Nursing School Update

Sadly, I don't have any awesome photos to post about school. Andrew spent last weeks clinical in the OR. I told him to take a photo in his scrubs (because they are cool surgical scrubs) but he didn't get the message in time. He assured me he looked hot though. The experience definitely made him more excited to pursue CRNA. Fun fact: His surgeon is married to the daughter of the Pixis creator (a machine that dispenses all the patients medications). Isn't that cool? He also mentioned the team was pretty vulgar. I guess when you are a female student they refrain a lot. I was going to tell you about the conversation we had about the smell of cauterizing flesh but I think I won't. I'll just tell you he really loved the experience and did not pass out.

In other news, I checked off on tracheostomy suctioning. Which means when my instructor comes up to a group of students and asks which one of us can go suction a patient, guess who has to go. When she handed me the goggles I was not a happy camper. The real icing on the cake was seconds before I was about to suction another student had the ventilator tube in her hand and calmly stated

"the trache tube is out"

For .3 seconds the room was SILENT, then instantly the instructor yells "CALL RESPIRATORY, CALL FOR HELP!". Everyone in the room was frantically searching for the phone or running to the nurses station or frozen with panic. I was definitely 100% confused as to what was going on. Looking at the patient I couldn't tell if they weren't breathing because they couldn't talk anyway, I just knew that was what everyone assumed was happening. The real kicker: 5 seconds later, as the room is about to fill with nurses, my instructor says "wait the patient is fine, cancel the call, the trache tube is not out, it was just the inner canula that fell out" (as in not the outer cannula which would cause the patient to stop breathing) and proceeds to laugh nervously and hysterically. Immediately she looks at me and says "okay, lets suction". All I could think about was HOLY SMOKES can I get a second to regain composure!?! But of course I know theres no weakness in nursing, so I suctioned.

I am definitely filing this under traumatic experiences in nursing school.

I am still concerned about that laugh of hers... very odd.

So tomorrow I have an exam, my birthday is Saturday, I am going to a birthday breakfast with my parents, then a "stop childhood obesity" walk for this semesters community service project, the rest of Saturday will include making flash cards for Andrew while he is in isolation studying, Sunday will continue with this weekends theme of studying, and then we will only have 4 weeks left of school!

Then Andrew will be in 2nd semester, I'll be in 3rd semester, and we will get to do this all over again!

Hope this provided some kind of thrill in your life and that your week is just fab :)