I hurt all over...

Just checking in to say that the Callanetics video kicked my bootie. My body hurts from head to toe...well, from neck to thighs. Went on a bike ride today for 90 minutes and thought that would help...I suspect I will be even more sore in the morning.

Peds almost done, OB here I come!

This coming week is a week of lasts...my last week in Peds, my last week EVER of having to go to the hospital to pick a patient, and also my last week EVER of doing pre-clinical prep. And you can bet your sweet tookus there's a bottle of champagne chilling in the fridge to celebrate the moment I finish my last write up. I am soooo excited to be done with all that prep work...we don't choose patients the day before in OB and we don't do it with preceptorship either. This is the end of an era folks...the end of the stress, the concept maps, the sick feeling that I surely missed something. I. Can't. Freakin'. Wait!

So, let's see....school is going well. Got a 96 or so on my first peds exam and a 95 on my second OB exam. Woo hoo. We've got a Peds test coming up this Friday and I really should be studying for that instead of listening to 5-0 radio (police and fire scanner app on the ol' iPod) and updating this blog. But I am seriously suffering from senior-itis and all I want to do is jick-jack around and pretend I'm a "normal person."

I've been thinking a lot about my ICU vs. M/S dilemma for 4th semester and I really really really want to go the ICU route. I love it too much to even think about doing anything else, and even though the job prospects aren't as plentiful I also have to remind myself that I will never have this opportunity again and I should take it. Besides, I plan on kicking total booty during my preceptorship, so I am hopeful I'll make some connections that will help me land my dream job. After all, I throw down like nobody's business :-)

Any other news? Guess not...just finishing up some group projects and looking forward to Spring Break. Believe it or not I am actually going somewhere this time...heading to Oregon to spend 5 days on the beach. It's going to be quiet and lazy and beautiful. Just what Nurse Mo ordered.

Callanetics Experiment Part II

The reason I thought the "Great Callanetics Experiment" sounded familiar was probably b/c I keep stopping and starting these "experiments." Not sure why I do that since I am notoriously bad at finishing things...great at starting things, crap-tastically cruddy at finishing them.

Anyway, I am once again embarking into the world of Callanetics. I always peter out right when I'm starting to see results AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHY!!! Probably some weird psychological weirdness, but that's for my future therapist to figure out.

So this experiment entails completing 50 Callanetics workouts by my birthday in 15 weeks. That's 3-4 workouts a week. And because I love rules (as long as I'm the one that makes them), I have come up with some rules for this experiment...I'm calling it the "Fabulous by Forty" experiment. Catchy, eh?

1) If I do 4 workouts in a week, then 1 of them can be one of the short 15-minute workouts (hips or legs) and one of them can be one of the Bar Method videos...don't want to get too bored!
2) Stick as closely to my vegan diet as I can...I'm at about 80% compliance (it's the darn cheese that gets me!)
3) Drink 64 oz of water each day...this is probably a 50 oz increase over my usual water intake.
4) 3 glasses of wine each week (instead of 2 glasses each day...can you say hellloooo to herbal tea?). I expect this little rule by itself to result in a few pounds of weight loss all on its own.
5) Use my whitening toothpaste 2x a day.
6) Never ever ever go to bed with makeup on. Ever. (this is a tough one for me)
7) Deep condition hair once a week (also a difficult one for me to stick to)
8) At least 5 servings of fruits and veggies each day (this one is also tough for me)
9) 2-3 cardio workouts each week...either a walk or bike ride. Running is out d/t my old lady hip issues I've had off and on since I was 30.
10) Measurements and pics after each block of 10 workouts. Oh the shame. Oh the humiliation.


Week 1, Day 1, Callanetics 1:
I did the original Callanetics video today. Not so bad, except I petered out on the first leg exercises and the blasted, evil pelvic rotations. I also had to support my neck during about half of the ab exercises, but I suspect I'll only have to do this for the first 4-5 workouts or so. I was supposed to go on a bike ride, but my friend cancelled and since I can't be trusted to do anything like that on my own, I went shopping instead. Plan for tomorrow is either a bike ride or a walk in the morning. Leaning torward an hour long walk, b/c I have got to get back home and start studying for my Peds exam coming up on Friday. Oh, and I measured...but I'm not posting the numbers until they shrink a little. It's too horrific and this is a family show (ha!).

Torn between two lovers....

For some reason that song pops into my head when I think about putting in my preferences for precepting next semester. I am torn between the ICu (which I love but am not likely to get a job in right away d/t the horrible hiring situation here) and good old fashioned M/S (which will get me a good solid basis, invaluable time management, organizational skills...and maybe a job). UGH!

It seems whenever I talk to the seasoned nurses they tell me to go the M/S route, but then I talk to others who went straight into the ICU, and those people tell me to follow my heart. Torn torn torn. I also kind of like peds, but I think the reason I've liked it so far is that I haven't had to do anything with a child that really requires their total and complete cooperation. For instance, I haven't had to put an NG tube in a child or a Foley...I certainly haven't tried an IV or even given an injection to a tiny little tot. I know how "not patient" I am, and I also know that causing pain to someone who doesn't understand why I'm doing it would be really really hard. So, even though the kiddos are cute as heck and don't have nearly the same degree of smelliness as their adult counterparts..I just don't think I can go into peds (at least not right away).

I really need to figure out what I'm going to do...I am sure I want to work in the ICU...I am 100% certain of that. I love all the gadgets and technology. I love the pathophysiology and ability to totally focus on one or two patients. I love things that are complicated and challenging, but at the same time I am absolutely scared to death. The idea of being "the nurse" for any patient (critical or not) freaks me out to no end. Right now I can take some comfort in knowing that if I can't figure something out, I just go get "the real nurse." I am reminded every time I go to clinical how NOT READY I am to take care of patients. At all.

Again...torn, torn torn. Sigh...