December

Well, I haven't written to everyone in a long time, and for that, I apologize. It was due to some circumstances not exactly under my control. As of now, I have 3 more days until my last final....that is, if I pass it the first time. Those dang ATI tests stress you out beyond belief. Anyhow, I miss all of you guys (friends and family) and hopefully I will be able to get a chance to visit with you over Christmas break. The good news is...Edward and I have survived just about a year in another 3 weeks, of being in the middle of Illnois. And other remaining good news, looks like I have made the honor list another semester. Only one semester to go, and depending on how high the gpa is this semester, I may graduate magna cum laude. Just what I always wanted! Well, you know, got to make up for the bad times at UCI. Oh, and I have more good news! *cough cough*

The countdown to graduation is now 154 days. Wooopeee!

Classes!

So I just wanted to show everyone, cause I think it's so awesome, the future classes I am going to take if I manage to get a 3.0 or above this semester.

Summer: 16 units

Adult Med Surg (5)- aka Nursing of the Adult Client

Pathophysiology/Pharmacology II (3)

Mental Health (5)- icky, get er done quick!

Gerontology (3)

Fall: 16 units

OBGYN (5)- aka Nursing of the Childbearing Family

Pediatrics (5)- aka Nursing of the Childrearing Family

Perioperative Nursing (2)- this was the elective I got to pick =)

Nursing Research (3)

Spring: 17 units

Nursing of the Client with Complex Health Situations (5)- which is basically every pt. in the hospital!

Nursing in Community Health (5)
Nursing Leadership and Management (4)

Nursing Seminar (3)

Anyhow, I know its's only Monday, but you folks have a great week =)

The countdown to graduation is now 443 days. 

Being Open and Honest with Myself (Proceed with Caution)

Today I had a lovely clinical day and our instructor, Cindy, is so nice. I am actually really thankful that I have her as our instructor. It is so nice to end the day (and I think for all of us) with positive feedback and compliments on the things we did well. Clinical can be stressful...and so it is really great to have a positive resource involved in that learning process. 

I want to write more, but I have been thinking about something a lot lately on and off, and today I just wanted to get if off my chest. I know that I am risking borderline inappropriateness, but all that matters to me at this point is being open and honest with people. With patients....thats another story...the bottom line there is honesty and neutrality. So, here it goes:

Jaimes, I wanted you to know that I am no longer angry at you. In fact, I cried today....not for you, but for me. I miss the relationship I had with my brother. I know you like to be dramatic, and so this behavior suits you. However, today I thought of something perfect on how to describe your behavior so it makes sense to me. You know when you're a kid and your sister pinches you and it hurts? That sucks, right? Well, normally, kids try (because of their anger) to hurt the other sibling much worse in return (like punching them out). This is known as revenge. Adults, you know, they know how to overcome this (their emotions) and get one living their life and still loving that sibling. Anyhow, my point is that in the long run, I would like for you to know that you are only hurting yourself. I realized that I can live without one brother...even one who was dear to me, but how long can you live without your whole family?

The countdown to graduation is now 450 days. 

Dentist Trip!

So I got the most adorable pictures today of Landon and Alivia and their first trip to the dentist, so I had to share them!

Aww...oreo cookies and all! =)

UV information

So I was reading about UV radiation in my books, and a lot of this stuff I did not know about, so I have decided to share it with you guys.

First of all, I think all you guys know that there are 2 types of radiation, UVA and UVB. UVA is the one that can go deep in the skin, and cause all that fun stuff like photoaging (massive wrinkling, breakdown of your elastic fibers, and yellowing/thickening of the skin). UVB is the one that goes into the epidermis but no deeper.

BOTH UVA and UVB can cause DNA damage leading to basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, both types (malignant and benign) melanoma, and actinic keratoses.

UVA can penetrate glass, UVB cannot.

There is no clear evidence that sunscreen protects against melanoma or basal cell carcinoma!

So, the big question is now...how do you save yourself from UV rays?

There are 2 types of of sunscreens, organic and inorganic. Organic sunscreens absorb UV radiation and then disperses it as heat while Inorganic sunscreens act as a barrier by scattering the radiation before absorption into the skin.

If you buy an organic sunscreen, it has to contain a large mixture of compounds in order to be effective against the UV spectrum. However, it MUST CONTAIN avobenzone or the product is basically dysfunctional. The only products on the market that have this compound in it are Aveeno (continuous protection), Neutrogena (ultra sheer dry-touch), Coppertone (sport), and Sea & Ski.(advanced sunscreen).

If you buy an inorganic sunscreen, it HAS TO CONTAIN titanium dioxide AND zinc oxide in order to be effective.

Ok, so now some info about the SPF factor. SPF is like an indicator of the protection of radiation from UVB only. It does not include information about protection from UVA rays. SPF is basically determined by shining UV light on someone's skin on a protected area (with sunscreen) and on an unprotected area (without sunscreen). Then the time starts ticking. The time is stopped per area when redness of the skin is noted. For example, if your skin gets red after 10 min w/o sunscreen, and your skin gets red (on the other part) with sunscreen after 150 minutes, then you would divide 150/10 =15. So the SPF of that sunscreen would be 15. So you can see, SPF is not precisely analyzed. Since the methods are so diverse that companies use to determine the SPF, products with the same SPF do not provide equal levels of protections!

Also about SPF. SPF and amount of protection do not have a linear relationship. What I mean by this is, SPF of 30 does not provide twice as much protection as an SPF of 15. Instead, if you really want to know, as SPF increases, the increment of protection decreases. For example, SPF 15 specifies 93% block of UVB, while SPF 30 specifies 97%, and SPF 40 indicates 98%. 

More about sunscreen...and the water/sweat resistance:

If a sunscreen advertises for water resistant, it means that it must retain its SPF for at least 40 minutes of water activity. If a sunscreen says it's very water resistant, it means that it has to retain its SPF for at least 80 minutes of water activity.

Why don't they tell us these things?!


*Infomation obtained from Pharmacology for Nursing Care, by Richard Leyne, 7th Edition

Recipe for Deliciousness

To all <3

I had dinner with a friend (yeah, i can make them up here) after helping to paint her living room a beautiful green. Actually, its kinda like mum's house, just a bit lighter. Anyhow, she made the bestest salad (besides taco salad) that I have ever tasted (oh, you know, the glazed walnut strawberry one prolly compares too...). So here's the recipe so you and I don't forget!

1 giant bowl

fresh spinach

1 can of corn

1 cucumber

1 container of roma tomatoes

1 container of chopped mushrooms

1 pkg of fresh ref. chicken tenderloins

a lil of honey, and a lil of bbq sauce

1...as much ranch as wanted/needed
if you wanna make it even more delicious, add avocado!

Cut the chicken and cook them...or you can cook and then cut them. Whatever works for you. Anyhow, when you cook them, put a lil honey on each one and in the pan and then let it sit for a few and then put a lil bbq sauce on top until they are thoroughly cooked. Take out the chicken (and cut it up in medium small pieces if you haven't already). Oh, I like the chicken in medium pieces cause I like chicken. >.>

So then throw in the chicken, a cut up cucumber, all the mushrooms and tomatoes, heat up the corn in the microwave and throw it into the spinach greens too. Then add ranch and stir (but not too vigorously). Eat and enjoy!

Btw, one giant salad serves me....twice.

January 26, 2010

Well, its a big yay today! I passed my first exam (in Fundamentals of Nursing) and second test out on vital signs. This included counting respirations, pulse, taking a temperature, taking an accurate blood pressure, and knowing where/how to take a temperature/blood pressure/pulse in the case that there are other medical things going on with the person. This can include but is not limited to: surgery on the arms, catheters coming out of all kinds of places, unconscious people...you know, the normal stuff you see in hospitals! Oh....and one really important thing....don't ever ever ever let go of the RED thermometer cause you might not be able to get it back! (red = rectal)

So I know I have been lagging, and I apologize, things have been so "heckit" here (I am not even sure that's a real word). Tomorrow I have another exam and another quiz. The first quiz was on APA formatting....since apparently if you're a nurse and want to publish something exotic like say an article, you better darn know how to APA format your paper. Exam is in pharmacology (that's the hard one) and quiz is in Health Assessment. On Thursday, we are instructed to wear "loose-fitting" clothing since we are going to get a lot of practice bathing and putting each other on bed pans. I guess I am just thankful I do not have to be naked and put anyone into neurogenic shock. This Friday, we are all trotting down to Champaign/Urbana (where I live) to learn about the computer programs at Carle Hospital....that's where my clinical is. I will have to be sure to post pictures of that place. Oh and by the way, Champaign and Urbana are basically the same city. They should have the same name. They are just abutt to each other and you really can't differentiate when you are driving through except for the nice signs they post on the freeway >.>

So about that one day it really snow stormed...I have to clarify some misleading things I said before. I remember saying something about watching out for California/out of state drivers. Ahem. ahem. Actually, it's the wonderful in state drivers you have to be careful of because they are the ones who are so used to the weather that they think they can handle it. By the way, there is no way of "handling" black ice. So as I drove to go get my books two weeks ago and then drove to back to school in Danville to show proof of my TB testing, I counted 26 cars on the side of the road.

And as a few of my fellow Michigan friends put it, "They think they can go anywhere with their trucks and SUV's. It don't matter if they got four wheel drive, they are still gonna end up in the ditch!"

Anyhow, Illinois has this great economic way of dealing with cars that go floating across the road. They've built these fabulous ditches that can basically stop even a semi (yes, I saw a jack-knifed semi and a bus on the side of the road too!). They work perfectly to save the lives of people going the other direction, however, they are muy muy muy mal for your car (in english, very very very bad). All the cars I saw had huge indentations and had at least one broken windshield (front/back/sides) due to the impact and push back effect of the um friendly ground. Here's another great example:

 

Hmm, I probably should have zoomed a little on that one. But I wanted to respect their privacy (no license plate). So, onto bigger and better things!

My next area of fun filled pictures for you guys includes pictures of Edward. I went to Petsmart and bought these severely overpriced booties for him because his little legs were shivering when the temp roughly hit 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The following are the "please take these off before I shoot you in your sleep" photos.

 

And yes, he does walk like a duck in them. I wish John and Judy could see, oh man it is soo funny. I should have posted the video on youtube.

 

And yeah, they are extra large because his paws are GiGantique!

 

Here, he is begging for me to remove them. It's ok, Edward!

  

Ah yes, the tree for next year. I'm plotting already to drag it home to San Diego.

LOOK TOBY! IT'S THE GRISWORLD FAMILY CHRISTMAS TREE!

Welllll, I miss all you guys very very much. I meant to call Kristi and tell her that if she ever wants to take those black and white old barn/building photos, there are some great places out here to do that! Ooo, and I am gonna have to go visit the real Amish town they have out here. Perhaps I'll drag mum out for a day trip...

The countdown to graduation is now 470 days.