I will remember.

I will remember the day I received the first hug from my patient. She ran down the corridor just to give me a hug before she left. Exhaustion from a long day of work disappeared just like that.

I will remember the day I first received a 15month old baby to look after. She had such a complicated medical history and I hadn't heard of at least half of them before. She had O2 and ECG monitor attached to her. I was a bit scared because I didn't quite know how to care for her, and there she started crying in the middle of the night. I methodically checked her O2, sats, ECG, pain score...but found out that all she wanted was to be let out of her cot and to have a cuddle. She went back to sleep in my arms.

I will remember the day I did a body exam on a 6 weeks old baby while parents were away, because of ?child abuse. The little bub was so tiny.

I will remember the day I looked after a toddler whose parents spoke no English. With a little bit of charades here and there, we got through the day. At first she was scared of me, I'm guessing partially because everyone is scared of hospitals and partially because she couldn't understand me. But after a course of time, she smiled and held my hand.

I will remember the day I felt the strength of a mother who has twins and a husband who are all ill. She was strong and real, she knew she couldn't and wouldn't give up. She picked up the sick twin 1 and cuddled, and said everything was ok. That almost made me tear.

I will remember the day I received a transfer from the surgical ward. The patient was a teenager and of course, he had attitudes. The other nurses also had bad impressions of him. But parents left for the night, and after spending a little more time with him, he became more calmed down and seemed to have settled in. He talked, had good manners, and occasionally smiled. I learnt that everyone has the right to be scared, some just needs a little more time to warm up.

I will remember the day I really felt the power of being a 'professional'. A teenager came in with bowel problems and each time he went to the toilet he had to ring the bell so I can 'see' what he has done. Now, on top of being a total stranger to him, in 'normal' circumstances you wouldn't want anybody to just come in and observe your poop. I thought then, being a health professional is a scary thing. People have to come 'clean' in front of us because we need to ask everything about them i.e. health and social history, or any other private issues, and they also need to do what they are told to do. And besides, most people are actually compliant with everything we ask them to do. I find that a bit scary.

Time flies.

Time flies! - it's been almost 4 months since last post.
Lots have happened over the last few months: graduation, parents' visit, stepping into the working world.

Not being a student has a lot of significance. No more student bus fare, no more 3 months summer holidays, no more free labour!
I've been working for a month now and it's been such a learning experience.
I learnt:
- how to hold a 6 weeks old baby
- there are many teats to a baby bottle
- how to warm up and check temperature of baby milk
- how fast babies' heart beat is
- to wrap a baby/small child with bedsheet to 'restrain' them during procedure!
- there are many different families and parenting styles
- babies/young kids drink so much milk!
- kids run around - you cannot expect the person in bed is actually your patient.
- kids' oral meds are oh so colourful
- the importance of being trusted by babies and kids
- 5 min procedure can take 30 min
- almost all kids like wiggles

So I'm starting my first ever night shifts tonight. I've already put lots of chocolates and candies in my bag.
Wish me luck!

Motivation.

Motivation...where art thou?
It's only 3 more weeks...and yet it feels like forever.
My friend told me today, 'there's light at the end of the tunnel'.

I think I'm suffering from a final semester syndrome.

3 more weeks.
That's 21 days.
And that's 504 hours!!

Almost there.

When I was 7, I wanted to become a florist.
When I was 10, I thought you can't make a living being a florist, so I wanted to become a kindergarten teacher.
When I was 15, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
When I was 17, I wanted to be a nurse but my dad opposed so I thought oh well.
Then my teacher suggested why not a doctor and I thought that sounded cool.
After coming over to Adelaide, I decided I don't want to become a doctor anymore because of long working hours.
I still wanted to work in health care sector, so I decided to apply for Health Sciences.
After I graduated from Health Sciences, I didn't know what to do next.

So I applied to Nursing and I am 5 WEEKS AWAY from finishing it!
I hope I don't change my mind again.

You know you are a nurse when...

You know that all bleeding stops...eventually.

Your diet consists of food that has gone through more processing than most computers.

You believe chocolate is a food group.

You disbelieve 90% of what you are told and 75% of what you see.

You have your weekends off planned for a year in advance.

You believe that unspeakable evils will befall anyone who utters the phrase 'Wow, it's really quiet isn't it'.

Your favourite hallucinogen is exhaustion.

You think that caffeine should be available in I/V form.

You shock someone with an unrecognisable rhythm...until you get the one you do recognise.

You can identify what kind of diarrhoea it is just by the smell.

Your sense of humour gets warped each year.

Every time you walk you make a jingling noise because of all the scissors and clamps in your pocket.

You've been telling stories in a restaurant and made someone at the other table throw up.

Every time someone asks you for a pen you can find at least 4 of them on you.

When checking the level of a patient's orientation you aren't sure of the answer.

Addit: from Joannies:
You believe in the legend of full moon night. Every patient will go nuts on those nights.

Chicken rice at 23 Chatham.

Hello audiences. I am still alive.

It's been an eventful past few weeks, from cooking the bestest best chicken rice to eating our Patricks, to eating every 2 hrs when Moses' family came to starting my final clinical placement.

Event number 1:
So Lynn and I arranged a date 3 weeks in advance (see how busy us students are) to cook chicken rice. After indulging ourselves with iced chocolate at a cafe outside the market, we hurried back to my house to start preparing for our dinner for the night. I think pictures can speak for themselves better than I do, so here they are:



And this one...is Breast cancer awareness...with one 'dot' missing hehe.

Event number 2:
We've slaughtered our little children last week. It was a bloody scene.


Event number 3:
Sorry no pictures! I've never eaten so much in my entire life! But all worth it, and heaps of fun!

Event number 4:
I've started my last (fingers crossed) clinical placement in my uni life at the operation theatre suite. I'm currently at the theatre, but will be rotating through anaesthetics and recovery later on as well. The highlight of the first week of placement was that I got to be in the same theatre as my friend who was the surgeon there. It's so tiring having to stand in the theatre all day, especially if the procedure is a complicated one which takes 2-3hrs easily. I can't move around so much in the theatre as well because of the 'sterile procedure' they perform. I have to be careful not to be so close to anything! Today I was in the orthopaedic theatre and watched a total hip replacement and something else I don't remember. Orthopaedics is really bizzare, they position the patient in such weird position and the surgeons perform surgery as if they are doing some carpentry...like drill drill...hammer hammer...cut the bone with a saw...! Through this placement I've come to realise that I'm really not scared of gross things. I don't think theatre is my thing, though. It's one specialty that is very very different from the other areas of nursing and it's a totally different world!
But anyway, this is how I look in the theatre (plus a mask).

Oh happy day!

Oh the sun, the blue sky and the beach..and sausage and egg mcmuffin! What a great way to start off the day. Moses and I decided to head off to Glenelg for Maccers breakfast this morning and the weather was perfect! I couldn't believe that just few weeks ago I was still wearing 2 jackets and a scarf to work. I decided to wear the new summer top that I bought last night (first clothes shopping in many months)but left the new skirt at home because Moses commented that I look like a maid of some sort. His taste and mine tend to clash a bit, like he thinks my shoes are very 'auntie'. But anyway. As we sat on the grass and opened up our burgers, we realised that we were not alone...there was an army of seagulls waiting for us to drop some food for them! How scary, but that's so typical of Glenelg. If the ice cream shops were open I would've gone to Baskin Robins but sadly it was too early in the morning. Seemed like we weren't the only ones enjoying the sun though, as we saw many cyclists on the way and dads running along the beach while pushing the pram. Kill two birds with one stone. Ohh I can SO feel that summer is around the corner (although Spring just started few days ago)! I can't wait to go summer clothes shopping and wear those flowery long summer dresses! Oh sweet.