I am totally and completely procrastinating right now, which is not a good thing to do when you have three big tests next week and are taking twenty-two credits in two months...but I will continue to procrastinate a little more and finish this post. Today was the first day of clinincals. I couldn't sleep very well last night; I was too nervous for today. But it went off without any major incidences. My group of 8 and I are on the colorectal and bariatric floor. The hospital we are at this summer doesn't divide up the floors into med/surg, etc., it divides them according to patient issue. We do have a few orthopedic overflow patients, but anyway. I will be doing a lot with ostomy bags, cancer recovery, and GI issues. So basically, I will be all about the poo in this clinical. But I figure, hey, it's best to deal with the worst part of nursing first, so everything else seems manageable by comparison. I'll just have to think about how I'd feel if I had colon cancer and had to have someone change my diaper or colostomy bag. My heart goes out to these people. Anyway, it was nice to be in a hospital again; I have severely missed my dear NICU and all the adorable babies, but I 'met' a nice older lady today who let me get her vitals and listen to her heart and lungs. ( I am equally fond of the elderly; there was this cute little lady who was probably all of four feet tall with curly white hair, and an adorable older gentleman with a bowtie that made me want to give them both a big hug!) I say 'met' like that because she was quite out of it, and only smiled at me briefly before she fell back asleep again.
My group is great; we were all laughing uproariously at lunch today, trading funny stories and jokes. Lots of fun, dedicated people to work with. So, I think it will be a good summer. Day 1: success. I prayed before I left today that God would use me, and I hope that He did. Really, I want nothing more than that, to be His conduit of blessing to the people that I will be serving. Becoming a nurse is the coolest; I just hate feeling completely incompetent when I want to be great at everything right now! I shared that with one of my classmates, and she said she felt the same way, and then said that maybe it was because we liked to be in control. I had to think about that one, but yes, I think that she definitely has a point. I don't like being at the mercy of anyone or anything, except God, and I am at the mercy of un-knowledge right now. Which is why I need to end this and go study...
One more thing, another funny subway aside; I saw the CUTEST old man getting on the train the other day. He was tiny and petite, and I could have probably picked him up and put him in my backpack if I had wanted to, he was so small and precious. He looked like the quintessential grandfather figure. I saw his shirt had writing on it, and I figured it said something like "World's Coolest Grandpa" or something like that. I was wrong. This unassuming, deferential gentleman had on a shirt that made me laugh because it was the last thing I expected. It said, "Don't piss me off. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies." Classic.