Catching Up

Sooo a lot as happened since I last blogged in January. I am ashamed I haven't been keeping up with my posts. Time just seems to be slipping by. So this post will be bring you up to date on all that has happened since January.

On April 22, 2011 I graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The graduation day consisted of a pinning ceremony in which each student got to choose the faculty member that would "pin" them with a nursing school seal pin. I choose my pediatrics professor Bonnie Webster. She was my favorite professor and I learned so much from her about nursing and life. Mrs. Webster was genuine and sweet and truly invested in her students. During the pinning I was surprised with a special award. I was chosen out of the graduating class of 140 students to receive an award for outstanding clinical performance. The award was called the Clinical Excellence Award. All of the faculty voted on the student that stood out to them in all areas of clinical practice. I was completely surprised when my name was called. It didn't hit me that this award was an awfully big deal till later that day. And of course my Mom & Dad were sitting as proud parents in the stands as I accepted the award. The second part of the day was the graduation ceremony. It felt amazing to finally walk across that stage to receive my diploma with my family cheering me on from the audience. Truly a moment in my life I won't soon forget.

A few days before graduation I interviewed and accepted a job with Texas Children's Hospital on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit......More about this to come.

After graduation I went on a MUCH needed vacation with my parents, grandma, & aunt and uncle. We boarded a cruise ship in Miami and set sail for a trip to the West Caribbean. We had so much fun. We visited the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk. On the ship we did lots and lots and lots of eating !! OOooo and they had a chocolate buffet one afternoon. Yummy ! We listened to live music and watched movies on the deck. I was forced into doing karaoke... in which I blew all the other singers and audience member away. Gets them every time. LoL. We got "tattoos" to show off when we got home. We took lots of pictures and of course did lots of shopping. Overall it was a well deserved fun vacation.

After the cruise I was back in full study mode preparing for my state boards nursing licensing exam. It is sooo overwhelming to study for a test such as the NCLEX. It was information overload. But I got through it and passed the exam on the first try. So its official I am now a licensed registered nurse !!! Now I can breath..... Inhale....Exhale.

There is no song for this blog. I couldn't come up with a good one that would cover all these updates. But you can enjoy this slideshow of pictures from my graduation and cruise.

Wake Up

Sorry readers for not writing in such a long time. So much has happened and school has taken me by storm this semester. I am now in my last semester of nursing school !! Woohoo !! It has gone by so fast yet I can't wait for it to be over. I am excited for the life ahead of me after graduation. Including a cruise to celebrate my finish !! As of right now my schedule is crazy busy; each day is packed with class lecture, lab, clinical, reading, studying, practicing, and NOT sleeping. Only 87 more days !!!

As for my health, I am continuing to take methotrexate treatments once a week. This winter has been tough. The combination of cold and rain is terrible for my body. I have been feeling really fatigued due to pain and stress. I don't see the methotrexate alone being enough to sustain me for much longer. Most of the times RA is best treated with conjunct therapies. I am due for an appointment with Dr. Johnson my rheumatologist to discuss needed changes in my treatment plan. The steroid injections in my back and SI joints are not effectively controlling my pain and will need to be repeated soon. So as of right now I'm just hanging in there. Plowing through each day one at a time.

Today's song is Wake Up by John Legend and the Roots. Recently I have been thinking quite a bit about how my position as a nurse will contribute to the lives of those I care for. Nurses have a unique opportunity to reach people at their most vulnerable state. They have the power to instill hope and health. In my practice I am determined that I will not only "do not harm," but that I will touch the heart of everyone I come into contact with. I don't want my nursing career to be just a pay check and good working hours. I want to use my skills to better my community, to lend a hand to those less fortunate, and to leave this world a better place. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to leave the world a better place, to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. That is to be successful." I want to live these words each day. And adopt this principle into my practice. Nursing is so much more than bed baths, giving meds, and charting vital signs. Its about making life a little easier for those who are sick and decreasing the trauma of the unexpected pains that life throws our direction. It's time that we as individuals wake up and realize that the world doesn't revolve around our selfish ways. We need to wake up to the idea that our actions speaking volumes louder than our words and its about time we realize that things won't change if we don't put forth the effort to be that change. Didn't Gandhi say, "Be the change that you want to see in the world?" Just think, if all health care providers adopted the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Gandhi into their practice, how many more patients would leave our hospitals and clinics with the strength and hope to improve their health with more than a few pills every day. The healing would begin from within. That is the kind of nurse I want to be.

"Wake up everybody, no more sleepin' in bed

No more backward thinkin', time for thinkin' ahead

The world has changed so very much from what it used to be

There is so much hatred, war and poverty

Wake up, all the teachers, time to teach a new way

Maybe then they'll listen to what'cha have to say

'Cause they're the ones who's coming up

And the world is in their hands

When you teach the children, teach 'em the very best you can

The world won't get no better if we just let it be

The world won't get no better

We gotta change it, yeah

Just you and me

Wake up, all the doctors, make the old people well

They're the ones who suffer and who catch all the hell

But they don't have so very long before the Judgment Day

So wont'cha make them happy before they pass away

Wake up, all the builders time to build a new land

I know we can do it if we all lend a hand

The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind

Surely things will work out they do it every time

The world won't get no better if we just let it be,

The world won't get no better

We gotta change it, yeah

Just you and me

It's the god hour

The morning I wake up

Just for the breath of life I thank my maker

My mom say I come from hustlers and shakers

My mom built it on skyscrapers and acres

He said take us back to where we belong

I try to write a song

As sweet as these arms the one the type to bare arms

And wear my heart on my sleeve

Even when I fell in God I believe

Read the days that weave through the maze

The seasons so amazing

Feed them and raised them

Seasons are aging

Earthquakes, wars, and rumors

I want us to get by but

We're more than consumers

We more than shooters, more than looters

Created in this image so God live through us

And even in this generation, living through computers

Only love love love can reboot u

Wake up, everybody

Wake up, everybody

Need a little help, y'all

Yes I do, need a little help

Need a little help, y'all ay

Wake up everybody"