Secrets, secrets

I made it!! I am really quite happy with my life (even if I am cranky and wish there was a kickboxing class close by, I am still usually happy). My clinical group is fun and I think we have a nice little solidarity going on. I feel like we're probably the coolest group, but I guess everyone's perspective on that would be a little different. Anyway, I like them and they make me happy even if we are all having crap-tastic days. I have a big stack of alcohol wipes on my desk since they just seem to accumulate in my pockets as the days go on. Maybe I'm becoming a germ freak? You would think I'd quit picking at my nails if that was actually the case, but maybe that's a development later on.

So I saw this PostSecret awhile ago that was a list a woman made about the men she knew.
Naturally, I love this. It's clever, kind of hilarious and unexpected.... and I have decided to try my hand at this. I dare you to hazard a guess who I am talking about, but I'll try to be sneaky! (Note: Work in progress... I really do want mine to be clever! Maybe then I will color code them and make them pretty)

• I have never been more excited to never see someone again... except once.
• Our search for Cadbury Eggs was probably one of my favorite nights in college, minus the Strongbow hunt in BevMo.
• You have no idea what you did for me. I probably love you.
• You're kind of awkward. I kind of like it.
• I have way better friends than you ever will.
• For being so "smart," you're kind of pathetic when it comes to living your life.
  
• I missed our big Thanksgiving shebang this year.
  
• While I appreciate your child-like heart from a distance, it was too overwhelming close up.
• You're still a sexist pig.
• Seriously, why do you still call me? I'm confused.
  
• Given the chance, I would legitimately fight you (and win!) - you're not as great as you think you are (at anything!).
• You'd be cute if you had a personality. It is a loss for humanity.

:) That was kind of cathartic.

I am such a delinquent! I always think about writing but then I either nap, go to bed or do work. Or snack, but that's more of a constant struggle. Anyway, we are finished with long term care and I secretly liked it a lot. I spent my last two days on a locked dementia unit and I feel like I learned a lot about communication from my patient. I am very thankful for him :) I can see how working with those patients, though, can be draining. Some of them can become physically and verbally abusive and it's not something they have control over so you know they don't really mean it. I think our last day that wear and tear set in on us, at least the group that was in the back, and we were all a little down :( It was an overall great experience and I am happy that we survived. This week we start in acute care and our floor is a short stay medical-surgical floor. I hope I get to watch a couple procedures! I am sure this will be more fast paced, so I hope I can make the walk home after we're done.

Last week we also finished up two more classes - pathophysiology/pharmacology and genetics. I really liked our patho professor and we get to have her again for case study stuff in our med-surg class (I have it in the spring). We also register for fall classes on Friday, so I met with my advisor today to sign my degree plan. I'm going to try to get the early lab, probably the 8 am, so then I'll make myself go to the gym afterwards. My advisor said it's probably not a bad idea since our days will be long as it is. I have women's health/OB/peds in the fall as well as psyc, so I think that I will have lots of fun with those rotations. I also have met with one of my professors that does pediatric sleep research and I will be working with her for the rest of the year. She's so low key that I'm sure it will be a fun experience even if we don't really get to help with the study itself. I am excited to see what a sleep lab looks like, especially for kids, and learn more about this little pocket of science. She's also been a great resource for me about PhD programs, so I am also very thankful for her :)

[Begin soapbox] We went to the pride parade on Saturday with some of our friends from class and it was really fun! At the end we all got to march in the parade (I guess that's what happens all the time - everyone just joins in at the end) and we turned a corner to find a whole bunch of protestors. I thought I had some idea of what that experience was like, but I was wrong. As a straight person, I was totally offended/shocked/surprised that people so "Christian" would pass such an extreme judgement on another group of people. Kind of reminds me of Paul's letters, those ones that tell women to be quiet and people not to get married unless they have to (you know, the ones no one actually reads?), since at that point Christians were the outcasts of society. I don't know, it seems counter productive to be blatantly judgemental and cruel when you're supposed to be the light of the world. I'm still not totally sure how using Jesus's love as a weapon is one of the cornerstone's of Christianity, but I don't think that's something I'll ever understand. Maybe it is my inner peaceful-love everybody-"hippie" Vermonter. One of the friends I was walking with went up to a protestor holding a sign that said something like "Ask me why you're going to hell" and told him that Jesus loved him. My personal favorite is a photo I saw on a website (maybe Perez Hilton?) that had someone protesting the passage of Prop 8 holding a sign that said, "Jesus said LOVE, bitches!" :) Pretty sure that person was/is right... [end of soapbox]

My transition to my new surroundings hasn't been extremely difficult... except for when I am wandering around trying to figure out why I cannot find the people I used to talk to every day for the last 4 years. Then it gets hard. So I guess that's why God made us smart enough to have cell phones and texting :) There are only a few constants in my day, but I am always glad to have them: breathing, eating, sleeping (even a little) and encouragement from Cassan. :)

I survived my first week of clinicals, although this is a little late. I'm placed at a small long term care facility a few miles away from our house. My unit is half open and half locked down since it houses dementia patients that like to wander (I think I would be one of those if I happen to have dementia). The first day was a lot of orientation stuff and getting used to the facility, but all of our patients are very nice. I have been able to feed a few of our residents (they eat more than I do sometimes!) and have gotten to know a few of their stories. I was on the "open" front end of the unit last week and will be going to the "closed" back half of the unit Wednesday/Thursday this week. My patient was able to feed her self and I practiced using a Hoyer lift (it's like a sling that can move people in and out of bed) since she wasn't able to get in and out of bed on her own. She was a little cranky in the morning so it was hard for me to not try to make her feel better while I was giving her a bed bath, but I think it just made her mood worse. I also don't feel totally comfortable turning patients by myself yet, so I had one of my collegues help me. I'm sure that stuff will come in time, but I really just don't want to hurt them (they all seem kind of frail!).

Anyway, we were so tired on Thursday after our clinical that everyone fell asleep until at least 8 pm. I woke up at 9, decided I had to have dinner so I made pasta and watched So You Think You Can Dance results. Our lives are so exciting. It seems like every weekend we talk about going out or exploring somewhere new but by the time we get there we all just want to sleep. I hope that we get to hang outside this weekend, though, since it hasn't been really nice yet and we haven't gotten to go to the beach.

Nic has been super awesome and had me and a couple of our friends work out with him on River Campus (which is just main campus but they call it something else since there's a RIVER next to it. Ridiculous). We did a sprinting work out today and I'm not sure if I'll be able to walk tomorrow (we did a bunch of lunges last week and I really couldn't) but I like our bonding time together :)

We finished our pharmacology/pathophys class today, have an exam in our clinical class tomorrow and have a paper due in our last genetics class Friday. 3/5 classes will be done Friday at 2:30 pm! In one month, I'll be one third done the whole program!

Oh man, we survived another week! Our lab for therapeutic interventions 1 is really useful - we've learned how to make beds, use bedpans (yikes?) and then today we learned how to insert a catheter. THAT was crazy. The video was a little disturbing, especially since I wasn't expecting its contents, obviously, since I was watching it in the lobby. :/

Since we didn't have school on Friday, we went to Niagra Falls(!). It was fun since we went to the Canadian side and then went shopping after at the outlets. We went on the Maid of the Mist, which is a very misleading name. It's a boat that goes close to the falls (American and Canadian) and they give you a little poncho to keep you dry. EPIC FAIL. We were all totally soaked almost up to our knees. We spent more time screeching and flailing than we did looking at the falls, but it was still fun :)




We hung out with Jerlin for the fourth of July and saw fireworks downtown. They were pretty good, probably because it's Rochester's 175 anniversary. I made eggplant parm (and sauce!) before we went so I felt kind of like a mom :) We went to Dinosaur BBQ after to get some food and avoid the crazy traffic and I was pleased again!



I have to decide what we are going to do tomorrow for my birthday, but at this point sleep is looking prettyyyy awesome. We go to clinical on Wednesday - bright and early at 0700! I think happy hour will suffice for me. 21 +1 just isn't as exciting...