The Name

I enjoy reading healthcare-related blogs. I started out with JoHanna's, but I can't find it anymore. Then I found Code Blog, and I enjoy that. I linked to a couple others that she had posted, and I was hooked. Reading stories about patients and situations is really interesting to me because I get a chance to put myself in that place. It's almost like taking another class.

My opinion of the nursing profession has changed drastically since I've been in nursing school. I think I really didn't understand what nurses did. I didn't even know the difference between an LPN (LVN) and an RN when I started into pre-requisites. I just knew I needed a career that would be secure and in demand. I wanted to make a difference and feel good about what I did, while still being able to make a living.

Also, I've always wanted to be a hypnotherapist, but I realise that it's like any small business unless you've got something special, and I think being an RN will help. I've taken some small classes and read tons of books on hypnosis, but haven't been able to afford a program that will make me a confident hypnotherapist. Once I'm out of school and working full-time I'm going to devote some of my funds to that. There are just so many applications for hypnosis - even basic anxiety or pain relief. What can I say, it's hard to type out how I feel about it. I just know it's something I want to be able to use and explore, and nursing will get me one step closer to being able to use the skill. It's a fabulous and exciting field, if you can get over the fact that many people think hypnosis books belong in the occult book section...

Nurses can use a skill called 'guided imagery' which is a simple type of hypnosis. Sort of like those little 'Cliff's Notes' books where you can get the gist of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in 40 pages.

I'd really like to hear form any nurses using hypnosis or hypnotherapy in their work. Or from hypnotherapists with nursing backgrounds. Or from anyone with a good hypnosis story (not "he made me dance like a showgirl in front of the audience" though!)

Not so well.

Well, the turkey cake looked great after I decorated it, but didn't survive the 45 minute drive to my brother's house. The top layer sort of slid off the bottom layer and I had to work on it to get it back together after we arrived. After I stuck in the chocolate feathers you really couldn't tell anything was wrong with it. Good thing I brought extra frosting just in case. If I ever do it again, I'm using a big brownie rather than a cake.

Dinner was nice, everything went well. Everyone loved what I had made. We had a bit of leftover cheesecake to bring home, but I'm not complaining!

I've got work in the morning. I feel like I'm just treading water - I'm so ready to get on with it and use some of my nursing skills. I can't wait to graduate. Not that what I'm doing is all that bad, it's just not really what I wanted to go into nursing to do. I know I'm putting my time in the trenches. I also know how much I'll appreciate my techs when I do become an RN.

A second post

Hey this isn't that hard.

SO I'm cooking. We're going to my brother's house for Thanksgiving, but I always feel like I should bring a few things. A few things turn to "wouldn't that be good also..." and I've suddenly overloaded myself. I do enjoy cooking, and I enjoy the fruits of my labor, so I shouldn't complain much.

I thought it would be easy to make some Chex cereal Muddy Buddies with my daughter. I've never made them, but I've had them before and I think they're a really fun snack for the marathon game session that goes on in my family after any get-together. They really are sort of a mess to make, and I'm not so sure they're worth the effort at this point. I'm behind on all of the important things I was supposed to make.

I'll also be bringing a Cranberry-Tangerine with Gand Marinier sauce, New York cheesecake with cherries, Crab Rangoon, and a "turkey cake". The turkey cake is just decorated like a turkey, not actually made from turkey. I've used a new cake mix called 'Orange Dreamsicle' which has some sort of jello-orange stripes in it. I hope it holds up to the chocolate feathers. This should be interesting. If someone there brings a digital camera I might try to post a picture of it. My digital camera isn't working right.

Well, back to work.

Turning on 'Alice's Restaurant' now... :D

I had to do it !

I had to do it.

I had to start my own blog if only to open up the top of my head and let some of the creamy filling out.

Nursing school hasn't been easy. Although I'm almost finished, I feel like I don't know much more than when I started. I used to feel like I was a somebody. I thought I was good at what I did. Nursing school comes along and takes the "best of the best" (they also like to refer to us "the cream of the crop") out of the big pile of applications (45 students, 271 applications). We heard how good we were and how smart we were and how pleased they were to have us there at the orientation and beginning our "fabulous journey through nursing school". Now I just feel abused.

It isn't the patients or the clinical work we have to do - thats actually the best part. The sucky thing I can't stand are instructors who say "what do you mean you've never done a __(insert name of procedure here)___!". And then proceed to roll their eyes and let out an exasperated huff and do it for you. Others have their favorites -- and if you're not on the list, you might as well quit now.

I can understand why they say that nurses eat their young. I don't think its anything personal, my take is that seeing a nursing student probably reminds them of the torture they went through in nursing school and the flashbacks activate some sort of self-preservation mode. One nurse told me to 'just put up with school, do what you need to do to graduate, and come here and we'll show you how to do things the right way." Great. And after I spent all that money on textbooks....

I'm going to go sleep a bit. I worked this morning after staying up all night to finish a paper. You know how it goes. At least I hope you do.