The things you learn in Nursing school

Sort of the point of this blog, but lately I'm too tired to care much about blogging.

But here's an interesting tidbit: During our Health Assessment class this week, we were assessing each others' abdomens. While it's loads of fun to show off my big, fat stomach to my super skinny labmate, it's also very educational.

For instance, I learned I have a super tiny liver. This is both very nice and a little surprising. I guess all that wine hasn't grown my liver into the size of a small state.

Let's drink to that!

What I'll do for a three-day weekend

I started today with a test at 8 a.m., followed by a heart and lung assessment proficiency and, finally, ending at 2 a.m. after an 11-hour clinical.

Yes. It was totally worth it for a three-day weekend.

Birthday break

Haha... Not for me. My life is relatively break -free for the moment. I took 107 question Path test a few days ago (and, amazingly, got 103 correct just because I'm so super brainy) and today I start a nightmarish clinical rotation that includes a test at 8 a.m., a heart and lung assessment at 11 a.m., clinicals at 3, bed at 10 and up again at 4 for more clinicals.

I felt sort of sad writing all that.

But the reason I'm blogging is Carolyn. She's 6! While her birthday was sort of a bummer because a bout of the sick, it was actually sort of nice because she's got a visiting grandma, she got a DS for her birthday, and she gets a B-day extension because she gets her school celebration today.

But... that's not the reason I'm writing either.

Yesterday, I guess she was being sort of mad about something. Steve said that sounded like whining. You know... the sort of noise a 5-year-old might make. He asked her, "Are you 5 or 6?"

"Daddy! It's just my first day."

Now. That's why I'm writing.

Perspective

You might wonder what that previous title, a title without an entry, was all about. Well, when you leave your lunch in the car, then go to Jimmy John's to get a sandwich, and promptly lose that sandwich on the one-block walk back to class, you appear just the slightest bit crazy when you return to Jimmy John's to ask if anybody turned in a sandwich.

Bad week.

But today, I'm realizing not really all that bad.

For instance, my Health Assessment teacher is going through chemo for breast cancer. As an aside, I think I'm in love with her. She's about the best teacher I ever had. Today during lecture, she pulled out a huge chunk of her own hair and I about started crying. She'll probably be fine and all, but what an incredibly personal way to interact with her class. I know this, because I had to stick my hands down a classmates pants the other day as I looked for the femoral vein.

Then, I called my well-elder for my clinical project. This guy really isn't "well" in the way most people are. For instance, he's 93 and pretty disgusting. Last week I picked up a 5 pound, urine-soaked pad off his living room floor. Anyway, I called him tonight and he told me his blood-work came back and things aren't looking so hot.

And my "frail" elder is on hospice. So there's that.

In the grand scheme of things, losing a sandwich doesn't seem like such a big deal. Neither does the incident where the bus driver yelled at me, or the frustration of not being able to keep track of everything, or the broken dryer, or the Intro test I don't feel great about.

Then why does it feel like such a big deal?