Day 4 and 5: Our Bodies, Ourselves

I finally found the time to sit and blog. I need to find the time to sit and journal. My last two days of my first week of school were spent getting to know my fellow classmates. I mean "getting to know". We should have introduced ourselves on the first day of class in the following manner:

"Hello, my name is (for the example I'll use my name). I am 26 years old, been married for a little over six years to my hubby Jeremy, who is active duty AF. I have two dogs. This is my second degree and I will be your guinea pig for the next two years!"

I spent a glorious Thrusday afternoon having my vitals checked. Which meant my arms were crushed by multiple blood pressure cuffs, my temperature was taken in more ways than one, my pulse was palpated all over my body, and I was stared at until an acurate respiratory rate could be counted. No worries, I did the same to two manakins and several of my classmates. However, it was during this learning session that it was brought to the attention of the class and my instructors that I am a freak of nature. Vanilla Bear and Chocolate Bear (no crap, they call eachother by these nicknames, if you have seen Scrubs you'll totally get it.) pointed out to the class that I have no pulse and no blood pressure. As it turns out my blood pressure and pulse are so low, that it took a while for the instructor to find them. I know my pulse and b/p are naturally low but they have dipped quiet a bit since I have been training again. I was apparently a great lesson for the class on remembering to ask investigative questions about how a person is feeling and what their normal habits are like. Once Prof Purple Scrubs found out I was a runner, she stopped asking me if I needed something to eat.

The day in general was not too intimadating for me. I am not afraid to get in there and get "friendly" with my classmates...as my ARP friends well know. I am there to learn and being shy or hesitant is not going to help me learn. However, I do understand that some people have personal space issues. My friend "Indy" (that is what I am going to call her since her she is actually an archeologist), doesn't like being touched. Well, turn about is fair play in nursing school. So to be a supportive friend, I stuck with her for the two days of touching. She was nervous about getting vital signs and knowing what to look for. Since I already had a good idea of what to look for I helped her out. I am sure at some point in time there will be plenty of things I am going to need help with!

Friday was "wash your buddy day". Making beds and bed baths, putting on TED hose, back rubs, and teeth brushing. Nonthing says "I love you man" like sticking a toothbrush in your buddy's mouth, trying not to poke them, while laughing histerically at the comments the two dudes next to you are making behind the curtain. Also the funniest thing in the world is to watch a 6'5", 250+ lbs, ex-cop (Vanilla Bear), get bed bathed and get TED hose slapped on him by another dude just as huge (Chocolate Bear). Also whoever invented the bedpan, did not invent it to be comfortable nor easily removed. Needless to say I will become a pro at these skills in the next few weeks.

My first week of nursing school was great. I am kind of afraid that I am not as stressed as I thought I would be nor is the workload more than I expected. This kind of freaks me out. Am I forgetting something? Am I not doing enough? Are the tests going to be killer then? There is one thing that bothers me though. I know Sam keeps telling me organization is not totally possible. I know that, but here is one of my biggest pet peeves. My dad was very strict about teaching my siblings and I to be good leaders. He taught us to be leaders not followers and what it means to be a good leader. Rule number one for being a good leader: LEAD BY EXAMPLE. You cannot ask your followers to do something you, yourself cannot do, will not do, or haven't done. Our profs are asking us to get a massive amount of work done in a specific amount of time, and to be organized about it. The part of me that is my father's daughter and a good leader expects the same from my teachers. Thus far they have not performed to my standards. Their lack of organization has caused massive confusion and frustration amongst my classmates and myself. How can you expect us to live up to standards that you clearly are not capable of meeting?

Just a thought. This is also a good reason why I couldn't be in the military. I have issues with authority and will call my leaders out if I think they are full of shit or I will just take over. In the military you could get in serious trouble for insubordination, hence why I was always in trouble as a kid. :)

Day 3- Remedial English

I am so sorry I did not post last night. I was ssssooooo tired. I went to class all day and then decided it was a great idea to run eight miles. The Disney Half is going to be A LOT harder than I expected.

Anyways, I got up yesterday at about 0530 and actually made it to class 15 minutes early!!! WHOOHOO!! I had lecture...blah, blah, blah. The new character I am going to introduce is Prof Mom. Not that she is like a mother, she is and a grandma, but that she is an old Army nurse and there are certain features about her that remind me of my mother. She is a bit taller than my mom but the weight carriage and the lankiness is the same, she also speaks slowly and with a lethargic tone of voice, not unpleasant. She is in charge of Fundamentals and Lab...very strict.

I had four hours in between my first class and my next class, so I worked and studied. I noticed that there are discrepencies between what my online modules are telling me and what the book and instructors are telling me. I am NOT a fan of that. I mentioned it to another professor and she wasn't sure what they were going to do about that. It makes it really difficult for me to keep things organized and straight when I have to remember one set of standards for class and another for the modules.

My next class was with Prof Makey...she is one fast talker. Not to mention her lectures do not make any sense whatsoever, so I am taping her and taking what notes I can gather. All of my professors use Power Point. I hate Power Point. What happened to taking good old fashion notes? I learn better that way. Power Point just gives students the right to be lazy and the teachers the right to cram as much CRAP into their lectures as possible, going so fast its impossible to take notes.

My last "class" was and introduction to what we are going to be doing for clinicals. It was totally as clear as mud. I am so confused about what I need to do for clinical and the only information we got was for the next two weeks!! So...anyways. By the end of the day I felt like the retarded kid in the class because one) I kept messing up all of my modules, two) I was so confused, and three) I felt because I was in the regular track that we were treated as a lower caliber of student than those in the accelerated. It kind of made me sad. All throughout my schooling I was ALWAYS in the advanced classes...until I got to high school. But even then I took college classes my senior year. It feels weird not to be in the "advanced" class.

Day 2- Death By Power Point!!!

It all started out well. I left 20minutes earlier than I normally do for work (I work at the school) and still managed to be 10 minutes late to Fundamentals lecture. I suck. At least I didn't get the stink eye and miss something important! I was glad that some of the confusion was cleared up today. All the access codes and keys are turned in, now its time to figure out what goes where when and with which class. I have an organizer and have set up my Google Calander (which reminds me I need to fill in some blanks), but I am still overwhelmed with the massive amount of repetitive CRAP we have to do. They do realize that we are going to forget half this stuff by the end of the semester and the majority of it after Christmas break, right? What happened to the good old days when students would just follow a wise old sage around and learn their ways? Now its read this, watch that module, fill out the forest-killing amounts of paperwork, show up to class on time...Ok maybe I am still confused.

Anyway...the day was full of lecture, mostly about how to read the sylabi...if you are at this stage in school and can't figure out a sylabus, there is something wrong with you. My lectures today were: Fundamentals, Health Assessment, and Pathophysiology/Pharmocology. Thus far my favorite is Health Assessment, because its easy and she gave us candy. Nobody sat next to me in my last two lectures. I was beginning to think I smelled or was scary ugly or something. I have come up with names for two of the people I have met so far. One is my Patho/Pharm prof. While she is very nice and seems knowledgable I couldn't overcome the fact she says "Mmmkay" A LOT. So I have decided to give her the psuedonim "Prof Makey". If anyone has seen South Park, they would be laughing their butts off right now. The other person is one of my classmates. Very nice guy!! His wife is active duty AF!! So at least we have that in common. He is a huge fan of Texas because that is where his whole family is from, eventhough he grew up in Utah. So his name will be Texas.

As far as meeting people goes, its been hard for me. Most of the people I know in the nursing program are in the accelerated track and I am good friends with them. While we have some classes together and clinical, somehow I still feel seperated. The seperation will get worse next semester when they are pushed forward and we plod along. Hopefully I will become better friends with the people in my class.

So far I have really calmed down about the amount of work I have to do. The load is what I thought it would be. I don't think its so much the quantity of what needs to be done, but that it seems so disorganized and the fact on all assignments we HAVE TO get a 75% or better. There are some assignments that we have to get an 80% or better. While I have never been one for failing or receiving an official D on anything...that is A LOT of pressure! PS they do not round in nursing school.

Tomorrow will be the introduction to clinical, the true challenge. I killed a small forest printing off some of the paperwork I needed and it wasn't even half of it. I couldn't get Word to open some of the documents so I have to try on Jeremy's computer or just wait until tomorrow at school. Anyways...I had better get some more work done!

Day 1...My Scrubs Are Stiff

Where do I start? I guess at the beginning of my day. I woke up before dawn's butt crack peaked above the horizon. I was hoping for a cloudy day. What did I expect in Vegas in late August? I did all my morning stuff...shower, lotion, breakfast, feed doggies, pack car, and speed off. Oh wait! From this list you would probably think I went to class naked! No, no...I put on the most uncomfortable pair of scrubs ever. They are the most boring shade of tan. I believe the offical color is "putty". And they are made with some sort of Teflon fiber stuff so they are stain resistant. I have to admit it was exciting and a little nerve racking putting on my school uniform this morning, but I was ready.

I got to the lab campus right on time. The facility is brand new and we are sharing it with UNLV Nursing, the Medical School and the Dental School. The building had that "brand new" smell to it. It was also weird that I noticed throughout the day it had that "back to school" smell. I don't know about the rest of you but, throughout all of my schooling that first day of school had a certain smell to it. I don't know whether it was a combination of floor wax and carpet cleaner or new school supplies and the nervous sweat of children, but it is a very distinct smell.

We took a tour of the facility...its nice. The air conditioner did not seem to be working at its prime so, in my apparently non-breathable scrubs I was sweating to death. My first class was rather boring. The whole "Welcome to Nursing School..MAWHAHAHAHAHAH you fools!!!" And then we learned to wash our hands (they use orange crap and a blacklight to make sure we did it right) and put on PPE (personal protective equiptment). I really just wanted to curl up and take a nap. It took three hours to learn something that should have taken all of 45 minutes, but what the hell do I know? Anyways, I met some of the more intellegent people in my class so I was pleasantly surprised.

I have a four hour break in-between lab classes, during which I foolishly think I can still work in the Nursing department and study and make it to my last class on time. HA! I did get some studying done, but I was three minutes late to my health assessment lab and got the evil eye from the instructors the whole time. We were issued a hospital gown, which we will be parading in all semester when learning to assess patients.

As you can see it was not a very exciting day. It was more confusing. I am one of those people, that if I am told I need to be super organized about something I expect my leaders (in this case my professors) to be ultra orgainized. There is so much random repetitive CRAP that we have to do that I am not sure which access code goes with which class or what assignments go where. And neither do the professors!!! I find disorganization to be one of my biggest pet peeves (SHUT UP JEREMY AND DAD). Even at my messiest I still know where things are and what is going on.

Anyways, I spent the rest of the day doing workouts and groceries. I finally was able to figure out what online assessments I had to do (no thanks to financial aid which kicked me out of all my classes and now I can't access them on WebCampus until tomorrow...I have a few dirty words for them). Apparently I don't know SQUAT about infection control, but I can assess a patient like a freaking PRO. I laughed histerically THANK YOU ARP!!! (For those of you who don't know thats Arapahoe Rescue Patrol). Can't wait to see what lecture brings tomorrow! MAWHAHAhAHAHAHA!!!

Political Review

Here is probably my last political review for sometime. Seeing how it is on the topic of healthcare, I feel its a fitting end to something I dearly love debating.

Whilst perusing the MSN page I came upon and article from Newsweek that talked about the new healthcare bill. This is the link: http://www.newsweek.com/id/211981 I would like to take the time and go through point by point and refute the author's arguments about the glories of the new healthcare bill.

First, tell me if this makes sense: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the Commission or the Center to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer.'' From my understanding this says that the commitees "that be" cannot mandate coverage or establish policies on public healthcare coverage or private healthcare coverage. So who's paying? Who is making the policies? The section of the bill this statement comes from is vague, it states what the commitees can't do, ignores what they can, and does not identify who makes the final decisions and payments.

Second, who is going to pay for this bill? The president has already increased the national debt significantly and he hasn't been in office for a year! His promise of not signing a bill that will cost the taxpayer sounds bleak. Has he kept any of the promises or made any of the "changes" that got him elected thus far? Obama has also said he has "identified two-thirds of those costs to be paid for by tax dollars that are already being spent right now." What costs are those exactly? As a taxpayer I feel I should have a say in what my money goes to especially if it is going to go to government programs.

Third, will private insurance become illegal? The article tries to deny that as a possibility, stating people will still be able to buy private insurance, however in the following paragraph the author contradicts his arguments: "Under the House bill, people who want to buy new individual, nongroup coverage will have to purchase it through a new health insurance exchange. They can still buy private insurance – the exchange, in fact, would offer a range of private plans, in addition to a new federal health insurance option. However, those who were already buying their own insurance before the bill went into effect – about 14 million Americans – will have their plans grandfathered in. The part of the bill IBD cites doesn't forbid insurers from issuing new plans. It says that new individual plans will not be considered grandfathered, and will have to be purchased through the exchange." My understanding of this paragraph is: all private insurance plans will be absorbed and regulated by the federal government, which would then have control on how much the insured would have to pay for their "private" plan, which is created by this health insurance exchange. However, it appears the cheapest opinion will be the standard government plan (how this is not classified as socialist healthcare, I have no idea). While "private" insurers will have the right to create new plans they cannot be sold and the people cannot buy them without going through the healthcare exchange...essentially making actual private (ungovernment regulated) insurance illegal.

Fourth, I am no fan of euthanasia, but end of life counseling is something I believe all people should consider. Do I think the federal government needs to involve itself in my life decision, absolutely not.

Fifth and Sixth, while the government is not cutting BENEFITS for Medicare, it is cutting SPENDING. Read that sentence again. While seniors are still entitled to all the "coverage" they receive now, the amount of money that is paid to physicians and facilities will be cut. Physicians and facilities are already reluctant to take Medicare patient because one) most have multiple healthcare problems that require regular care and because of that two) the amount of time and resources spent on older patients, is not adequetly paid for by the federal government. As of 2006-2007 the co-payments for Medicare were 20% of total cost of care, and the government would fill in the rest to a certain point, after that the physician or the facility would have to eat the remaining cost. So if the government cuts the reimbursment doctors and facilities are going to be less likely to take on the ever increasing Medicare population. Healthcare is a business.

Final point, illegal immigrants. The government says the new bill will not cover people who are here illegally and the article goes on to claim that no government program pays for illegal immigrants...I beg to differ. Medicaid covers illegal immigrants. While the new bill says it won't pay for people here illegally, what about the massive number of children they produce? While I don't want children to suffer, I don't want to pay for their children. I am sorry, but the whole "born in the US, automatic citizen" thing should not apply if one or both of the parents are illegal. (And if anyone starts on the whole "well technically you are an immigrant too, Native American thing" I have an argument for that too.) In this day and age we can't take care of our citizens, we don't take care of the ones who sacrificed their lives for the country, so why are we taking care of everyone else? Excuse my egocentric thinking, but how dare we criticize how other countries treat their citizens, when we treat illegal ones here better than we treat actual citizens?

Book Review- Julie and Julia by Julie Powell

Hopefully this will be my first review of many to come. I am a little tired tonight and scatter brained so bare with me!

How do I start my review? Well lets just start easy. In essence the book SUCKED. Period the end...oh wait not the end......ok now the end....wait, wait......now its the end....wait! I need to wax philosophical about how Julia's brains are rotting and how mine is a metaphor for heaven...now its the end. (If you are stupid and read the book you will totally get all that).

Plot: My original assumption about the plot was- lonely New Yorker needing to find something new in her life decides make all of the receipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, blogs about it, finds 15 mins of fame (I saw the original CBS interview), and has life changing experience. HA!!! I was so fucking wrong (the f-word is used quiet a lot in the book, while the author apparently likes to use big words like impecunious and avuncular she apparently was incapable of finding a synonym for "fuck"). The REAL plot was this: fat alcoholic fake New Yorker from Texas, complains about not getting "any", working for a government agency run by heartless Republicans, and cooking discusting food, with filler.

When Mrs Powell was not complaining about herself, her work, or her friends, she took the liberty to remind us all that she wasn't having any sex and making tactless and tasteless (HA! no pun intended) jabs at the Republican party. And just for spice she threw in some blurbs about her Julie/Julia project...thats just what they were blurbs...which leads me to my next point.

Writing style: You call that a writing style?! I call that draft one! No, no...brainstorm one! She wrote like a drunken five year old with ADHD. Whoever the editor was for her book should be fired! Austen, the Brontes, and Wolfe are all rolling in their graves at the "writing" in this book!

Characters: Shallow, scattered, faceless, and pretty much blend together. No dynamic, no contrast, no life. For real live people I expected more.

Setting: Typical New York...grey, overwhelming, filled with drones. Nothing outstanding. Even when the author tried to add a little flavor to the setting it just turned out unsavory and down right unsanitary, and in some cases inappropriate.

Overall: In general I am all for the free speeched thing, but it seemed Mrs Powell used her book to express her ill educated political opinions and whine about her pathetic life. Here is my personal opinion, you want to spout political either do it sounding like you know what the hell you are talking about or keep your fucking mouth shut. Other than that Mrs Powell your book is now toilet paper. If I had a bird I would line its cage with your book...that is how bad it is. Please do not grace us with another of your insipid blurbs about your pathetic life.

Steam

I seriously want to throw the Xerox machine out the window. It keeps jamming for some reason and I am the only one they think can fix it. Stupid machine. A ton of silly students are coming in to get there paperwork done at the last bloody minute. Stuff that should have been taken care of sooner. Don't cop a freaking attitude with me, all I am trying to do is help. And honestly people the internet has been around for a while. Do a little freaking research, learn how to read, and FREAKING READ THE WEBSITE. I hate hearing the excuse "I don't have access" Thats CRAP! There are public libraries that have free access and will teach you how to use the internet. You know what is most annoying people who ask me the same question repeatly in a million different ways thinking they are going to get a different answer.

I keep telling myself "You know Jennifer you can be just as annoying." But that thought doesn't help, because I am cocky enough to think I have a decent amount of common sense. ARGH. I guess common sense is not available in Nevada.

Twisted Sheets

Ha!! Ya perverts! Its not about that. Those with generalized anxiety know what I am talking about. It was one of those nights where you lay in bed tossing and turning because your brain is going a million miles an hour, over and over the most random crap. It also didn't help I tweeked my shoulder again so I really couldn't get comfortable and Jeremy is on swings...so...

Anyways, the anxiety started yesterday at the gym. I go to one of those mega gyms that has the full gamet of characters from the busty dumb blonde to the 500lbs man and everything beyond and in between. Its a great gym. Tons of classes, equiptment, and a great smoothie bar. Well I was sweating it out on the treadmill (and by sweating it out mean you could see the outline of my sports bra as a big dry spot in the center of the sweat). Sweat is running down my face and the back of my legs, my face has the angry look of "if you touch me I will kill you and Hey! Twitchy guy next to me, quit looking!!" I am coming to the end of my ardous run when this chick with zero body fat (ok maybe there was a little cellulite on the back of her legs), gets on the elipical in front of me. She's working for 15 mins and doesn't break a bloodly sweat in her little booty shorts!! At that pointed I am exhausted and soaked and looking at the back of the this chick thinking "Ah, hell, whats the fucking point!?" I start my cool down and the "the fucking point" walks right in front of me...all 300lbs of her, clutching a large soda, a gossip magazine, and chatting away on her cell phone. She finds the nearest stationary bike and sets it to the lowest level and starts to petal fast enough to keep the machine going, but slow enough to enable her to maintain her conversation. At that point I start planning my weight lifting circut and my workout for the next day.

The incident at the gym got me to thinking that night. Everyone says at some point in time in your life, you just stop caring what others think about you and start enjoying what you were given. When exactly do we get to that point? I looked at myself in the mirror that night before getting into the shower and thought "At the age of 26 I am past my peak...in fact I don't think I even reached one." I stared glumly at the cellulite on the sides of my thighs and fanny, that no matter how far I run or how many weights I lift, will never go away. My belly, that on a good day its flat, but I know when I have children...it will never go back. My execptionally broad shoulders, mismatched by the trademark small chest size that comes with the Vaughn genes. The blemishes on my skin and on my face that I sat through laser torture to get rid of, the flappy arms that don't respond to the weights, the beginnings of crows feet sprouting from the dark circles under my eyes, to the grey hair hidden under my fresh highlights. Yep. Crap. At what point in time do I get to say "Fuck you!" to the "man" or well...woman or both that decided that beauty is perfection and 26 is old? When do I get to find a pair of jeans that not only fit my weirdly bubbled fanny, but are small enough to fit around my waist? When do I get to find a blouse in my size that doesn't do the funny button thing over my chest, without me having to go a whole size bigger? When do I get the respect I deserve for working my butt off at the gym, restricting my cheeseburger intake, and generally giving up tasty fat soaked foods? When do I get my chance to walk around and feel beautiful!?

Which brought me to the next thing that raced through my head. That night I slumped on the sofa and watched "LA Ink". The retarded new shop manager (really stupid and really ugly) wanted to have a baby with or without a husband/ boyfriend. She said she was trying for that white picket fence thing, but at the age of 33 it wasn't happening. In a way I felt bad for her, but on the other hand if you saw the show you would totally understand why she is where she is in life. Anyways, the reason I felt bad was, because of the GAD, I started think about, what if, God Forbid, I find myself in that situation? Past 30 and single, with my clock ticking like a time bomb? I would never have a child with out being married, but in this day and age most people are holding off on marriage and kids until past 35. That doesn't work for me. Plus most men these days are looking for someone to have "fun" with, not to bring home to mom. So what would I do if I found myself on a first date like the shop manager did, being asked what I am looking for in a relationship. Do I be honest like she was (when it came out of her mouth it sounded sort of stupid)? Or do I claim I don't know? In the end it doesn't really matter what I would do because I won't find myself in that situation since I am married and intend on being so for the rest of my life. (I love you honey!!!!) But for the sake of conversation, I think I would be honest. If a guy can't handle something serious then why waste the time?

Then the next thought was of wasting time. At the age of 26 what exactly have I accomplished? A degree, a marriage, two houses, but what about all the childhood dreams? Writing a book? Finishing my reading list (might not ever be possible)? Learning to sword fight? Thats when I finally fell asleep.

Random Thoughts

Its like that SNL skit "Special Thoughts with Jack Handy" or something along those lines. I realized I hadn't written a blog in a while and had a lot on my mind. Nothing serious though. Happy my sister's wedding is over. It took two days to recover...and NO I wasn't drinking!!! I was just running around like a chicken with my head cut off for a few days. So I was exhausted and sore. I am frustrated because Jeremy is frustrated...I think everyone knows why. Although right now I don't think it would be advantagous to delve into the inner workings of our federal government, I would just like to point to the article I posted earlier from Fox News and the wonderful note that Jeremy's cousin posted about the First Lady's spending habits. (grumble, grumble...stupid blah blah blah, blankety blank).

I start nursing school in 18 days...very nervous. I might have a mental breakdown before class starts, just to get it out of the way. The Disney half marathon is looking harder than I thought it would be, simply because I am lacking motivation to train properly. Don't get me wrong, I am still going to do it...I paid for the bloody, I will run it...just really really slowly. Sigh...my life is boring!

House Pencils in Millions for Jets the Air Force Did Not Request - Political News - FOXNews.com

House Pencils in Millions for Jets the Air Force Did Not Request - Political News - FOXNews.com

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