How many times can I play catch up?

I just finished reading alot of the previous stories on my blog and was so happy that those events in my life were posted. I didn't even get to post anything about 3rd semester. It really was a whopper of a semester and I can be heard saying that it nearly killed me. Seriously, even single college students with no kids in my class say they don't know how they did it.

I wanted to take a minute to say something about my clinicals from last semester. They started with a few days at Primary Children's. I love being with little children and helping them. I really have a soft spot for them. It tears my heart out to see them being neglected or hurt or having to deal with situations that they shouldn't have to, sometimes even before they are born. My most memorable experience from here was placing an NG tube. That means that I stuffed a tube down a baby's throat through his nose into his stomach so he could get food. Doing it is way cooler than it sounds...believe me!

I then got to spend a day in the ER. I actually liked it. It was nothing like the TV show. It was actually a glorified doctor's office. I was so surprised at some of the things that people go to the ER for. I kept wondering why they just didn't go see their doctor.

I spent a day in the telemetry unit. That just means it was a heart problem floor. Interesting stuff. Alot of EKG reading. I don't think it was for me.

I got to spend 2 days on the Med/Surg floor. I actually enjoyed this. I had great nurses who were wonderful teachers and let me do lots of things. They seemed to have more confidence in me than I had in myself.

I spent 3 days in the IMC. This is the Intermediate Care floor where people go that aren't sick enough for ICU but not well enough for Med/Surg. The nurses on this floor have a lot to do even though they only get 1 or 2 patients per shift. The patients have a lot going on so I got to experience a ton of stuff. The hardest part is that the patient can't really move on their own which means the nurses get to help them move. Not fun!

My last clinical for 3rd semester was in Wound Therapy. This was so fascinating to me. Taking care of wounds is such an art. It takes alot of explaining but watching these nurses unpack wounds and clean them out and repack them and get the wound vac going on them is just amazing. I also got a tour of the Hyperbaric Chamber. It is used to help oxygenate wounds (leading to faster healing) or for carbon monoxide poisoning or people who get the bends from scuba diving. I think the guy showing it to me liked telling me about it due to my own experience of scuba diving and understanding that whole world.

I mentioned briefly that 3rd semester nearly killed me. There was tons of work to do besides clinicals that kept us all going. I'm sure that I probably learned the most in that semester but when it ended, I was glad that it was over.