Sunday, April 12, 2009

I got to ride

Yesterday I drove up to Salem and got to ride my dirtbike. It was a little scary, just because it's been so long since I rode. My friend Jeff gave me instructions and let me start in the small field next to his house. He worked in his barn and I saw him come out occasionally to check on me. After some time, I graduated to the next field over so I could get into 3rd gear finally. :) I had to rest for a while after that though, because my hands were so tired! I was having difficulties shifting and braking. But after the rest, Jeff got on his quad and lead the way. He got the speed up quite a bit, trying to get me comfortable with it. I went pretty dang slow on the corners, but I did get going kind of fast (or at least it was fast to me!). We even went up a huge (scary) hill and through some loose dirt with rocks (the scariest part - I was slipping and sliding all over).

All in all, I had a great time! I have to concentrate ONLY on riding when I'm riding - the dirt, the rocks, what gear, my brakes, etc. It was mind-cleansing. :) I don't have any pictures of me riding... maybe next time.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Keeping the cycle going

I appear to have a bad habit of blogging twice in semi-quick succession, then not posting at all for a few months. So here's my second post.

I was TOTALLY irresponsible financially and bought myself a new toy. I saved for a while, but it still took most of my bank account. Nontheless, I really wanted a hobby that I could do outside - something more physical than studying or sewing (or knitting - sorry Rayleen and Faythe).

So.... I bought a dirtbike!!!





It will be parked at my friend Jeff's house for a while, up in Salem. He has a farm there where I can ride, so it's pretty perfect! I. Can't. Wait!

More news: I had signed up for a bunch of classes, but then realized I was signed up for the wrong classes. I had mistakenly signed up for classes for an assoc. of arts and I'm doing an assoc. of applied science... So after a bit of research (and going to a really annoying workshop), I ended up dropping all of my classes! I'm just going to work for Spring and Summer! Rayleen and I signed up for a non-credit Spanish class and may do the sign language class as well.

So - about that annoying workshop that I mentioned earlier... There are apparently too many nursing students and not enough counsellors, so instead of counselling, they are having group workshops. You can make an appointment to see a counsellor, but they just want you to go to the workshop. I went and Rayleen went with me. There was a guy who seemed to have his stuff together, a really dumb girl and a young mother with a 18 month old (I guess) and a 6 month old.

I ended up holding the young baby because the toddler started crying when she held the baby. The little baby needed a change, but she was really cute and very quiet. She gnawed on my knuckle for a while and drooled a lot... but she was so cute! The toddler did a pretty good job, for a toddler.

The dumb girl was too much though. "Um, so like, I took anatomy and physiology a few years ago and um, didn't take it seriously, so um, I got an F?... and I took it again, and still didn't take it seriously - I guess I should have studied?... and I got a D-? So I took anatomy and physiology two and got a C-? So like, it lowered my GPA?"... etc, etc, etc. :O I wanted to tell her to get out. AND she's a CNA! She is the kind of moron that gives CNAs a bad name! AAARRRG!!! But I really don't think I have to worry about her EVER getting into the nursing program, so I suppose it's okay.

So like, I'm a worker bee now?

Monday, March 23, 2009

For Faythe

So Faythe has requested poop stories from work. She even threatened to withhold good coffee from me!...

This one is for you Faythe. And for everybody else... this is kind of gross.



One of my patients today was a gentleman who may have C. diff, which means (among other things) that I have to gown and glove before even going into his room. Another thing it means is that (since we don't know for sure yet if he has C. diff) I need to get a stool sample.

Apparently, they sent a sample down last night, but it was such a small sample, the lab didn't have enough to work with. They were nice enough to put a Depends down to catch any poop that came without warning.

He was confused and I found out later that he had been "combative" on a shift prior to mine (information that I normally find helpful before I clean them). Lucky for me, "Billy Joe" was disoriented but calm and non-combative. ("Is that a cat next to me?" "Nope, we don't have cats in the hospital, Billy Joe.")

I take my break, and right at the end of it I get a call - the nurse tells me there are some people from another floor here to pick him up for a procedure... but he had a bowel movement and needed to be changed first.

I grabbed my specimen cup and took a spoon from the kitchen (hahaha - how is that not ironic?!?... or maybe just creepy?) and headed to his room. Gowning up and gloving my hands, I got the soapy water and washcloths, hamper, trashcan... etc. And my spoon and cup of course.

Billy Joe is not a small man, and he was in some pain... making it very difficult for him to roll over. Oh, did I mention his scrotum was swollen? My blog will surely get flagged for that statement. There was a pillowcase separating it from his legs - I guess so it wouldn't get smashed. He also had a catheter ("I have to pee." "You have a catheter in, Billy Joe..." "Oh.... I have to pee."), so he had a lot going on.

I tried to do it all myself at first. Honestly though, after getting halfway done and suddenly Billy Joe says, "I'm going to go again," I had to rethink my strategy. I got another CNA to help hold him up on his side while I cleaned. When I was nearly finished (again), my friend Billy Joe said, "I'm going again I think." Sure enough, he was. Oh yes, you might say I got to see it first. And just so YOU can have a nice visual to go along with the story, his diarhhea looked a lot like Ragu. Yeah. Kind of orangey-red and chunky, yet very fluid.


After the third poo, I had to change the entire bed, including the extra pillowcase. I mean, you can't just have everything cleaned and on it's way out to the garbage and hamper, poop again, and expect it to stay in a Depends that isn't even on all the way.

Needless to say, I got a very substantial sample for the lab. With my spoon. Scoop scoop!


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Gotta post (video at the end!)

I need to post something, so this might be random.

Let me think... Well, it's finals week at school. I finished yesterday and felt GREAT about it! I'm taking classes next term, but none of them are prerequisites for the nursing program, so I don't HAVE to have all As this time! The new classes are for my degree, so I just have to pass! Yay!!!

I'm still working at the hospital and loving it. I've had one of my patients die, but she was 95 years old and just plain tired. Her heart gave out and we just couldn't bring her back. But seriously, 95 is pretty good.

I've been doing the online dating thing, to try something new. All of the people at school are about 10 years younger (or more) than me and I can't really meet anybody at work... the people at church are married... you see my quandry? So just this year, I've been on 6 first dates! Much different from my normal one or two dates a YEAR. Sure, I've met a couple of crazies, but I've also met some pretty cool people.

I've changed my eating habits (very difficult!) over the past year and have lost a little over 30 pounds for my efforts! I'm trying to stay on a pretty regular exercise routine as well, which is also difficult at times. In fact, I should go work out today... But anyway, I'm feeling pretty frickin' good about it all!

I feel prettier than I have felt in a very long time. :) I'm saving up for a dirt bike (motorcycle). I have decided that I really need a physical hobby and I had one when I was about 13 years old or so. I loved it! I haven't ridden since then, but I'm eager to get going! It's very challenging to save almost $2000 as a student, but I'm pretty determined. I can't wait to start riding! And post pictures of it!!!

Oh! I went to a concert - it was so much fun! I'm going to try to upload a clip of it that I "filmed" with my camera... so please forgive the poor sound/picture quality! And watch it all the way through - there's something fun (I think) toward the end... Okay, it was taking hours to upload, so I put it on Flickr. Hopefully this link will work:
Concert - Disciple

Well, that's it for now!