Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

My niece Katelyn was born on my 14th Birthday. Today she turned 6! She is the best present I've ever gotten for my birthday! I'm so blessed to be able to share my birthday with her! Today was a busy day at school, but I was able to go out to eat with some friends! All my friends made today very special for me, including announcing my birthday during Convocation (chapel). Ha Ha.

Here are pictures from tonight from my birthday dinner at La Villa, an Italian restaurant in Lynchburg. The food was amazing and the service was great!

Over the weekend, my friend Monique made a Birthday Cake for me! It was such a nice surprise.

Psalm 150: 2 "Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!"

I'm grateful to God for another year. First and foremost, He has saved my life! He has taught me so much this year and has blessed me in numerous ways!

Ears, Nose, and Throat

As part of my devotions, I am reading the book of Mark. Today I read Mark 7: 31-37 about Jesus healing a deaf man who had trouble with his speech. I thought that was too cool, since this week in Health Assessment we are learning about the ears, nose and throat. In this story, a deaf man was brought to Jesus. Jesus put his fingers in this deaf man's ears and then touched the man's tongue after spitting. This man was restored of his hearing and speaking.

"He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak." Mark 7:37 (ESV)

Christ never ceases to amaze me. I often forget his miraculous healing power! This is not just a story but truth. I'm amazed at how Christ shows love to all kinds of people in need. How humble of Christ to take time to care for others. I want to follow his example of looking to the needs of others not only as a nurse but as a child of God. Having fun with my camera in the nursing lab.

What I am holding in my hand is a jar of bacon bits. We used this to test the sense of smell. Cranial Nerve #1 is the Olfactory Nerve testing sense of smell. We also had a jar of coffee beans, too. Here Chelsea is holding the tuning fork on the midline of her head. This test bone conduction, the patient SHOULD hear the high pitched sound in both ears equally, but some people don't. Also I was able to use the Otoscope and look into Chelsea's tympanic membrane in her ear! It was awesome! Once again we are having a blast in the lab! I'll have to take a video sometime.

Eyes

Proverbs 4:25 "Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you."

This week we checked off on the Eyes. To assess the eyes, we inspect and palpate (the lacrimal gland which is under the eyebrow and above the eyelid). In the nursing lab we were able to use the ophthalmoscope (instrument for examining the internal eye). It was so amazing to look inside each others eyes, even though it may not have been fun for the person we were practicing on. I was able to see some of the internal structures of the eye like the retina, but it was hard to see anything other than that.




Internal structures of the eye.


The eyes are amazing structures that God has blessed us with. The word "eye" is used a lot in the Bible. I am reminded of Jesus who healed the blind man in John 9. This man was born blind, Jesus spat in the mud and covered the man's eyes with it. He then told the man to wash his eyes off in the water and his sight was restored. Often eyes are used as a symbol to represent salvation. In this story the man not only got his sight back but was able to be saved from judgment. I'm grateful that Christ has opened my eyes to this glorious news of salvation. His works are visible for us to see let us not become blind to them.

Head, Neck and Lymphatic System

Check offs (CO) for this week included:

Head
Neck
Lymphatic System

For these systems we Inspect (observe), Palpate (feel with fingers), and Auscultate (listen with the stethoscope).

Here Chelsea is auscultating my temporal artery for bruits (obstructions in blood flow), no bruits for me.

This is a picture in my pocket sized examination book that covers the lymph nodes, this week we were responsible for finding these on our lab partners. I found this to be a little difficult and this week during check offs two of the Jr lab assistants hammered us with questions about the lymphatic system. It was a little overwhelming, but I appreciate their imput and how they wanted us to understand why we do the things we do when we are evaluating a patient.

This is the check off list that is specific to each system we are learning about. The lab assistants make sure that we cover everything on this list.

Here is what our CO list looks like from week to week. I'm so excited to learn more! God has been so good.