The saga continues....

I have been in the nursing program now for five full weeks and I have to admit I keep going back and forth..."this is so much fun"..."what the crap did I get myself into?" So much reading, homework, and dare I say it...fast food! As I continue to teeter on the brink of insanity here is what has happened in the past three weeks:

Week 3: In lab I learned how to give a intramuscular and a sub-dermis shot. Sub-dermis shots are for things like TB testing. We practiced on hot dogs and I got some pretty decent blebs (pockets of the medicine under the skin: a good thing). But, alas...hot dogs aren't even close to being like human flesh and I injected my partner a little too deep. Not that badly done but, in my defence every time our teacher would observer a student administering the shot other students would swarm. Pretty nerve wrecking if you ask me. I did, however, do a fine job on the intramuscular shot. Which I think is more important considering I will have to do those more as a nurse. When it was my partners turn to give me a IM I freaked. I am not scared of needles, but knowing this was her first time I really lost it. My teacher was telling me to calm down the whole time. Once it was in and I realized, of course, it did not hurt I was all cool about it. Like I knew all along she could do it. HAHA!
After lab I got to give the H1N1 vaccine to two people. One the nasal spray and one via IM shot. Both way cool but, the pressure was on giving the shot because I got stuck giving it to a second semester nursing student who felt the need to comment on everything I did. I informed him that I was told to do it a certain way and he was a little butt about it. I hope I am not like that as I progress through the program! FYI: dont' be a butt to someone who is about to give you a shot.

Week 4: My first two tests were this week and can I just tell you I thought my brain was about to bust out of my head. It does not mater what the subject is I always freak out before the first test in a class. "What is the format?" "How detailed is it doing to be?" "What happens if I have to go to the bathroom?" You name it, I worry about it. All is well, although I really need to stop reading into the questions and stop second guessing myself.

Week 5: I was tested on performing a full body assessment in lab on Tuesday. I had been practicing on Rachael (a good sport) and felt pretty ready. I remembered all the important stuff and passed. Word! I have to admit I questioned my career path when I was looking up peoples' noses all day and realized "it's gonna get worse than this."
Did you know that no matter how clear you think your nose is there are still things "hanging out" in there? Things that come out of the nose: my archnemesis.