The Calm After the Storm

So sorry it has been awhile since a good post, but things really have been busy!

This weekend Alex took me to Pittsburgh, KS to attend the famous Homecoming/Fall Sigma Tau Gamma Formal. I had been hearing about since we met and all of his friends thought it would absolutely insane for me to miss it! And I must say, it was so fun to have fun to get all dressed up, pretty up my hair with the girls, and then have the boys come pick us up like it was prom! (Thank goodness for my bridesmaid dress from Hannah's wedding!)
So, needless to say, we had a wonderful weekend, but we both were very glad to get back to the good life here in Kansas City. And of course while Alex gets to work every day for the next 5 days (like a normal person,) I get to rest up and catch up on my errands and cleaning around the apartment. Man, I love my job.

Speaking of my job, I did get scheduled for the holidays, and let me tell you, it's not exactly ideal. I had a feeling I was gonna have to be working on Christmas day. And whadya know-Christmas day I get to be spending quality time with all the drug addicts, drug seekers and slightly-ill people of Kansas City instead of with my wonderful family in McPherson. There is a possibility, though, that I might drive home to Mac the night of the 23rd (after work), spend Christmas Eve with the fam, drive back to KC that night, work the 25th and 26th, then come back home. I just can't stand the thought of spending Christmas Eve by myself, alone, in front of my fireplace. Ugh, it give me chills just thinking about it.

This will be officially my first holiday that I won't be at home for at least a week with my family eating lots of delicious food and watching movies till 3am with Mom. To say the least, I'm quite devastated. But I didn't have a choice. I'm required to work 1 major holiday a year and since I just started, I had to fulfill it. And although I'm not working on Thanksgiving Day, I work the day before and the day after so that won't be much better than Christmas.

And no, Mom, I haven't decided on what I'm doing for Thanksgiving yet. I'll let ya know here as soon as I decide. I am, though, DYING to come home. Alex and I have had several conversations in the last week about how this going to work thing is already getting old! It's mind-boggling to think that I have to keep going back to work every week to keep making money! Ahh! Oh, and working weekends is getting old REAL fast. But as my preceptor, JD, has said: "You are no longer a civilian, you are a nurse. Get used to it!" Keep in mind that JD is an ex-marine. Thanks, JD.

Alright I suppose I'll start my day. I've done enough laying around! More to come.

CALLING ALL FAMILY MEMBERS!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I am in the process of scheduling my work schedule for December through about the first part of January. If you guys could let me know any plans for the holiday season NOW so I can maybe be able to get off work for some of the them, that would be great! I work again this coming Tuesday and will probably be signing up then. So let me know ASAP!! Thanks!

A Day in the Life

Ok so I know I haven't written in awhile, but things have been so busy lately! This weekend I worked so I didn't have time to do much of anything! Actually, I worked Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. After I got off work on Saturday, Alex and I met up with Sheri and some of her friends down in Overland Park for dinner. Apparently she was here for a Qigong workshop, so it was good to see a familiar face! After dinner, Alex and I went to Bret & Alyson Reimer's for a football party. It's always good to meet up with friends for a fun night of good food, football and some drinks!

Speaking of football, how bout 'dem Wildcats? We all were a little (ok maybe A LOT) disappointed and flustered after the KU game, but man did they do well against Colorado! I've heard they're back in the rankings, but I couldn't tell you what number.

Work is going well, extremely busy, but good! It seems as though each day they ("they," meaning my patients) challenge me even more! I guess that's what's so cool about my job-I will always be learning something new! Besides my patient that had about a bizillion medications to be given ALL AT ONE TIME, my latest challenge has been working with a deaf man. We only had an interpreter on staff for a few hours out of my shift, so the rest of the time it was up to me to figure out how to communicate with him! Also, he didn't read lips very well so let's just say I had to utilize a pen and paper A LOT! Thanks goodness I at least know the alphabet in sign language! I also seem to be experiencing a lot of admissions at 6pm, which means that instead of finishing all of my charting and reporting off to the next nurse by 6:45pm and being gone by 7:15pm, I am doing an admission til 7:45pm; by the time I'm finished with everything else, it's already 8 or 8:15pm! So anyway, I'm really working on my organization skills and being able to complete things a little bit faster. Sometime I think to myself, though, "How can I work any faster?" "How could I do this without my preceptor??" I guess it all comes with practice!

I'm working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week. I'm very excited for Friday because my friends and I are FINALLY celebrating my birthday! We have been trying to plan for months a good time to all get together, so I think we've finally decided that this Friday will work out the best for everyone. Alyson is making food for me and we'll probably end up going down to the Plaza for a night of good friends, fellowship and of course a few celebratory drinks. This is the epitome of why I love my life right now...good friends, fellowship and a few celebratory drinks!

Here's a few pictures from the KState game weekend:

(Left) All of the ladies in our group at the tailgate
(Right) Two of my best friends: Bret, Alyson Reimer and I headed to the tailgate a few weekends ago:



Oh, and I finally got some new running shoes! Sadly it was a very big deal for me to get new shoes..in fact, I think these are the most expensive shoes [period] that I've ever bought! Have a look:

Quick Note Before Work

Today is day 3 of my work week. By this time, I'm usually dead tired, as I am feeling today. Alex is out of town this weekend, so I'm on my own, so to speak. I'm going with Bret and Alyson Reimer to the KState/KU game Saturday. The game is at 11am which means we may be leaving at about 5 or 6 in the morning on Saturday! I know, I know, that is VERY early to leave for a football game, but don't worry-it's definitely worth it! All of my old friends are gonna be in Manhattan and I'm so excited to be back in my old stomping grounds! They say that if you're not in Manhattan by 7am on Saturday, there'll be a line just to get into the city! Thus the reason for leaving so early.

I work today 7am-7pm. Things are going really well; I have been taking my own patients every day now (with my wonderful preceptor trailing after me to make sure I don't kill anyone!) He's great about letting me do my own thing and then checking my charting, etc later to make sure everything is done and done correctly. Yesterday was my first day with 4 patients-my max before that was 3. So I'm really moving up! Oh, by the way! I started my SECOND IV yesterday all by myself! And on top of that, my preceptor said it was a really hard place to stick; he said most people would not have gotten it! I stuck this guy on his underarm, right beneath his elbow. My excuse for being able to get it is because I'm left-handed; it was on his left arm so I could weasel in there pretty easy as compared to a righty. Anyway, the exciting thing is that I got it!

Alright, must shimmy off to work. Only 13 more hours till my day is over! haha