Life of a Bee

So in case you couldn’t tell from the abrupt cessation of posts—spring classes have commenced. I’m already back on autopilot, buzzing from here to there, doing what I do. This semester is Med-Surg II (Chronic) and Nursing Research. Med-surg is a handful—all of the pathophys makes it very “science-y”…gives me A&P flashbacks. But I do appreciate that we get to use the same mammoth textbook for all three of our med-surg courses—that will definitely save me a few ducats. I also really like our professor. She moves really fast, but she’s thorough and will stop to explain things again or a little more in depth if you ask her to (we’ve come a long way from the default response to every question being “it’s in the book”). Nursing research on the other hand, the professor of which is a self-proclaimed “cynic by nature,” is thus far…you know what, I’m not even going to go there. Let’s just say it’s not my favorite subject and leave it at that. I guess I’m a doer, and there’s just no doing in that class. No interventions to learn, no pathophys to navigate through, just reading, and writing. And about what? It’s PAIN-FUL.

On the bright side I landed a really good clinical placement this semester—top hospital, magnet status, and no Nurse Nastys (knock on wood)!! I’m on a cardiac intermediate care unit (I had been dreading the possibility of another ortho unit) so the learning opportunities are endless. Last week I would have thought a VT Storm was a model of a sports car. We had orientation yesterday and today was our first day on the floor and it went pretty smoothly. 

But two weeks into the semester and I am already beyond tired (some of you may have noticed my sleep deprived tweets). The other day at work instead of answering the phone “Department X, IsntSheLovlei speaking” I almost said “Nursing Research, IsntSheLovlei speaking.” Talk about having school on the brain.

But I’m almost there (so they tell me), and just trying to keep it together. 319 more days of nursing school on the wall, 319 days of nursing school, take one down and pass it around…

Ape to Man

My books arrived from Amazon.com yesterday. Now I’m starting to get the pre-semester jitters. I already felt like I was hanging on by a thread this past summer—I was (am?) beyond burnt out. But I know I need to start taking better care of ME and just push through it. 

It’s also a little disturbing to see how much our cohort has dwindled over these past three semesters. We started out with two classes of about 35 students each. We lost a couple here and there for various reasons, but after pharmacology this summer we’re down to about 40 students—TOTAL. The two sections of our cohort have now been combined into one class. With 4 more semesters to go, it kind of makes you wonder if that person sitting next to you now will walk with you at commencment.  Nursing school really is survival of the fittest.

Though class doesn’t officially start until Monday, I was glad to see that our professor (well one of them anyway) posted the syllabus and the powerpoints on Blackboard early. I like to (try to) read the chapters before the actual lecture so I can halfway know what’s going on. It’s hard to sit still for three hours when you have no clue what the instructor is talking about. But when you don’t get the syllabus until the first day of class you’re already behind in the reading.

So back to the books it is. As Erykah Badu says, “They sleep. We grind.”