorrow is our last Alabama football game as students at Bryant Denny...and it's supposed to rain all day! I hope that it will hold off during the game, but we'll see. We survived a monsoon at the Arkansas game, so I guess we can survive another one tomorrow if we have to!
We're excited about seeing everyone at Thanksgiving next week! :)
Yesterday was the last day of my preceptorship. It went by SO FAST! I really enjoyed working with Carmon, my nurse, and I definitely learned a lot. Tuesday, I finally got the chance to start an IV. I've started several IVs on adults in past semesters, but this was my first chance to try on a child, and she was 2 years old! It was a great opportunity. Last night, I worked the evening shift (3PM - 11 PM), so that was a little weird. Every other shift that I worked was 7AM to 3PM, so I was used to waking up at 5:45 A.M. I'm glad to be finished, but I'm really going to miss the nurses on the unit. They were great!
All that's left before graduation is a group presentation during dead week and an NCLEX review course during finals week. Then....it's time to walk across that stage at Coleman Coliseum! I can't decide if I'm more excited or nervous about graduating...I think it's about equally both. I'm excited to finally be finished with all of this work. Nursing school has definitely been a lot more work than I ever thought it would be. I don't even want to know how many hours I put in studying! So, it's a good feeling to almost be finished with all that work. The past 6 or 7 weeks have definitely been A LOT less stressful. I've kind of gotten a little taste of the "real world" since I've mostly been working and not done very much school work. That's one thing that I'll definitely enjoy about being finished with school....LESS STRESS! But...it's also scary to be graduating at the same time. Pretty soon, I'll be an RN with a lot of responsibility that I don't know if I'm ready for. I feel a lot more confident than I did before I started this preceptorship, but I'm still nervous. It's a good thing that most hospitals have a pretty long orientation for newly graduated nurses because I'll need it!
Speaking of hospitals, the job search is not going very well. I've applied for 6 jobs at Huntsville Hospital, and 5 of them have been filled by other applicants. I haven't been called for any interviews either. I've also applied for 2 jobs at Crestwood and haven't heard anything about those. I guess maybe I'm not being proactive enough...maybe I need to start calling and bugging people?? I've also considered trying to find a job at a doctor's office here in Tuscaloosa for the 5 months next semester that we'll still be here...but I don't know how likely it would be that anyone would want to hire me for that short amt of time. We'll see. I also have the option (I think) of working in pre-op at Huntsville where I worked the past 2 summers. Cheryl told me before I left in August that she would hire me PRN (as needed) after I graduated if I couldn't find another job. It wouldn't be a full time job, but it's definitely great hours and I already know the ropes there (for the most part). I may call or email her here shortly...
Travis is staying busy with his classes as usual. He has a big test in quantum mechanics coming up on Tuesday. He's hoping to do a lot better on this test than he did on the first one so that he can pass the class. I think he can do it :) I feel like I've barely seen him at all in the past 2 weeks because I worked the past 10 days, went to bed by 9 PM and was getting up at 5:45 AM. He, on the other hand, was staying up til 1 or 2 AM and sleeping late, so we were on totally opposite schedules! It'll be nice to be able to stay up a little bit later now that I'm done with my preceptorship.
Tonight, we are going to decorate for Christmas finally! I wanted to do it a couple of weeks ago because we won't be here for most of December to be able to enjoy it, but we were just too busy. I'm so excited!
Tomorrow is our last Alabama football game as students at Bryant Denny...and it's supposed to rain all day! I hope that it will hold off during the game, but we'll see. We survived a monsoon at the Arkansas game, so I guess we can survive another one tomorrow if we have to!
We're excited about seeing everyone at Thanksgiving next week! :)
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