Back to Reality

I survived my 6 12hr management clinicals on a mother/baby floor this week! It was a bittersweet experience. I felt so out of touch with reality getting up at the wee hours of the morning to go to the hospital, staying for 12+ hours, and leaving just to eat and sleep and repeat 5 times. I would see my friends for a brief time before I went to sleep every night. I've never felt so exhausted in my life it seemed like. I learned a lot in the hospital about staying organized and also about what I can tolerate. I became frustrated with mothers on my floor who couldn't care less about their own health and would have hourly smoke breaks instead of spending that time catching up on sleep or bonding with their newborn baby. Smoking is just a personal pet peeve of mine and I wish people would realize that they are missing out on a better quality of life.

It did make my job easier when patients had a readiness to learn or at least attempted to care. For each patient that got on my nerves there were 1 or 2 more who were as sweet as can be and really cared about their health and providing a safe environment for their baby. Since the good outweighed the bad it kept me motivated. One thing I love about nursing is that every day is different. If one day was a challenge the next, thankfully, was significantly better.

This past tuesday 1/12/10 was my last shift in the hospital and when I came back to reality I had no idea that such a huge disaster was taking place just a few thousand miles away in Haiti and that so many people were suffering nearby as close as my campus. It wasn't until Friday, 3 days later, that I saw news coverage on CNN. It was absolutely heart-wrenching and my prayers go out to everyone affected by this tragedy. It is also heart warming to hear of the millions of dollars that have already been donated to relief aid and that medical teams have responded so quickly. I pray that people will continue to donate to aid in the recovery of Haiti.

The Buried Life

I came across this new MTV show/documentary and it really inspired me to make my own "Bucket List" and to most of all never stop losing sight of what I want to do in life. It's easy to let stress, school, and just stuff get me off track and in a rut. So here's to a new year and another year of life. I plan to live up 2010 :)




Drumroll please.... here's my list so far!

1. Take a surfing lesson in Hawaii
2. Ride a gondola in Venice
3. Deliver a baby
4. Be in a musical
5. Get kissed in the rain
6. Eat a mango and/or pineapple that I've picked myself (fave fresh fruits!)
7. See a broadway show
8. Be on the news (for something good)
9. Ride an elephant
10. Help build a house for Habitat for Humanity
11. Visit all 50 states (22 down 28 to go)
12. Be in a protest
13. See a taping of SNL
14. Wake up to a sunrise on the beach
15. Compose a song on piano
16. See penguins in Antartica
17. Write a book
18. Cook a full course meal
19. Learn how to swim
20. Go to Machu Pichu
21. Swim with dolphins
22. Ice skate in Rockefeller Center at Christmas time
23. Go on a ferris wheel (despite my fear of heights!)
24. Meet anyone from The Office
25. Swim in the Meditteranean
26. Sing karaoke
27. Learn to speak another language fluently
28. Hug a panda
29. Go on a horse drawn sleigh ride in the snow
30. Slow dance with a guy
31. Learn how to sail a boat
32. Go to a murder mystery party
33. Visit a castle in Europe
34. Eat Swiss chocolate in Switzerland
35. Date a foreign guy
36. Take a dance lesson
37. Lead someone to Christ
38. Ride in a double decker bus in London
39. Film a documentary
40. Be serenaded
41. Jump a train car
42. See the Parthenon in Greece
43. Rollerblade while being pulled by a bike (Napoleon Dynamite style)
44. See a taping of The Daily Show
45. Eat something I can't pronounce
46. Cover myself in bubblewrap and roll on a hard surface
47. Go to the top of a lighthouse
48. Be a medical missionary
49. Go to the Olympics (as a spectator not a competitor)
50. Eat authentic pizza in Italy