Amazing

Life is pretty amazing these days.

I've been able to walk home from school twice this week -- a terrific treat in January. And, I've walked 10 miles this week. Tomorrow should be warm so I might get closer to a summer-caliber walking score for the week.

Clincals are terrific.

I've been able to show off my skills with little ones in community health. My group sees some toddlers with asthma. It's not a lot of medical work, but it's a lot of relationship building and communication, both things I'm good at. Adding the medical stuff to something I'm already comfortable with is great.

My clinical at the hospital is really amazing. This week we saw a complex, interesting case with one of the sweetest sick people I've ever met. I felt more confident getting vitals and talking to the patient this time. We heard what the doctors had to say to the patient and we sat in on the floor's daily conference with nurses, doctors, social workers, pharmacists, etc... (Yeah, seriously, they meet and talk this all out! Who knew?!?)

I'm feeling really good. Life is busy, but getting into a decent swing. We've got our slow cooker bubbling away with some chicken for tacos. We're hanging out on Saturday with no major to-dos. Hope you're feeling good too!

Winter Must-Do List

Before spring creeps up...

• Go ice skating -- B and I both have our own skates.
• Take several snow walks -- We like to venture out in the snow and work our legs with a walk. It's amazing how much work it is to walk through that fluffy stuff.
• Use the slow-cooker more.
• Drink more cocoa, tea, and coffee drinks.
• Use my new bathtub goodies from my sister-in-law (tonight!?!)
• Not drive my car during inclement weather at all. Hooray for the El train, buses and my own two feet!
• Eat more citrus since it's in season. I've got some clementines and a few grapefruit, but I should probably make lemon-y or lime-y dishes or drinks.
  
• Bake cookies, muffins, and a pie. Not all at once.
  
• Make some plans for spring break.
• Clean my closet!
  
• Stay at home all weekend (might be accomplishing this presently).

Happy winter!

Semester 2, Week 1 - done!

Since I'll be a nurse in less than a year, it seems very reasonable that things are getting a bit intense on the school front.

This semester I have just three classes, two with clinical components. I've got school 5 days a week, but my Friday afternoon class only meets in-person once more so I'll still have an early start to the weekend. My classes will definitely be tough, but since I'll be seeing patients and feeling more like an almost-nurse I'm feeling pretty confident:

• Community Health -- This class goes over school nursing, home healthcare nursing, healthcare law and lots more. We have a handy course packet and our professor is terrific. She's taught the course for years and since it's an extension from last semester's community class it's not all-new. The clinical component for Community is also wonderful. I'll be seeing a child with asthma at her home on the north side. We work in groups so I'll see another little one with asthma as well as an older man.
• Med-Surg/Adult Health -- This is a biggie. The lab component for Adult Health is on a real floor of a real hospital (Northwestern Memorial for me) with real patients. There's a lot of hard work ahead for this course, but it's the nitty-gritty of nursing and I'm excited for it. Plus there are about 40 little writing assignments -- hooray for a little thinking and writing!
• Pharmacology -- I should love this since my grandpa is a pharmacist! We learn about pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug interactions, all sorts of crazy chemistry, as it applies to patients. I've got to keep up with the readings, use the study guide and figure out some smart drug-learning techniques too. But I will get to learn why insulin has to stay in the fridge, so that's exciting.

This weekend B and I are hunkering down at home with public television food shows, home cooked food, studying, laundry and wine. Hey January, we've figured you out!

Clinicals = Excellent

My first day of clinicals was terrific!

I could hardly sleep the night before. I kept waking up thinking I might be forgetting something or sleeping past my alarm.

I finally stopped pretending to rest at about 4:30 a.m. I got dressed with longjohns under my scrubs, combed my hair into ponytail, packed my white shoes in my backpack along with my lunch, and felt ready to go.

I headed out the door, then realized it was raining. So I ran back upstairs for a plastic bag to put my shoes in, just in case.

I headed out again, got halfway down the block and realized I left my cell phone and my continuous glucose monitor on my beside table. I ran back for that stuff, and a hat, while I was at it.

I dashed (literally running more than halfway there) to the bus stop, hopped on and got to the hospital early enough to grab a coffee before things got underway.

The morning went quickly. A classmate and I shared a patient, who was very nice. I got an ID badge. I got to know my clinical instructor -- a neurosurgery advanced practice nurse. I ate lunch in the cafeteria. I learned the routine and the schedule, a little bit.

I've got an online hospital orientation, IV lab, classes aplenty, community health clinicals, a 9-page critical thinking worksheet to fill out, and some readings to pick up, but I've already knocked on my first patient door, introduced myself to my first patient, taken my first real set of vitals, taken my first listen to a stranger's lungs and heart, and did a good job at it. And that's big.

One day to go...

Tomorrow I start spring semester in a serious way. I'm meeting my clinical instructor at 6:30 a.m. at Northwestern Memorial and starting up my Adult Health clinical rotation for real. I'm very excited! I'll report back on it post-haste. Before school starts tomorrow my list includes:

• a grocery trip -- we need to do some serious stocking up!
• cleaning up some junk, including all remaining holiday decor.
• set up the printer -- check! Now I can print wirelessly.
  
• clean the bathroom
• order textbooks -- check! Thankfully this semester I only need to get two packages of textbooks (with study guides and whatnot) -- one is on its way from Amazon right now.
• rest!
• keep making plans for working out at school, bringing snacks to school, staying on top of my studies...
• clear my head. That might be the toughest thing on this list. Yikes.
  

LA, CA -- Beautiful! (And warm!)

California is beautiful. How beautiful, you ask?

Amazing! At every turn there is something decidedly beautiful and unavailable in Illinois:

Sunsets along the ocean!

Rolling hills!

Vineyards along rolling hills!

Vineyards!

Huge mountain/hills (involving switchbacks and a lot of might from a Ford Fiesta) with beautiful views, lakes, forests, farms, etc...)

On Monday Julie and I had a terrific journey to Santa Barbara wine country. We drove through some winding hills and amazing views. We sipped some decent wines. We ate some delicious sandwiches (at a cafe and homemade for a picnic). We listened to ridiculously wonderful Julie & Amanda music in the car.

Here I am at a lookout along the way home from Santa Barbara Wine Country. Below is a vineyard in January -- pretty sad. Don't worry though, they'll perk up and make some terrific grapes to make into terrific wine soon. These vines belong to Cambria, a Santa Barbara winery that's actually sold in stores nationally.

Tuesday Julie had to go back to work. I decided to go walking in Los Angeles. Besides a few wrong turns and confusing a golf course for a park because of Google Maps mis-labeling, I had a delightful walk. I walked up and down Larchmont Avenue where there are tons of shops and cafes. I walked through a fancy neighborhood and sat in a lovely park reading.

When Julie was done with work we drove to Griffith Park and took a beautiful vista-view hike. We had Korean noodle soup for dinner and went to bed early.

Here's Julie along our hike. The trail was pretty wide and easy, but we covered a lot of elevation (especially for Illinois-born people unaccustomed to hills and whatnot). Below is a view from the hike. City, smog, hills, sunset -- wow!

Wednesday we're up early and here at KPCC! Southern California Public Radio is pretty cool, even though Julie won't explain anything to me about how all this works though.

A Bowl of Roses and Fleas!

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena isn't too far from Julie's house and it's really close to her workplace. Despite my confusion about maps and directions, and the general confusion surrounding all these ridiculous freeways, we found the Rose Bowl, parked and paid our $8 to get in to the monthly flea market.

What do they sell at the Rose Bowl Flea Market? Everything. Seriously. New stuff, old stuff, really old stuff, newer old-looking stuff and weird stuff from around the world whose age I cannot determine. We considered buying embroidered pillowcases, beautiful glass bowls, a toilet-shaped plant pot (Julie shut it down - sad!), rusty keys, fancy old dresses, tiny speakers to be hooked up to iPhone, some cool succulent-type plant, ruffly aprons, giant shoes and creepily long scissors.

Julie and I saw maybe a third of the stands, but we go the idea of the place. It was incredible fun to look at all the odd items for sale, check out what people were buying, and barter for a few great things ourselves.

Julie bought a terrific green glass jar, which she plans to use to make either pickles or infused vodka. Yum! I got a few little Pyrex bowls and I almost got a juicer (not a machine, just a glass dish made for squeezing lemons) but the price was too high.

We got to sit inside the actual Rose Bowl stadium for a little while and the weather was perfect. Afterward we ate lunch in Pasadena and went to Trader Joe's for groceries. Now we are at Julie's California apartment in Koreatown considering some dinner-making, movie-watching and chit-chatting.

Here are some photos from our day:

Behind the glass boots are a bunch of cool cartoon character glasses for sale for $15 or more -- I swear we had several of these when I was a kid!

Julie considers some glassware -- near these fine pieces we also saw a set of glasses by the Florida Egg Commission which detailed what personality traits your egg-preference indicated. Sunny-side up mean you're happy and wise.

These are Buck Boxes, which as far as I can tell are just full of rusty junk. I took this photo for B!

Some roses in front of the Rose Bowl. The flea market surrounded the stadium. Even in January there were some beautiful roses around the grounds.