No More Surgery!!!

That's right everyone, I just had my last surgery lab ever!! Well, as long as I pass that class that is haha So far I am passing, so as long as I pass the final, then I will be free from the class forever and ever!! I am so excited!! You have all heard me complain about the class all semester, so why not complain about the last day too? haha I was all prepared, as was everyone else, but the doctor was just hovering over us. Maybe she thought it would help us stay on task, but in reality it just stressed us out even more so we were a little forgetful. My biggest concern was when the doctor yelled at me about cleaning the endotrach tube and esophageal stethescope. In the beginning of the semester, I was told that we were not supposed to be using chlorahexidine solution because it is irritation to the throat tissues. So, just like every other lab, I soaked and rinsed in soapy water. However, this doctor decided she didn't believe it so I had to reclean them. So much for getting 5/5 daily points for the last lab. But thank God it is my last lab, cuz i think I just might go insane or have a heart attack or something if I was forced to do the class over. Now I'm off to the rehab center, so hopefully there's more than just 1 appointment today.

Clinical

So some of you had heard me complaining about the stupid clinical coordinator at my school. She is kinda slow and scatterbrained, and it's really annoying. Anyways, now that there is a whole 2 weeks left of the semester, she FINALLY decided to email me about my first choice for my internship. Wasn't that nice of her? Luckily the clinic is here in town and only about 10 mins from my house, instead of almost 90 mins away like school. The interview is set for 2 weeks from tomorow, so I can be done with school and everything first. I don't wanna mix finals with an interview. Cross your fingers for me that it all goes well! I'll keep you posted once I have the interview.

Buck's Sickness Returns

Yup, that's right. Buck got sick again; poor bonneville. I was without a car yet again, and it's not fun! Luckily, it only cost about $200 this time instead of $350 like the last time. One of these days I'm just gonna have to get a new car, cuz clearly this one just isn't lasting very well. Supposedly, everythign under the hood was replaced about a month before I got it. Yet in the last year, I've had to replace both brake lines, driver accessory belt, and a couple wheel barings, if not more. I'm not so sure it was worth the $3000 I paid for it, but it's too late now. I'll just have to wait until a better one comes along. Anyways, Buck is safe at home now. I only had to go a day without him this time. So all is well now. And, not that I'm counting or anything, only 2 weeks left of my current college education! AKA Only 6 actual days of class!! Providing I pass all my classes that is... *crossing fingers*

Stupid Girl Returns

Just when I thought my anes/surg lab was getting better, it plummeted greatly today. Stupid girl has been doing so well that last couple of weeks, but today something happened. She still showed up early for lab and was prepared, but she was so dang slow! We were doing a feline neuter today, so you gotta be quick when working with cats. They get fractious and stressed VERY easily and VERY quick, so we have to be quick. But it was as if she was in slow motion. And you can't be like that when the induction agent wears off in a matter of minutes. I could hardly hold the mouth open because the cat was waking up before she had even intubated. Sorry if I didn't feel like getting bit today. Anyways, she didn't even start writing in the record. The surgical assist had to pick up her slack doing that. It's so annoying! We have 2 1/2 weeks left; we should know what the hell we are doing by now. I can't wait to be out of class with her! I don't wanna be mean here, but I really hope she fails out of it. If you can't do basic procedures without a list of supplies in your pocket or do the procedures rapidly, then you are never going to survive. She'll be lucky to be hired at a clinic and stay at the clinic if she doesn't get her act together. At least there is only one procedure left, and thats surgery lab next week. Hopefully we can end it on a good note. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Grizzley Coast

As if I'm not doing enough driving with school, I decided to do a little more and went to the Minnesota Zoo yesterday with my mom and sister. We have been hearing all about the new exhibit, Russia's Grizzley Coast, and wanted to finally check it out for ourselves. And it was amazing! There were grizzley bears, sea otters, amur leopards, amur tigers, and wild boars. The entire exhibit was filled with boiling mud, steaming volcanoes, and guysers surrounded by rock walls. The entire exhibit was nicely done, and the animals were so cute! After checking that out, we wandered the rest of the zoo. Sadly, the mexican wolves were in quarantine having bite wounds being checked out, and the sea turtles were no longer there either. Although, the sea turtle has been released back into the wild, so that part it good. It was still sad to not see either animal. At least the moose were still there!

After spending about 4 1/2 hours at the zoo, we went to eat lunch at Ruby Tuesday. There salad bar is amazing for those of you who have never eaten there before. Then we wandered across the street to IKEA. My mom and I have never been inside the store before, so it was quite overwhelming but a fun experience. I even managed to find some cheap goodies to use around the house, including really yummy Swedish cookies.

All in all, it was a good day, even though it was VERY long. We left our house around 8:30am, and we didn't get back until almost 8pm. And it was A LOT of walking, which I'm sure you can imagine. But it was awesome. We covered a lot of ground, and surprisingly, I'm not too sore today. Gotta love taking Aleve before bed and when you get up to prevent muscle pain :)

Straight-lined Winds

Another week is over, and I'm another week closer to being done. Yes, I now have only 4 weeks left of class until the end of the semester! I can't believe it's gone this fast! Anyways, you've heard about most of the week already. Or at least the interesting part: my anes/surg class. Comp Review wasn't too exciting. We did a fecal, a UA, and a CBC all in one night. Some how I managed to do them all in about an hour and a half. I guess I know how to manage my time well haha For those of you who don't understand my medical talk, I had to check poop for parasites, check urine for high amounts of bad stuff (bacteria, blood, crystals, ect), and check the blood values (number of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets) and any abnormalities. Usually each one can take 30-60 mins, so I did quite well in my 90 mins.

Thursday wasn't very exciting for class. A huge storm decided to swipe through Minnesota, so sirens went off and my school had an internal evacuation. Straightline winds upto 70 mph, heavy downpours, rumbling thunder, lightning streaks, marble/nickel-sized hail, and possible tornadoes. Of course, me being the storm chaser I am, I was outside watching the storm move in. Once the heavy rain was blowing at me, I went in the doors so I wouldn't get soaked. Shortly after, I heard a high pitched whistle coming from the SW corner of the storm. It was a tornado. After about 10 seconds, it was gone. Luckily, it never hit my school so we were all safe. However, I heard later that it went through a trailor park about 2 1/2 miles south of my school, so I wasn't missed by much. Damage was insane. Anyways, another one is sposed to hit any time here so best to get off before we lose power. Have a great weekend everyone! And anyone in path of the storm, take cover and stay safe!

There's Light at the End of the Tunnel

Another school week is half-way through. And surprisingly, my anes and surgery labs have gone well for the most part today. I was anesthetist both days, so it was hectic for me. Especially after being sick all weekend. But [obviously] I survived. The Monday patient was a 76 pound dog, so it was pretty easy. The muscles and veins were easy, making injections practically fool proof. Today, however, was a 10 pound cat, so not such an easy target. Muscles were good, but the femoral vein did not want to stand up. I hit it once, but not enough to make the injection. The endotrach tube went in nicely though, so that part was good. Best of all, stupid girl wasn't so stupid! She showed up kinda early and was prepared for the most part. Still a little clueless on Monday though. She was the dental tech, and she was acting as if she'd had never seen teeth before. She was being a perfectionist as well, and we don't have time for that. So that was a little annoying. But we made it through with a little time to spare. Now I'm off to the rehab center. Hopefully there will be more than just a couple clients coming in today.

Yay for Independance

So it has been a pretty eventful 4th of July weekend. It all started on Thursday heading to the Cannon Valley fair with my mom. It's a pretty small fair, but it was still fun. There was a kiddie barnyard area sponsored by the FFA where baby animals could be held. Even though I'm not exactly a kid, I decided to partake anyways. I went after the baby ducklings, and they were so cute! I even got my picture taken by a newspaper editor! So I just might be famous as well. There were also kids, a calf, a pony, some bunnies, newly hatched chicks, a lamb, and some piglets. Then I was off to school to perform a physical exam in prep for being anesthetist tomorrow. Lunch was spent at IHOP of course! It's only one of the best restaurants out there, and it has cheap food. That night, I babysat for a few hours.


Friday, being the 4th of July, was spent working all morning and afternoon. I didn't really wanna work, but I did get holiday pay. So I guess that makes it a little better. That night, I watched the city's fireworks with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. And of course, we lit a few off at our house afterwards. I got some pretty cool shots as well, which will be up here soon.

Saturday wasn't quite as eventful. I mostly just ran errands and did homework. So it wasn't too exciting.

Today, however, made up for it. Today was the kick-off for Concerts in the Park Summer 2008 Series. Kicking it off was Blue Oyster Cult. I only know a couple songs by them, but it was still a great concert. Best of all, it was free! People were handing out blue, orange, and silver beads throughout the concert too. Too bad I forgot to bring my own cowbell though :( And the concert almost got rained out, but the storm decided to be nice and stay south of us. So we got to chant "More Cowbell" all night long. Now it's time to catch up on missed sleep from the rest of the weekend. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

Coming Down With Stubby Wings

So surprisingly, today's surgery lab actually went well too! I am kinda in shock since stupid girl showed up early BOTH days of lab this week. AND she was prepared with the necessary supplies! I think the doc talked to her and it is actually making a difference. THANK GOD. I don't know I could have gone the rest of the semester with the stupidity and carelessness. Although, I was a little out of it today when doing catheter. The dog would not stay still, so it was a challenge, but I got it in and taped up nicely. I'm so glad that the semester is over in 5 weeks. I can't wait until I'm done with this class!

After surgery, I headed to my weekly internship at the rehab center. I got to meet 2 new clients today, a cocker and a samoyed. The cocker was so cute! About 6 weeks ago, the poor guy got hit by a truck; freak accident. He is doing a lot better I've been told. The crazy thing is, he looks almost exactly like Bacon did when he was that young (2 1/2 years). If only Bacon was still that young, instead of 13 1/2. But no one can stay young forever. The other dog (the sammy) pulled a psoas (sp??) muscle so she gets laser therapy. It was the first time I've seen that done a well. It was a pretty exciting day there today, other than there was a break so I only saw stuff for about an hour and a half. Oh well, every little bit of experience helps.

Learning to Fly, Without Wings

So I half expected the second half of the semester to be less stressful since I have 3 less credits than before, but boy was I wrong. I guess it's a little less stress since I have a little less homework, but it is still pretty darn stressful and busy! I lost a day of class, but it just turned into another day of homework. For some reason, my online teacher thinks that we need to have more reading homework and harder essay assignments in the second half of the semester. Aren't classes supposed to get easier as the semester continues, not harder? I thought so, but clearly stupid teachers disagree with what students think. On a good note, I did well on my anes/surg lab midterm and it brought my grade up 12%! So now I'm actually passing the class! :D However, I only have about 5 weeks to bring it up to an A, or at least keep it above a C to ensure I stay passing. I haven't heard about lecture yet, so let's hope its just as good, if not better.

On a different note, the stupid girl actually showed up early for lab yesterday. She was actually prepared too! However, she didn't have a clue what she was doing when putting in the catheter. But I still give her props for being prepared. She may not have been prepared with the knowledge, but she was there and had her supplies. I guess the teacher talking with her actually made a difference. Yay for the doctor!

In addition to school, my social life is stressing me out, but I guess that's supposed to be expected when I'm going to school all summer. I never get to spend time with my friends at home since I'm at school and have homework, and they have full-time jobs. It's hard and frusterating since I never get to see them during the school year either. And when I think I get to see them, something comes up and I don't. Or else I do get to see them but they just want to hang out with their boyfriend and drink. I can't do either, so it's really not much fun on my part. But I guess its gotta get better sooner or later. I can't roam around forever with a guy, can I? At least I have my dogs; they can cheer me up in a heartbeat. It's still not fair though. Everyone around me has that special someone to hang out with and always seems to have something to go to. All I ever do is go to school or work, or I spend my life at home. And my parents are no where near exciting, seeing how my mom is always crabby and my dad spends almost 12 hours a day at work.

I just wish that stuff would stop adding up. Its getting pretty depressing, and I should be happy. Afterall, I only have about 5 1/2 weeks left until the end of the semester. Then I just have my internship and graduation. I'm going to be done with school 2-3 years before all my other friends from high school. I will be all settled in the job world (hopefully) before they even graduate. That should make a girl happy, but it doesn't. And I don't know exactly why. Anyone have any advice on how to survive the crazy hectic world of life without driving yourself mad? Feel free to pass it in my direction.