Well Hello Weekend

It's Thursday night and my weekend has begun! Of course there is homework to be done, dishes to be cleaned, laundry to be washed, and dirt crying to be sucked off the rug BUT I do not have to be anywhere for the next three days and that my friend is a wonderful thing. This is so rare for me and so for now I am sitting on my couch with Criminal Minds (reminds me of Kathryn!) on in the background basking in the fact that I could stay up all night and sleep in all day tomorrow. I won't haha but the fact is I COULD if I wanted to.

A few days ago I was given an award of sorts by a fellow blogger Rachel. She is from back home and blogs primarily to keep her family updated on what's going on in her life while her husband is stationed in Groton, CT (they're a navy family). I'm what you would classify a "blog stalker" of her because she is always posting pictures of her adorable son Brennan who has the best baby hair I have ever seen. Don't believe me? Check it out: Calton Corner

I started this blog because we were encouraged to write about our journey through nursing school. I started solely writing what happened during clinical and then one day I realized I needed to start writing what God was teaching me through this crazy stage of life. So that's where I am at now. I haven't been the best at updating this year; lets face it "free time" is hard to come by. But I was honored to get "the Versatile Award" because its nice to know others who read it might get something out of it!

To accept this award one must: 

*link back to the person who gave you the award

*share 7 things about yourself

*pass it along to other blogs you enjoy

*make sure you tell your awardees about the award so they can repost

Hmm lets see 7 things about myself....

1. I love hotels. A lot of people think I am crazy and complain that they are dirty (which they probably are) but there is something about jumping laying on the freshly made bed with fluffed pillows, living out of suitcases, little soaps in the bathroom, and room service that makes my heart happy.

2. Growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist and work with Shamu at SeaWorld. For my ninth birthday my aunt took us to SeaWorld and I saved all my money just to buy a Shamu stuffed animal!

3. Clumps of hair make me gag and creep me out.

4. My first car was a baby blue 1988 Dodge Aries K. I thought when it died and my parents let me drive their mini van I was stepping up in the world. Now I drive a 1996 Buick Century that does not lock, one functioning window, and is missing part of the bottom of the car because it rotted off! Talk about a humbling ride :)

5. The thing I am most indecisive about is whether or not I should cut my hair.

6. I'm not up on the latest fashions or dress to impress BUT I do love high heels and I will look for any reason to wear them. As embarrassing as it is sometimes I clean the house in them!

7. You always hear parents say that when they see/hold their child for the first time they fall in love. I figured they weren't lying but I had never experienced it. Granted I do not have children yet but the first time I saw/held my niece I fell in love and till this day despite the cranky attitudes, endless messes, and dirty diapers I cannot get enough of that girl!!!

Alright now is my chance to pass this along to others... I only closely follow a few blogs (a few well known blogs & then mostly friend's blogs) so here is the shout out to them!

VMuck's View

Kathryn

Alisonicole

Bitter Sweet

Today was my last time wearing my student nurse uniform. I still have a few clinicals left before I graduate but I am allowed to wear professional dress because they are psych clinicals. The whole white uniform apparently doesn't foster an inviting environment for the mentally ill. Can't say I blame them!

I can remember ordering the expensive things. I can remember trying them on for fun before I ever stepped in the hospital. I had that weird I am a legit nursing student feeling. I felt COOL in those bad boys. The newness quickly wore off as I got up every Friday at 5a.m. and patient's spit, blood, other bodily fluids ended up on them.

My uniform has seen a lot over the last six semesters and it was kind of nostalgic as I tossed them in the hamper this evening realizing this is the last time I will wash them.

In honor of my uniform (yes I realize I am a dork for doing this, oh well!) here are some pictures!

The night I was inducted into the nursing program.

My first day of clinical sophomore year.

My last "uniform" clinical of senior year.

In celebration of my last weekend clinical I ate 240 calories worth of Snickers. Totally worth it, don't judge! (I feel a little guilty seeing as I am just not sure I will work out tomorrow because I strained my back today but again why let that minor detail rain on my parade, right?)

Two stethoscopes?! A few weeks ago I lost my blue stethoscope. You're probably wondering how you can do that as a nurse but I'm here to tell you as a pretty responsible person that it IS possible. My patient kept pulling on it when I would assess him so I would place it to the side. Well I forgot I did that one day and left without it :( The next day when I realized it no one could seem to find it. I made it through four years of nursing school and seemed to manage to lose my stethoscope in the last eight weeks. Needless to say I rush ordered a new pink one because if I was going to spend that amount of money I was going to get one that is my favorite color. 

So I stroll into clinical yesterday and I'm charting when I look over at the rack of paper charts and low and behold but what do my blue eyes see? Yup! My long lost stethoscope hanging from the rack. I had to laugh because in my head I was thinking "seriously"?!?! I guess now I have a back up in case I happen to lose misplace my other one.

And now back to studying....

Rain Rain Go Away...

When it rains it pours, at least in Lynchburg that's how it seems to be.

It hasn't rained here for the last five weeks and people began to pray for rain because everything was drying up.

I think KNOW God heard the prayers. Funny thing about God, sometimes he answers in small ways and other times he answers in BIG ways. He choose the latter. 

Last Wednesday I got out of class a half an hour early which meant I would get to youth group on time for once! I rushed to the front door of DeMoss (the main academic building on campus) only to be bombarded with torrential rain (its been raining ever since). I'm talking the kind that is falling so hard and fast that the streets are flooded within minutes and you can't see in front of you. 

Normally I am a big fan of rain storms, especially when there is thunder but not Wednesday. See, when you're carrying a laptop and hundreds of dollars of books it kinda stinks to have to walk to your car in the rain. So I patiently waited. I checked every five minutes or so to see if it had let up. It hadn't. Then I had to remind myself that God promised not to flood the earth again because it sure seemed like that was what was happening.

Well after about a half an hour things were settling down a bit so I rolled up my pants, took my shoes off, and hid my books in my bag as best I could. Then I took off for the parking lot. 

I almost got ran over by a car.

I looked a hot mess. (More like a wet dog with make-up running down her face but we'll call it a hot mess!)

And as I approached my car what did my eyes see?  Two windows unrolled half way down.

I stopped mid-run and had to start laughing. 

It's been in the 90's here for the last week. No sign of rain. Typically I don't leave my windows unrolled but the gram car heats up like an oven if it sits in the sun for too long and since the locks don't work properly I figured if someone was going to steal her (ha, I hardly doubt of all the vehicles in the lot they would choose mine but you never know!?!) they could just open the door so I left the windows unrolled. 

Go figure it rained that day. 

Not only was I wet but now my car was sopping wet and as I turned the key to the ignition I just had to keep laughing. It's too late to get mad. And well I'm sure looking for the outside in its mildly funny. 

I was determined to make it to youth group still so I drove straight there. Twenty minutes later I arrived only to find out power had been knocked out at church so there was no youth group. That was the icing on the cake.

I'm not sure what got a hold of me, well actually I'm pretty sure it's the Lord ever so patiently molding my heart, but instead of lashing out in anger or frustration I was like "thank you Jesus, now I can go home, change out of my wet clothes and do homework!" Just the kinda thing a girl wants to do on a rainy day, cuddle up on her couch with a good book, or textbook in my case. See He knew!

Anyways, later that night I was thinking about the things God has been teaching me these last five weeks and the storm fit perfectly.

These last five weeks have been crazy. It's been a nonstop flow of school work and long clinical hours. Everyone said senior year was much easier but I'm finding that is NOT the case. I keep telling myself to take it one day at the time but in my heart I'm just wishing for December 17th to be here. Add in things on the gram car that keep breaking and a mountain of fees that need to be paid (graduation fees, boards, senior pictures, etc) and I feel like sometimes I'm standing in the middle of a storm. Things are beating down from all sides and its hard to muddle through the rising waters.

Sometimes in life God brings the rain and I feel like we try and rush through it. (You even notice how people run through the rain to get to their destination because they think they'll be dryer? On the contrary if you walk you'll be dryer when you get there. Don't believe me? Google it!) We want to get to the dry "safe" place as quickly as possible. In the end though we just end up getting more wet and being miserable.

Being wet makes you uncomfortable. The rain makes it hard to see what's coming next. And yet the rain brings refreshment and growth. That's the case for me. I feel as though God is asking me to walk through this uncomfortable place of life (trust me two days back to back of being on your feet for 12 hours is not the most comfortable thing). I may not know what is coming next. Most the time I don't. But if I just walk through it with Him I have full faith He will lead me to a dry place.

I have to remind myself this daily but its a truth I cling to.

A verse I was lead to the other day was John 16:33 (NLT) which reads "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you WILL have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

The context of that verse is that Jesus is talking, rather preparing his disciples for his departure from earth. He is explaining how when they realize that he is Truth and grasp the magnitude of what he was about to do, lay his life down so that we might have eternal life through the Father, then they will have real joy. The kind of joy that only comes from a relationship with Christ.

I was sharing with my boyfriend the other day that too many times we let Satan use life's circumstances to steal our joy. He loves doing that. How many times have I allowed him to do that? Too many and I'd rather not acknowledge how often. Those circumstances, the drops of rain beating down on us, the ones that Jesus is talking about when he says trials and sorrows do not need to be joy stealers. You know why? Because Christ was victorious that day on the cross and He is coming again. This world is only temporary. Too many times I think we, myself included, forget that. Is it easy to get caught up in life's storms? Yes. But God is right there with us. Will you cling to him, regain that joy, and walk through this life with Him? I hope so. I'm learning slowly but surely to.


Ok now I'm going to get completely off subject for a second...at the end of June I talked about putting on my running shoes and waiting for God to bring a man into my life that was running full force after Him. Little did I know that guy was already in my life. You could say I was a little too stubborn or blind to realize it at the time. God worked on my heart and ended up blessing me with a wonderful boyfriend. He would probably be VERY embarrassed if he knew I was doing this but I have to give God all the credit on this one. I admire his passion for the Lord so much. It's actually what first attracted me to him. He pushes me daily to love Christ more and to be more like Christ. We haven't dated that long (some might say we're still in that "honeymoon" period) but its been a wonderful blessing so far. He recently came to visit me at school...here is a picture of us! Meet my Matthew.

Mr. Guillain Barre

One of my professors was talking about the things that nursing has taught her this past week in class. She said we may not always be thrilled with the assigned patients we get but instead of complaining she challenged us to find the purpose in the patient assignment. Either we will be a blessing to them or they will bless us. God has a funny way of doing that. In the little time I've spent at the hospital I've found this to be very true.

At the beginning of the semester I was assigned to a med-surg floor that I was not particularly fond of for my leadership hours. I had done clinicals there during junior year so I knew some of what I was up against. The floor smells awful; a mixture of stale urine and bad breath hits you as soon as you exit the elevator. The patients are mostly contact precaution patients, which means they have MRSA, VRE, or my all time favorite c.diff. and so I have to gown/glove up everytime I enter the room (total inconvenience). And the patients are fairly intense. Many are on ventilators, have PEG/feeding tubes, are incontinent, morbidly obese (I'm talking 300 hundred pounds and up), etc. Lets just say I may not have had the best attitude. Seeing as I knew I would be spending four weekends, a total of 96 hours, on this floor I immediately took it to the Lord. I was like "ok God I know you have me on this floor for a reason. While I may not like it I want to be the best nurse I can be. Maybe you're trying to teach me something, I don't know why you couldn't teach me it somewhere else! haha. Please help me have a good attitude and be your hands and feet to my patients."

Fast forward to my second weekend on the floor. I had two patients to care for by myself (don't worry a real nurse supervised my care). The first one we'll call Mr. I Don't Want to Stay in my Bed and the second was Mr. Guillain Barre. Mr. I Don't Want to Stay in my Bed is a older man who had an altered mental status secondary to a motorcycle accident. Severely confused he kept trying to get out of his bed. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except he was confused and couldn't really use the right side of his body. Somehow he had managed to sneak off the side of his bed the night before I got there and sustained a cut to his arm. That didn't deter this man from trying to get out of bed repeatedly during my shift. Oh add in his constant diarrhea for count 'em a straight 2 hours and I was very busy to say the least! 

Mr. Guillain Barre's wife was in the room with him and diligently was caring for his needs so I didn't do much for him except administer medications and monitor his status. Guillain Barre is an autoimmune disease that attacks your nervous system without warning. This poor man was driving his truck one day when he started to experience vision changes and numbness to his extremities. Hours later he was paralyzed and had to be placed on a ventilator to maintain his respiratory status. Because of the tracheostomy he was unable to speak but his wife had worked with him to mouth words. Although many times I could tell it was frustrating to communicate with me, lets just say I'm working on my reading mouthed words skills, he was very good at telling me what was wrong (he even knew when there were bubbles in his new IV line!). 

At the end of the second shift I went to check on Mr. Guillain Barre. His wife began to tear up as she shared with me that for the first time since her husband had been hospitalized I was the only one that actually talked to him. She was moved by the fact that someone actually took the time to talk and interact with her husband. I asked her what normally happened and she said the the nursing staff typically would come in the room do their necessary tasks and walk out. Side note I do not consider what I did those days to take care of Mr. Guillain Barre anything out of the ordinary but what a great testimony to Christ shining through me!

I'm not going to judge the other nursing staff but as she shared this with me my heart broke (we all know it doesn't take a lot to bring tears to my eyes!). See Mr. Guillain Barre has been in the hospital for a month. A MONTH! Patient care, the core of nursing, is well about ... patient care. I know I am not a nurse yet but the day I get so wrapped up with the things I have to do during the shift and forget about the patient laying in the bed is the day I should probably stop nursing.  

Anyways as I was driving home and talking with God this beautiful analogy came to mind.

As Christians we get so accustomed and comfortable with our relationship God. He is always there, right before our eyes, in our reach, but in the busyness of our lives we move about hardly acknowledging Him. Like those nurses we do what we "have" to but nothing more. We're satisfied with the dinner table prayer and the verse we read before we go to bed. We check those things off our to do list and carry on with other tasks. Communicating with Him takes time and effort on our part like it did with Mr. Gullain Barre. But if we take that time He will direct us in the right direction. Mr. Guillain Barre was able to tell me what was wrong and how to fix it if I just patiently worked with him. Too many of us just don't even bother communicating unless we NEED or want something.

I, like most Christians am guilty of putting God on the back-burner during the day because there is so much going on. BUT is that ok? Absolutely not. Just like there is a patient in the bed who is vying for the nurses attention God so desperately wants to spend time with us. Its necessary for the relationship to work. We shouldn't settle for the occasional interaction but rather work at making Him a priority. 

I want to challenge you to not allow life to get in the way of your relationship with Christ. Don't settle for the bare minimum. Isn't the reason we are on this earth to bring honor and glory to Christ? How can we do that if we don't spend time getting to know Him and allowing Him to transform us?

Just some things to think about. God amazes me how He uses my patients to teach me, and not just nursing skills. 

That day I believe He was sweetly saying:

Emily, I'm right here. I will not demand your time and love but I want it. 

Our God wants to spend time with us! How great is that? He has done so much for me the least I can do is slow down, take my time and enjoy being in His presence. And allow Him to teach and direct me.