First semester, nursing craziness.

First came the excitement, the purchases (stethoscope, uniforms, books), and last came reality...

Truthfully, I don't know how I made it through first semester. The very first day in orientation, when we were given our clinical assignments, I began to understand that my life as it had been was about to change drastically. For those who may read this, understand this: when in nursing school, you must give up control over everything. The most infuriating thing about this was the fact that different clinical instructors had different expectations for the students, and for some reason, I was in the group that had to do a lot of preparatory work prior to clinical. It was so annoying to have to work day and night just to keep up, while others had plenty of time to do all of their assignments. Outside of that, the classes were challenging but still interesting, all the way until the end of the semester, when things became worse after I realized that my most challenging class (pharmacology) would have 3 exams (no, I am not exaggerating) in the last two weeks of the semester. Overall, I had 6 exams, after one was cancelled by the *best* nursing teacher ever! However, just like I imagined, it really hit me like a ton of bricks to have to do all of those, and like everyone else in my cohort, I am just glad it's over. I cannot claim to not have known how challenging this would be, but there is one thing that did surprise me. Everyone said that we would make lifelong friends here in nursing school, and I have to admit that I didn't believe them, but it is absolutely true. We have studied together, shared our lives, hopes and dreams, laughed, cried (OK, maybe it was just me that cried, but my nursing school friends were there for me, with a tissue at the ready) and I am so glad that I got to know these wonderful girls. I cannot imagine it any other way. Of course, now that we are close, the school changed everything around, and I have not a single friend in my new clinical site. *sigh*... Time to make new lifelong friends!! Finally, I would like to add that reading the scriptures before studying for exams is the absolute best thing I ever did in nursing school. I have no way of explaining how in the world I was able to get good grades in some of the tests I took, it had to be the hand of God helping me. For the first time in a long time, I actually had the courage to ask Doug to give me a blessing right before a big test on finals week. The very first thing said was that Heavenly Father was pleased with me and my effort. That was the best thing ever! Of course, I was advised to seek the Lord's help, and that he was ready to help me. Which gave me enough peace to allow me a peaceful night's sleep. I still find it funny that I dreamt of chasing kittens all around my house, picking them up and putting them in my pockets, but still, I slept soundly enough to dream... :) The one thing I do regret is that I was barely able to give my family any attention except for FHE. I made a point of taking that afternoon off and I am thankful I did. Adela was so excited to have me home to herself today, she is so sweet... I can't wait for Christmas, I get to see my family in Houston, and get some much needed R&R. And so it is, until next time!

Summer!!!!

Most of the people that know about this blog are also on my facebook, so I decided not to post pics of my Colombia trip since it will be a little redundant. I had a blast in Cartagena, although it was not without its challenges, and had an even better time in Bucaramanga. Most of my family lives in Bucaramanaga, and I got to see family members that I had not seen since I was 16 years old, way too long ago. It was pretty tough to say goodbye, and although I tried to keep it together the entire last day, I spent most of the plane ride crying uncontrollably. After I got off the first plane, I wondered what everyone else in the plane was thinking about all that, but Oh, well... can't always hold it in, and I definitely couldn't that day.
After we came home, I started to work on some family history research. I went online to find the call numbers for the micro-fiches I wanted to look at, and to my surprise there was a link to view the records on PDF form!! That proved to be the best thing for me. I went to look at my mother's side of the family, since it is the one I know about the least, and I do know where they are from, and found so much information. I was able to trace back ancestors to the 6th generation back, but since they all seemed to die quite young, I went back only to about the 1900's. The next day I looked up my father's side, I was also able to trace back to the 6th generation, but on their side I went pack to the late 1700's. I was so shocked to see on the official records mentions of the cost of registration being in Reales, or the Spanish coins used by the king at the time!!! (Colombia used to be a Spanish colony) It is almost bizarre for me to look at these records... So many children in my family who I never even knew about because they died young, and even a set of twins that not even my dad knew about!
On a more personal note, some of you might even think I am crazy, and to be fair, sometimes I am :) BUT I want to share this nevertheless. A few years ago (before 2005), I had a very interesting dream. I was at my grandpa's place in Bucaramanga, walking on their hall, and I even felt the same familiar comfortable feeling of being home. I looked at one of their walls, which is usually bare, and saw a collection of old pictures. in the center there was a metal family tree with pictures, instead of names on the branches. In it, I saw a girl I didn't recognize, and I just asked out loud who this girl was. My mom and aunt where there and told me that she died very young, and that no one knew her because her work was not done yet, and then I woke up.
When I talked to my mom next, I asked her whether there was any girl that died young in her family, and she said no, that there was an uncle of hers on her mother's side who died young, but no one else to her knowledge. I then told her about my dream, and she said maybe it was her uncle, but I knew it had to be a girl for it to make sense.
So, as I was looking up her ancestors in Simacota, I found a girl, Socorro Gomez, who died only a year before both of her parents died, and this all occurred when my grandpa was only a few years old. He may or may not remember her, but obviously didn't tell anyone about her, and I am so glad I looked them up.
I have a new found appreciation for my little family and my children since I have done this. They are my most precious inheritance, and I should never forget it.
I must go now and do some more mundane things, I have to get ready for nursing school, Emma's and Logan's school shopping, and catch up on cleaning, which I have put off for far too long....
Ta ta!!!

A new journey!

Since I have three finals in a couple of days, I really can't write for too long today, but I wanted to say a couple of things about the latest news... I have been accepted into the University of Utah college of nursing, and will be starting to work toward my nursing degree in August! I am very excited, and relieved... this will be a good thing for us.
For a while there, I was very worried about this whole thing, but Heavenly father was mindful of me, and sent many wonderful people my way lately to be kind and comfort me. The anxiety level was very high for me, for many different reasons, but I found that even the lessons that were taught at church in the last week made me feel better. I started school to ensure a better future for my family, and getting into this program gives me a great deal of peace of mind. In two years, I will be a nurse, and while the program is tough, I know my father in heaven will help me, just as he has so far.
I also want to enclose a picture of Doug and I. He always makes funny faces when I take a picture, so this is the best one of the bunch. I have now lost a total of 18 lbs since I first started, and have a long way to go, but I am confident I will be a lot healthier very soon.
So there it is, I am glad I have people to share the wonderful news with, and very happy that my family supports me in all of this, especially Doug. None of it would be possible without him. I am going to be a nurse!!!!

Recent events

First, I will talk about the mundane, and then I will talk about the exciting stuff!
Today I am at work, and I feel very self conscious because... well let's start at yesterday afternoon. I decided to work out, and used my brand new weight gloves (they have a 1/2 lb weight built in), and because they are rather tight on my hands, I decided to take my wedding ring off. I went to bed, went to work early today, and I feel almost naked without it! It is a very uneasy feeling not having my ring, and nobody else will notice it, I am sure, but this is the second time I have forgotten to put my ring back on after a workout. Hopefully soon, I will no longer need to take it off, if it is not the gloves, then the swelling in my hands do me in...
School has been going well, I had two exams creep up on me last week, and I only had 3 days to study, so everything else was delayed because of it... Next week I have my second pathophysiology exam, and I am trying to prepare for it now. I am also doing other stuff for my volunteer program. I will not run the program next year, so we are in a mad dash to get everything ready for the new program director. I have a person in mind to take it over, and she has applied for it, but we won't know the final decision until the end of March. What's more, I was supposed to let my coordinator know that she is the preferred choice, but as it turns out, the new coordinator will pick the new program director, and that person will not be picked until next week. In addition, I am almost to the end of my program funds, and I must buy more looms, then I can close the program to new people, and the next director will start over next year. I have enjoyed this experience, but in a way, I can't wait for it to be over...
Emma told me very proudly the other day that they had to take exams to assess their level of academic performance at her school, and that the teacher told everyone in the classroom that she was the only one to get 100%. I was very surprised, and almost didn't know what to say. Looking back, I wish I had made an even bigger deal about that, but I will talk to her soon about how proud I am of her.
That brings me to the exciting part: Emma was finally baptized (after many "issues" with the scheduling of the event), and it was a great turnout, more than 50 people were there! Most of Doug's family, and a lot of our ward friends were there, and I was very happy to see lots of kids that day. Doug's dad gave the most wonderful talk about the holy ghost, and it was truly an inspired talk. It was geared to the children, and he had props and visual aids, which made it really exciting for them. I hope that Emma remembers this day. She got a few gifts, and she loves the Book of Mormons we gave her, one in English, and one in Spanish. There was something very interesting that happened in the baptism, Emma has always had a fear of water, and she hates showering, bathing and swimming. It has taken us many years to get her to do all these things without screaming at the top of her lungs (if you are family, you know what I am talking about), and while I was not too worried about that, I think she may have been. When she came out of the water, one of the first things she told me, was that she was surprised that the water "didn't feel like water", and she said that when she was under the water she felt as if she was not in water at all. I knew that I would cry a lot that day, so I tried to stop myself and enjoy the day as much as possible, but I am a sentimental fool, so I did anyway. Most everything worked out just fine, so I was very happy, and exhausted at the end of the day.
This is one day I will always remember.

3 weeks

Well, I thought it was about time for me to post a progress report. It has been a little over three weeks since I started implementing my diet and exercise routine, and although the results have been rather slow, I have seen some changes.
1. I am no longer having breathing problems when I do light walking and exercise.
2. My blood pressure is back to normal, last time it was measured it was 115 over 60... YAY!!!
3. My clothes are getting quite loose on me, no need to get smaller clothes yet, but I am sure I will get there :)
4. I can put my wedding ring on ( it is a tight fit, so I will wait a little longer before wearing it again).
5. I am no longer in a constant hunger state, that was getting old...
6. I have lost 7 pounds since I started.
This is small but encouraging progress, and since I am using a program on my phone to count and track all of my food intake, it has become a lot easier to stop overeating. I am getting very excited!
Until next time...

What do you do with your gum when you are done with it?

Apparently, putting your gum on your hair and eyebrows, so that you look like the love child of Unibrow and Wolverine, is a great option!
You can probably imagine how awful it was to try and get that stuff off his hair, but we managed. However, despite washing his hair and face, he stills smells like a combination of gum and peanut butter... YUK!!!

Pirate ship

Two posts in one day is very unusual for me, but I had actually written the first a few days ago, and just had not posted it.
Well, today Logan went to the daycare for about an hour, and he had lots of fun drawing. I just thought his pirate ship was the cutest thing I have ever seen! He went through great pains to draw a skull and crossbones on the flag and I can't help but want to share his artistic talent :)
I also asked him about his name on the top left, and he said, "yes it's my name, L O G A N, Logan!"
He is a bright little rascal! Love my little boy.

Down to the wire

Life is changing very quickly for me... Or at least I hope so.
I had wanted to go to college for quite some time before I did so. I first applied to the University of Wisconsin shortly after I married, but became discouraged after continuous problems delayed my admission, and in fact, I simply made the decision to wait. When I prayed about it, I got the impression that it was OK to start my family then.
Fast forward 8 years, and I found myself with 3 kids, dirt poor and with absolutely no prospects. In fact, I was very lucky to have a good paying job doing translations for the department of defense, but only worked part time, so I was not able to make enough money anyway.
At that time, I prayed a lot to get an answer to what I should do, and received a distinct impression that I should go to school. I got everything started, and didn't look back.
It took a lot of time and work,It's not perfect, but despite being so busy, Doug and I are trying to be good to each other, which is all I can really ask for. I have been very successful in school so far,got good grades and I am truly learning about the world and myself which has made going to school a very fun experience (when I am not stressing excessively about all I have to do).
And now, here I am, at the eve of applying to the school of nursing. A very nerve racking experience, since I worry too much about what might go wrong in these kinds of things. I have had my share of disappointments lately, and I get a little scared.
I had to write an essay, which I started a long time ago. I was having a very hard time writing it, which is not really characteristic for me, but nevertheless, I could not write, or fix what was there, I felt utterly powerless. It took a lot of time, but finally I asked friends and family to look at what I had, and help me out. Everyone was so wonderful, giving me plenty of feedback, telling me what they thought was lacking. Thanks to Marco, Kike, Cory, Trina, Julie, Eli (James), Chelsi, Mary and Martha. You guys really helped get my essay where it needed to be. I have to say that I felt much better after working on it some more, and I feel confident that I have done everything possible to make my application reflective of my potential. Well friends, as of today, the application is in, and now I wait. I should hear from them by the end of March. Until then, I just wanted to share with all of you the finished essay, which actually tells a lot about some of my previous life experience and where I want to go.
Here is a small excerpt:

According to the Institute of Medicine, Medical errors are the cause of approximately 98,000 deaths in the United States (Kohn, 26). Of those, 34,850 patients would have survived if they had received appropriate treatment (Shojania et al., 2853). Although misdiagnoses have decreased substantially in recent decades (ibid, 2853), a development nurses played a considerable part in, they continue to significantly affect patient care. Unfortunately, I have experienced this firsthand.
My father suffered a stroke when I was 15 years old. When he sought medical help he was misdiagnosed, subsequently suffered irreversible brain damage, and has been permanently disabled since. After my father returned home, my family and I had to make adjustments to accommodate my father's needs, and I became his full-time caregiver. I fed, bathed and dressed my father everyday; I helped him do physical and speech therapy exercises, and went with him to his doctor's appointments. Through this experience, I gained a great deal of respect for nurses. It was emotionally challenging to take care of my disabled father, but also extremely fulfilling to see his progress and make a difference in his life. From that point on, I was determined to one day become a nurse... (I wrote a lot more, but have been advised not to post all of my essay, so here is the conclusion) As a nurse, I will have the unique opportunity and responsibility to do what is necessary to obtain the correct diagnosis for my patients. While it is not feasible to expect an error-free performance, I know that the personal experience I've had with my father will always remind me of the reason why I should strive for excellence in clinical practice. I know that the quality of education I attain will dictate the caliber of professional that I become. This is why it is my sincere aspiration to realize my dream of becoming a nurse at the University of Utah nursing school.