The End is Near!

The end of the semester is finally here! Here is what I have been up to over the past couple months!


I am finally done with clinicals, I can't believe it! I had a great rotation on the Diabetic Renal Medical Unit. This second rotation helped solidify some of my nursing skills. I am actually starting to feel like a real nurse. :]


This past week I've been studying for exams!


I have my first final for my Pediatric class this Friday night. Med Surg is on Monday night and Pharmacology is on Wednesday night! Please keep me in your prayers!

Here is a verse I have been meditating this past week.
Isaiah 26:3-4

You keep him in perfect PEACE whose mind is stayed on You, because he trust You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord is an everlasting Rock.

I'm so thankful for a great semester! It has flown by! And I am SO ready for Christmas Break with the fam!

Fall Break

Last weekend was Fall Break. Here are some pictures from Larriland Farm in MD. We went Pumpkin and Apple picking!

I'm so glad Karen, Kara and Joshy came down to MD for the weekend! We had so much fun!

I am so thankful I was able to go home and see the fam. I can't wait for Thanksgiving Break in a couple of weeks!

21st Bday!

My 21st Birthday was amazing! Thank you all for making my day SO special!!

After Med-Surg Chels and I went to Moe's a mexican restaurant.

My parents sent me 21 beautiful roses and an AMAZING birthday cake! My favorite part about the cake is that the stethoscope is orange, just like mine! Dad and Mom thank you so much for making my day so amazing. Thank you for all that you do for me! I am so blessed to have you guys as parents! I love you both!

Jordan and I waiting to go eat at Outback!

She is amazing! :]

I love my gift from Chelsea!

Jordan and I love sock monkeys, so she got me these sock monkey slippers! I absolutely love them!!

Some pretty fabulous people! Thank you all for coming, it made my day! I'm so thankful each and every one of my friends. I am blessed!

Bruits & Thrills/ Special Needs School

This Friday on the PCU, my original patient was discharged before I got up to the floor. (It is very common on the PCU floor and I guess that is a good thing!) I was able to take care of a patient that had kidney disease and was on dialysis. This patient also had a catheterization to put stents into the heart. Upon assessment of the patient's pulses, I felt a really strong pulse coming from the right arm that was very different from the left arm (you assess pulses on both extremities for similarities and they should have the same rhythm). When I was assessing the radial pulse (on the lower part of the arm) it was beating so fast and strong. It was like electrical I kept saying. I went to the nurse and told her about it and she said that that patient might just have a really strong pulse. Finally when I was charting on the computers I saw that the patient was positive for a bruit and positive for a thrill. A bruit is a sound you hear using the bell (smaller side) of the stethoscope and you will hear a "shh" sound and a thrill is what you palpate. The reason this patient had this was because of the AV (arteriovenous) fistula (used for his hemodialysis). What I was hearing and feeling was the blood from the arteries going into the veins. It was AWESOME. I have never felt anything like it before. It was the highlight of my night.

Also, this Monday I had clinical at a special needs school. A group of 6 nursing students were able to assist special needs teachers for the day. I was able to help out with the middle school aged children. The classroom I was in had about 6 children, all who have different needs. Many were autistic and the child that I followed throughout the day had seizures. This clinical was definitely worthwhile.

As for my pharmacology and med- surg test I did well. Thank you for all the prayers and encouragement! It means so much to me!

Pharmacology

My first Pharmacology test is this coming Thursday. It will be on Antibiotics. I've been studying all weekend. I never knew there were so many different drugs, it is amazing! Yesterday I went to a study group for pharm and one of the Seniors in the program hosted it at her apt. It was such a blessing and SO helpful! Here are just a few of my notecards.

I still need to continue studying this week. It is a lot of memorization. Prayers are appreciated. :]

Busy, Busy, Busy

This past week has been super busy! I had my first clinicals of this semester last Friday. My patient was very pleasant and it was quite a quiet night on the PCU! A couple of things that I got to see/do for the first time include, watching one of my classmates put a foley in. The patient was too kind. One thing that I got to do for the first time is take care of a central line, which is a catheter that is inserted in a vein in the neck. I was able to give my patient normal saline (salt water), medication, and heparin (a blood thinner). It was neat to be able to help with the central line because we have not learned too much about IVs yet.

This picture describes my LIFE thus far!

This past Tuesday night, we had our annual ATI meeting. ATI helps nursing students prepare for the boards. Sophomore year students get one book. This year we got 4! One for Med-Surg, PEDS, OB, and Pharm. These ATI books are like the cliff notes to our text books. They are very helpful to glance out and get a simplified explanation. At the end of the semester we will be taking our ATI test for PEDS and the rest of the test throughout the year.

Tonight I have clinicals again. There is nothing better than spending my Friday nights at the hospital! I got to meet my patient yesterday when I picked up my patient information. He was pleasant and I'm looking forward to taking care of him today. .. Usually when I go to pick up my patient information I feel stressed, but I have really felt at peace lately. I know that God is supplying my strength and peace and I am so grateful. I will try to post more about what a profile entails or maybe post one of my old ones. Profiles usually take up my Thursday nights or even past 12 am Friday, but last night I was able to finish and be in bed before 12am. It was a good night! I'm looking forward to tonight!

Missing the fam.

Med-Surg/PEDs orientation!

Last Friday was our Med-Surg orientation. This semester I will be back on the PCU (Progressive Cardiac Unit) for 5 weeks, then I will be on the Diabetic Renal for the last 5 weeks of the semester. I was kinda bummed that I got these two floors because I did clinicals on them last year, but I'm sure it will be a blast. My instructor has some pretty cool things lined up for us on the PCU and maybe even a surgery to watch!! I start Med-Surg clinicals this coming Friday, so keep me in your prayers!

PCUE- Progressive Cardiac Unit, Evening shift ( 2:30pm-10pm)

DRD -Diabetic Renal, Day shift (6:30am-2pm)

SIM- Simulation lab in the LU nursing lab

Also...Today was my Peds orientation. I am SO excited for these clinicals. As you can see, my first clinical does not actually start till Sep 21, so until then there are a lot of pre clinical things I need to work on to prepare for these clinicals.

LS-Laurel School (Special Needs School) 8 hr shift

VBH-D (Virginia Baptist Hospital- Day shift) 8 hr shift

ER (Emergency Room) -8 hr shift

Including these clinical sites, we are also able to pick 3 independent Sites (8 hr shifts) (Intensive Care Nursery, OR, Surgery, Pediatric office, school nurse). I signed up for the Intensive Care Nursery and I have that October 31st. During these clinicals we are there to observe pediatric care. I still need to pick 2 more sites, some of the ones they listed interfere with my classes :(, but they said that we could choose to do clinicals at our hospitals back home, so I might look into that!

Overall, I am a little nervous, yet excited to get back into the hospital and be used by God!

Med-Surg

So classes have finally started back up! I'm a Junior in the Nursing program and anxious to get this semester going! I had my first Med-Surg class today! We did the usually, go over the syllabus and such. I really like the teachers we have for this class. They are so encouraging and they love their job! They say Junior year is the meat and potatoes of LU's nursing program and encouraged us to lean on God during this year! Today we talked about Stress, which was a perfect topic for us today, since some of us are feeling stressed about the upcoming semester! Please keep me in your prayers! I am really excited for this semester and what we will learn. We will be going to clinicals every Friday for Med-Surg. We have to go to orientation this Friday to learn more about our clinicals for this semester and my PEDs orientation is on Monday! Can't wait to see what God has in store for this semester!

MICHIGAN

At the beginning of August Mom, Dad, Brian Jr and I drove to Michigan to visit the Wilson Family!

This summer Danielle and I read the Twilight Series. At one point we were both on the same page!

The night we got to Michigan, Danielle, BJ and I went to a Francesca Batistelli concert.

We had a blast!

I love Michigan skies!

Each year when we go to Michigan we spend some time in DD's classroom. Danielle is a great teacher who loves what she does! Dad, Bj and I were able to help DD set up her classroom. This is one of my favorite things we did in Michigan.

Last day in Michigan

Thanks for having us Josh, Danielle and Annabelle! I love visiting you guys!

OBX

This summer has blown by! Here is a quick update of the rest of my summer. At the end of July we had our annual vacation to the OBX. I love when the whole family can get together! We had a nice relaxing time!

Annabelle Grace

Sisters

My twin

Sand Castle that Karen and I attempted to build. We tried!

I'm thankful to God for a great vacation with the Fam!

Week in PA

This past week, my mom and I were in PA. We had a blast being with the family.

On July 3rd we celebrated my Mom's birthday! She's the best Mom ever. One of the things I like most about my mom is the way she encourages me by sending me encouraging notes and by praying for me. I am thankful to God for her! Love you!

Later that day Dad and I went to see Public Enemies, which is about the life of John Dillinger. The movie was very accurate to his story.
For the 4th of July, we had a picnic in Pennsylvania then went to see fireworks in Carlisle! The kids loved sitting on top of the car while watching the fireworks! It was a blast! Chris and I
Katelyn and Mikey

Katelyn and I being silly! BJ and I

Mom and I tried this new place called "Neato Burrito" for lunch yesterday.

Then we visited my Grandma Kovlak-she's one of my favorite nurses!On our way home, Mom and I stopped at the Gettysburg Outlets and got a pretzel. YUM! It was nice to be able to spend the week in PA since I'm home from school. I enjoy seeing all my family! Fun times!