Medical-Surgical Nursing

The first eight weeks of Spring semester managed to fly by, leaving me exhausted and feeling a little brain dead. My rotation was at St. Anthony's North in Westminster, Colorado. There were a few really great things about this rotation. First, it was a very short drive, about twenty minutes. Second, I had a great clinical instructor. I was hesitant at first, because my clinical instructor was a guy, and I thought he'd be really hard and for some reason I had the irrational fear that he would be arrogant. He was anything but this, and having him as a clinical instructor was a great experience.

I was really hoping to have some oncology patients, but most of my patients were post-surgical carotid endartectomies or liver failure (from alcohol). A carotid endartectomy is when there is a clogged artery in the neck that needs to be cleaned out and a stent is sometimes inserted to keep the artery open. My liver patients (and I had several of them) were usually young (40-60 yrs) and having multiple organ failure. I was astonished at the number of end-stage organ failure patients we had. I also had a couple of patients who were admitted for another reason, but turned out to be alcoholics and the only way we found out was about 30 hours after they were admitted they started having tremors, sweats, hallucinations, etc.

Highlights of this past rotation were probably removing my first JP drain (this is a long plastic piece of material with holes in it that runs along an incision site to help with draining after surgery. It has a little "grenade" bulb at the end to collect drainage and is emptied). To remove it, I just clipped some stitches and pulled it out! It was crazy. The tube was about seven inches long and accompanied by a huge blood clot that scared the crap out of me! I was also able to practice starting I.V.'s, although never on a real patient. My friend Erin, and another student, graciously allowed me to practice! Eric will have nothing to do with this.

Unfortunately, we lost two of our six students this clinical for one reason or another, so that was kind of sad. This next eight weeks our class is divided for the first time since the start of our program. Half of us are in psychiatric nursing while the other half of us are in pediatric nursing. This past eight weeks we have all successfully passed pharmacology also! Yay!!!

Spring Semester Year One Nursing School and Wedding Planning

Above is a picture of the "Save the Date" Eric and I sent out via email to people over the weekend. We have been meaning to get save the date's out for awhile now as some of our friends have already made plans for six months out! It was a good feeling to have completed this task, as it has been weighing on our minds for quite some time. I was very excited to find this one on Evite.com. It was very easy to use and best of all, FREE!

Today was my first day back to nursing school. I've been a little anxious about starting this semester for a few reasons. First, I really could have used another week off of school. I managed to keep myself very busy over break and certainly wasn't bored yet. Secondly, I've heard horror stories about the Medical-Surgical rotation. We have a lot of material to cover in eight weeks. Clinicals start next week and I'm sure I'll have lots of exciting stuff to write about in a couple of weeks.

This morning I woke up to snow...lots of snow. This wouldn't be a problem except that I think all the snow plow drivers in Colorado were still sleeping when I have drive to school. It took me two and a half hours to drive twenty miles to school this morning. Needless to say, I was among the half of the class who showed up very late for our first Med-Surg lecture. The good news was that on the way home the skies were clear, roads were dry and traffic was moving freely. Poor Peanut has to get used to being home alone all day again.

Toady all 72 nursing students had to sign up for our service learning sites. I haven't officially gotten mine yet because they added a Boulder site which worked out great for me. We have to complete 20 hours of service learning at a nursing home over the course of the semester, keep a journal and write a paper about social justice in the elderly population. We originally had only three service site options, all of which were a 45 minute drive for me. I was ecstatic when they decided to add a site in Boulder. This will make it much easier for me to complete my hours.

Tonight Eric and I are taking it easy. I'm writing this blog as a way to stay awake past 8pm. We have both fallen asleep on the couch several times already tonight. Poor Eric had to move all kinds of heavy stuff around in the snow today with his ultra motivated supervisor today and is exhausted. I apparently had a rough night of sleep filled with anxiety as I kicked him all night in my sleep and kept grinding my teeth! Guess I am a little stressed about Med-Surg! Well, tomorrow is another big day! I'll write more when I have pictures and something more exciting to talk about!

Christmas Presents!

Our Family Christmas Photo! Eric got me a new camera for Christmas, so we had lots of fun taking photos and videos. Peanut on the other hand, didn't understand the need to wait for the timer in our group shot, so I had to pin her down! After we opened presents we enjoyed egg nog with brandy, mashed potatoes, turkey for Eric, beans and Fruits of the Forest pie. I think we watched "A Christmas Story" four times! And of course, there's no better way to round out the day with a climbing video!

Peanut loves to open presents! She got her stocking opened all by herself and promptly destroyed her stuffy!



























Eric showing off his new pants, shirt and drawing model! We both got razors from my mom, which for some reason, made for great photos!

Peanut Christmas Video

Here's my first go at uploading a video. This is Peanut enjoying the packaging rather than her present. More photos to come later. Merry Christmas everyone!

Getting Ready for the Holidays and Fall Semester Wrap Up

This picture is from last year's Christmas, but I thought it was cute and wanted to post something reflecting the holiday spirit at the Harrisman family household! Next week I'll be through with finals and we will have time to do things like take photos, make cookies, and send cards out. On Friday we're leaving to drive to Missouri to visit Eric's parent's for Christmas. Peanut will be very excited about another long car ride I'm sure. We're also looking forward to seeing my parents again as they'll be driving to Missouri also. It should be a fun weekend introducing the parents to one another before the wedding.

Today was my last day of OB/GYN clinicals. Our clinicals were six weeks long, two days a week. There are three "units" we got to work in while we were there. One was Labor and Delivery, the second Mom/Baby (also known as post partum, or the place where mom, dad and baby recover and prepare to go home), and the third was in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). The NICU is for babies who are born too early or for newborns who are sick. We got to spend four days in each unit, which was a great experience. They were all very unique. I liked working in the NICU because it's so amazing to think these are babies who were suppose to be in the womb for another month or two, yet with years of research and advanced technology, these babies have a pretty good chance of survival. One of the first babies I cared for was born eight weeks early when mom's water broke. There was no stopping labor, but they were able to give a steroid to help the babies lungs develop. This baby spent about five weeks in the NICU and was sent home doing very well. They don't let students do a whole lot in the NICU but I was able to have two babies one day that I took care of. The nurse I was working with followed behind to make sure I didn't miss anything or mess something up, but it was a very cool experience to do almost everything on my own. I was also able to bottle feed her for her whole feeding, which was the first time she had milk by mouth instead of tube. She did amazing!

In Labor and Delivery I was able to attend two Cesarean sections and two vaginal deliveries (Eric thinks it is hilarious that I call them "vaginal deliveries," but that's what they are!) The second C-section I got to assist. I was the person who got to "wring" out all the bloody towels and make sure they were all accounted for and none of them were lost in the patient. I also did my first foley catheter insertion in front of the entire operating team, which was a little nerve racking. For the vaginal deliveries, I saw one woman have a natural childbirth with no pain relievers. The other woman chose to have an epidural, which made for two very different childbirth experiences. It was very interesting to see the natural ways to help progress labor and provide comfort. Boulder Community Hospital has a newly built campus with an exceptional maternity floor. Each room is equipped with an over-sized jet tub for women to relax in during labor. They also have a variety of those big yoga/pilates balls that they call "birthing" balls. Some women find sitting on these to be a comfortable position while they are waiting for labor to progress. BCH also uses massage, imagery, aromatherapy, music therapy, and has it's own team of Midwives.

Mom/Baby was the unit as nursing students we were able to act the most independently. For the last two days of my four there, I was able to have my own patients. We were able to provide complete care to mom and baby. Yesterday and today I had a post-operative woman and her baby, which required a lot of work because she had a reaction to anesthesia. I have to say I kind of though OB/GYN would involve a lot of holding babies, but this wasn't true at all. At Boulder Community Hospital, there is no nursery. Every baby stays with it's mom in her room. Mom's are encouraged to "wear the baby" for the first twenty-four hours, which means they should be skin-to-skin, breastfeeding, and bonding with the baby. It's a very different philosophy from many hospitals in the area.

After clinical today, our very cool and supportive clinical instructor Mari, brought us all out to eat at an Indian buffet across the street where we filled up with Chai tea and saag and talked about all the cool shots, catheters, iv's and assessments we got to do. It feels very good to have completed our first clinical and only have three days of school left!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Feast





We have a lot to be Thankful for and had a wonderful few days off. We were lucky to be able to spend a lot of Wed, all of Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday together. We ate well, enjoyed the weather, caught up on sleep, went to the gym and watched some movies. We were also able to catch up with friends and even went out to a wine bar in Boulder with our roommate Ryan.

This weekend I received an update about a family friend who was diagnosed with cancer over the summer. He is 22 and until then in great health. He was athletic, smart, and ate well. Apparently they've tried all kinds of treatments and clinical trials, but they don't believe he will live until Christmas. This really upset me as I recalled almost the same scenario with my friend Jeff from two years ago. He was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 23 and died a few months later, just before Christmas. It really made me think harder about what I'm thankful for. We all say we're thankful for our family and friends, for our health, for the ability to work and go to school, for the food we're able to afford and for all the other blessings we've had throughout the year. The news of his progressive illness made be doubly appreciate all that I have. I am very fortunate. I have happiness, a wonderful family, the most amazing finace, a dog that is a handful, but loving nonetheless, the opportunity to attend school full-time and give that all the attention I need...I have friends who care about me, a mother and father who do everything they can to help me and for today, I have my health.

Going to nursing school and learning about disease process and all the things that can go wrong can be overwhelming, especially when you have friends who are being diagnosed with cancers that were formerly thought to be cancers in men in their 60's and 70's...I guess for today, I am thankful for my health and for the health of my friends and family.



We started cooking this feast Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Eric made orange-glazed salmon in the back right pan, roasted sweet potatoes (not pictured), and I made vegetarian stuffing in the back middle, dinner rolls (which were really more like mini-loaves of bread!) from scratch, butternut squash soup in the middle, and pumpkin cheesecake pie. In the front right is Emeril's recipe for green bean casserole that Eric and I spent like two hours making! We had to actually fry the onion rings for the top! It was all amazing though!

Eric's New Truck

Eric's New Truck

He's so psyched :o)


Eric got a new truck. I make fun of him for trading in his vehicles all the time, but I must admit, I like this one. It's automatic, so I can drive it and it's not as big as the Xterra, which I felt drove like a tank!

He built a little bench in the extended cab part for Peanut to sit on and even covered it with carpet. Peanut wasn't sure what to think at first, but she's grown used to it now! We haven't gone camping in it yet, but I'm sure excited too. I think the back of the truck will be much more comfortable than the car or the Xterra. Sleeping in the Xterra was hard because we always managed to be lopsided and crushed between the wheels.