My time at the hospial

I know this is a little late, but it does not really matter since this blog has now pretty much just become for me. I am just going to write down some things that happen in my journey in nursing school as they occur. There are a lot of things that have been hard for me to deal with starting to go into the hospital and actually be with patients, but I am slowly learing how to do it. I have had some awesome experiences though!

On Monday (2/18/13) I had the opportunity to have a patient in the hospital that changed my life. He had a life threatening operation when he was 18 and the doctors gave him a 50/50 chance of survival. He has made it 7 years since that operation. He told me the doctor said something he will never forget and I will never forget either, "from now on live life like you're in Vegas, because everything is a gamble." We should not live like we have the whole world at our hands, no one but God knows when the end is coming. This man who was only 5 years older than me has so much wisdom and I was lucky enough to have him share it with me. He reminded me of this gift of life that I have and to cherish it because I never know what will happen next to me or the people I love. There are not enough words to describe how thankful I am for meeting him and how much our time together meant to me.

At the end of first semester

I can’t even believe that the semester is over already.

I’m sure like many other nursing students I have had my ups and downs, my crying times and my screams of joy. But to have it be over already is crazy to even think.

I have had quite the semester here at cbu and wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else with any other group of friends. I honestly don’t even know how to sum up everything that has happened this semester, it is weird to think, but I have changed so much in such a little amount of time.

I have truly learned so much in just four months of school. I never really knew what I was getting myself into when I started the nursing program and honestly nothing could have prepared me for what I went through. There were so many trying moments and times where I just wanted to give up, but I knew that I was on the right path and giving up would be stopping what God wanted me to do. In many ways I am glad that this semester is over, but I am terrified, yet so excited for what lies ahead of me.

I have to take time to thank my professors, my family, my friends, my fellow nursing students, and of course every patient I have had contact with in the hospital. Without all these people in my life I don’t think it would have been possible for me to make it through. I can’t even find the words to thank all the patients I have had; they were so forgiving and not worried about me being a student, but they loved to see me learn. Almost every one of them told me to take my time and that they knew what it was like to just be learning. It was so heartwarming to know that I wasn't being judged.

First semester has taught me to not be afraid of who I am, to work hard, and to persevere through everything because I have the power of God behind me.

Some other things that I have learned are to:

1. Not procrastinate: it makes everything so much more stressful and complicated.

2. Pray all the time: God has done some amazing things for me this semester. And I definitely could not have made it through without my faith.
3. Take care of myself: I know I am not alone that when the going gets tough you take care of everything besides your own health. I definitely learned that my health is something that needs to be on the top of my list. I have struggled with migraines for a while and they hit me hard again this semester, so taking care of myself is a big deal to me.
4. Take every opportunity to have a social life: If I am not studying or working on humanbecoming or workbooks, I need to remember that a social life is important as well!

This semester has been full of craziness, but overall has been an unforgettable experience. I have learned so much about nursing and myself and have made some hopefully lifetime friends! :)

Also just to add in what I want for Christmas is a new thumb ring. It sounds silly, but mine broke the beginning of the year and meant a lot to me, so I want to find a worthy replacement. lol :)    

God works through clinicals

Hey guys,

So I am going to talk about the experience I had at the hospital on October 18. First I just want to say that I was so incredibly nervous! The week before all we had done was see where everything was at the hospital, but now we were going to be actually interacting with patients. It was definitely intimidating to me. I felt like I was going to say something "wrong" to the patient or not know what to do.

The day ended up being an AMAZING experience. I cannot believe how God worked through my patient to remind me why I want to be a nurse. I am having such a difficult time right now even trying to figure out the words to say about the time I had with my patient. My patient loved talking and was so open to talk about his life and everything he was going through. When I initially walked into his room and introduced myself we got talking right away and he even told me, "you can practice all you want on me" as he opened his arm acting like he was going to get an IV put in. Right then and there is when I decided that this would be a perfect time to do my humanbecoming paper.

As I was asking my patient about his hopes and dreams, he was cracking jokes like there was no tomorrow and was telling me all he wanted from me was a pizza from Pizzahut! The thing that my patient said though that made my heart feel amazing was when he started talking about God and how he was a Christian. He told me this story about how he is no longer in pain from his cancer. I was in shock when he told me this because I did not believe it, but then he told me the story behind it. He told me that when he was first diagnosed he was in so much pain. Then he prayed to God and asked Him to take away the pain he was feeling, not caring about the diagnosis. The amazing thing was that he said since then he has had NO pain at all.

I was in amaze of his story and his strength as a Christian. It was great to just sit there and listen to his life, he told me a lot about his life and family and it was good to know that he was so open to just share with me.

He was a cancer patient who had such a strong faith it was admirable. As I was with him I remembered why I wanted to be a nurse and actually got to be that to someone. I want to be an oncology nurse because of my family history and I got to practice that with this patient. It was amazing because it reinforced my belief that I want to be a nurse and I want to work with cancer patients. The whole time with my patient was such a God experience that I definitely needed!

God commands us to serve

I was so extremely excited to be able to go with cbu's nursing program to skid row. I had never been there before or even heard of it, but I got to know a lot about it in the days leading up to when we would go. I have been on multiple mission trips with my church previously so I was thrilled to be able to go with the nursing school to help those who are in need of help. When I woke up at 5:00 in the morning that day, I was not in the best of moods, (I am not a morning person) but I knew that later that day I was going to be very happy. Serving others gives me great joy so I love being able to help others in any way possible. 

I learned so much while there at skid row. We were only there for 8 hours and it definitely changed me. These are some of the things that I learned:

1. I love being in nursing school: helping others is a great passion of mine and being able to incorporate it into my career is amazing. Skid row really helped me to remember why I am in this and why I want to be a nurse.

2. I love helping others: I absolutely love to serve people and help to solve their problems. At skid row we not only got to help them by giving out clothes and school supplies, we got to be the person to just give them attention and love.

3. Doing what God wants of me: God says in the Bible in Matthew 25: 34-40 that whatever we do to the least of his people we are doing for Him. At skid row we did many of these things that are listed in the verse, and knowing that God says that what we do for them we do for Him is really gratifying. It also reminds me that I should be helping others all the time and not just at events like these.

4. Making sure I appreciate what I have: This was a big one that I remembered. I need to make sure that I am appreciative of what I have because others are not as lucky as I am. I need to continuously thank God that He has blessed me with everything that I have and that everything I have is ultimately His. I love being challenged like this because it reminds me that I am o earth to give God glory not for my own pleasures.

So all in all, my time at skid row with the nursing program was amazing. What I got to do was take children around to all the stations and be their voice and get them all that was there for them. I had many children that I brought through and I became attached to many of them. They all had so much love in their eyes because of what they were getting. I still have the card for one of the girls I brought through so I can remember her and be in constant prayer for her. She was so little, so happy and had a big smile to be getting all that she got.

This is a picture of Courtney Cox and I at the skid row event with the Fred Jordan Mission:

I was so glad that I got this opportunity to serve. Seeing all the thousands of people in line really gave me a lot of emotions which helped me to learn all that I did. I am so thankful for the experience and cannot wait for the next opportunity I get to serve others in such a large setting!

Procrastination/time management

Hey guys,

So procrastination, it is a really hard thing to battle with especially while being a nursing student. Well maybe I will come and finish this later I need to go clean my room...

This video is a funny interpretation of procrastination, check it out.

I have struggled with procrastination since I was in about Jr. High. I have always felt there were things more fun and important than doing school work. Now when I procrastinate I do not wait till the extreme last minute, but I definitely wait until I am rushing to get done with all my work. I have tried to work on it ever since it started to become a problem because of stress. That is why I decided to make sure that I managed my time better because I could not deal with the stress of waiting anymore. Now I am no expert at time management and not procrastinating, I still struggle with it, just not as much. These are some thing I try to help with time management:

1. Pray a lot. I decided that God is the one who will help me stay calm and on track. I feel more confident and structured when I keep God in my life.
2. Keep a planner. I try to give all my assignments a day to get done on. Sometimes it does not always work out, but I feel better when I can mark things off my list.
3. Stay focused. I try to make sure that I am in a quite place and my roommates know that I am trying to concentrate and finish all my work. This helps me to not talk to them and end up procrastinating.   

These are just 3 tips that I have on how I try to not procrastinate and keep time managed. I hope this can help you too if you also struggle with time management.