I poke you with big needle.

I am so bored. I have to sit around for hours waiting for freaking class to start. So, I'll just tell you about my day.

I got to go to 2West again today. I put in 4 IVs. 2 went in perfectly, and the other two I got in with good blood return, but when I tried to advance the catheter, I hit a valve and blew the whole vein. It's okay, though, because it happens a lot, not something you can really avoid unless you can see the valve, and the nurse did the same thing twice after me, lol. Putting in IVs is addictive. :)
OH RUSSELL. lol

I would have went home a long time ago if I didn't need the points from class.

I got an A in medsurg clinicals. Yay. Now to move on to pediatrics.

We tried to order my new hot pink computer the other day, but now all of the sudden, shipping is no longer free, and we would have to pay an extra $65 for ground, so we're going to wait and see if we can get free shipping again. I hope they do it soon.

I can't wait fro spring. Russell and I are going to start walking together when it gets nice outside. We'll probably ride bikes, too. Andrea needs to hurry up and get her butt moved into the trailer because we're going to have tons of fun. She's going to bring up her bike to ride with us, too. Oh, and I'm going to have to set a time for spring cleaning. It needs it bad even though we just moved in April. Trailers get dirty easy. I'll probably try to do some over spring break. We'll probably go in to Braxton for some of it, too. We both actually are supposed to get off work. Yay!

Headlines: Chunky girl bites patient's finger to get to sandwich.

It's funny how I can get called chunky and fat 8 times and get kissed on the cheek twice BY THE SAME PATIENT all in one work day. I probably shouldn't let myself feel so bad since the same old man said to me "I love looking into your BLUE eyes". What's even nicer is the fact that after I put his glasses on him he says "I can see now. You look even fatter." This is also the same man that when I bathed him and asked him if he could wash his own privates or did he need me to, he said "I'm not shy. You can grab right on to that thing and get 'er done!" He was a big pervert and hit on everyone that walked into the room....in front of his wife. I think I even remember him telling me that if he had a sandwich in his hand then I would probably bite his finger off...

I may be chunky, but that doesn't mean that I want someone to tell me that repeatedly to my face. Russell said "what's that guys problem?" and I said, "I guess he's just being honest." He wasn't too happy about my answer.

Gee, I'm really looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.

I guess it's time to go eat dinner now like the fat girl I am.

Nothing's going to change destiny.

Not even my raspberry smirnoff is helping right now. I'm just so damn frustrated. Work is really pissing me off. The job is not bad...it's the coworkers. I am so tired of people acting so vicious. They're trully assholes. I'm not saying everyone is, but there are a good bit there that I could have burned at the stake.

School sucks for the most part. I did really enjoy the lecture today in pathophysiology. We talked about the cardivascular system with the patho part and patient care included. It was 3 hours long, and I actually listened the whole time. It was very interesting. Did you know that the reason why men have a better survival rate than women when it comes to heart attacks is because their heart produces extra "channels" to reroute blood flow if there is damage to a particular part. Women do not normally get these until after menopause because of the production of estrogen and birth control pills (which gives you more estrogen - mine even has extra estrogen in it *cries*). This seems very interesting to me.

Another reason why I am so frustrated is because I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO! I think I do and either something stands in my way, or I learn more about it and it no longer appeals as much. Wound care nursing sounds great, and I loooove gross stuff like that (stop making those faces), BUT I would have to pay for out of school classes and take a $400 certification exam every 5 years to make not much more than a regular RN. Yes, I am also in it for the money. I guess my plan is still to get my masters....we'll see if I can find something. It's enough to make you want to rip your hair out.

OH, and any bastard in this world would be damn lucky to have Ms. Andrea Ware! Any who think differently are just duckheads.

Maggot therapy

Lately I've been thinking a lot about specializing in wound care nursing. I have to do a presentation about something of my choosing for my clinicals, so I chose maggot debridement therapy. I'm going to paste my handout for your knowledge and enjoyment.

Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT)

MDT is the medical use of live, sterile maggots for cleaning non-healing wounds. The use of maggots for this purpose has been noted for centuries even as far back as the Renaissance. Many military physicians used maggots during warfare. They found that soldiers who had their wounds colonized with maggots had a lower mortality rate than those who did not.

Medicinal maggots are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They are considered the only living organism allowed for production and marketing. The FDA say they are to be used only "for debriding non-healing necrotic skin and soft tissue wounds, including pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, neuropathic foot ulcers and non-healing traumatic or post surgical wounds.”

Medicinal maggots have three mechanisms of action: debride wounds by dissolving only necrotic, infected tissue; disinfect the wound by killing bacteria; stimulate wound healing. This leads to reduced wound odor, earlier healing, and less pain.

Debriding is a difficult task for physicians because they are not very precise in removing only the necrotic tissue and not healthy tissue. This can create a larger wound, more bleeding than is necessary, and the infection can spread leading to sepsis or amputation of the limb. Using a physician or other means of debriding the tissue creates a longer healing time, and it can be very expensive.

Maggots digest nutrients through extracorporeal digestion where they secrete a broad spectrum of proteolytic enzymes that liquefy necrotic tissue. The maggots then absorb the dead tissue. They start at a size of 1-2mm, and they normally grow to about 8-10mm during the digesting process.

Maggots also disinfect wounds through their antimicrobial secretions. These secretions include allantoin (found in many shaving gels that have a soothing effect on the skin.), urea (used for protein metabolism), phenylacetic acid (used in the production of Penicillin), phenylacetaldehyde(used in perfumes), calcium carbonate (used in teeth cleaning products), and proteolytic enzymes (break down protein into simpler compounds). The bacteria that are not killed by these secretions are ingested and lysed within the maggots. This includes antibiotic resistant forms of bacteria such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Maggots promote wound healing in a few different ways. The most obvious is micromassage of the wound by the maggots. This stimulates growth of granulation tissue. The maggot secretions appear to amplify growth healing of epidermal growth factor which is a polypeptide hormone that stimulates cell proliferation especially of epithelial cells by binding to receptor proteins on the cell surface. In addition, they stimulate growth of fibroblasts (gives rise to connective tissue), slow-growing chondrocytes (mature cartilage cells), and cartilage-specific type II collagen (strong, insoluble fibers serving as connective tissue between cells).

Preparation of Maggots

Putrid meat is hung outdoors to attract the wild flies. After eggs are laid in the meat, the meat is transferred to ventilated glass jars until they hatch (8-24 hours). The larvae are fed brewer’s yeast and ground meat for seven days after which they are placed in a jar with clean, warm sand to pupate. The correct species are sorted from the adults.

The flies are placed in a cage with honey, yeast, and water. Temperatures stay in the human comfort range. Gravid female flies begin laying eggs on cubes of meat about a week later. Seven hours afterward, the eggs are washed off the meat into containers. The eggs are disinfected with 10% bleach, and then they are transferred to sterile cultures with a medium of agar, dry meat, and dry yeast. This culture is placed in an incubator at 27 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. Representative maggots from each dish are tested for aerobic and anaerobic microbes. The sterile maggots are shipped in bottles packed in ice.

Application of Wound Dressings

The wound is irrigated with sterile saline, and then a dressing is placed on the border of the wound to protect the skin from the maggots’ enzymes. The maggots are placed on the wound and held in place with nylon mesh. The area is lightly covered in gauze padding and bandaged.

The dressing should be changed daily to check the maggots and the wound. The maggots, however, should be removed every 2-3 days with new maggots being placed depending on the state of the wound (all necrotic tissue should be removed). The maggots need oxygen to survive, so the dressing cannot be anaerobic.

Pictures of maggot therapy!

Warning: these pictures are not for people who are grossed out easily.

It's over :(

Dawson's Creek is now officially over, and like Sex and the City, I am officially depressed. Why can a show make me feel this way? I guess that's why they continue to make them. I wish the ending had a little more then what it did, but hey, that's life. Cheer me up because I will probably be like this for at least a week. Yes, I am a freak.

I am too depressed to write any more right now. I will update later.

"The Potato Incident"

I brought in a bag of potatoes one day from grocery shopping, and for some reason I layed them on the couch. Well, as you can guess with me, they sat there for at least a week. I went to put my coat on that was laying on the couch yesterday, and it smelled like rotten cat food, so of course I blamed it on Gunther, lol. It wasn't brought to my attention that it wasn't him until this morning when we got up to go to Russell's ultrasound appointment that I lifted that bag of potatoes to find a big rotten, gooey mess. It had been the potatoes all along. And the rottenness has taken itself into my couch cushions, and now I don't know what to do. :(

This really sucks.

By the way, just an extra note, now that I have discovered the joys of double roll toilet paper, I will never go back to the single roll. Why would you when you can change the roll less?

Make the sickness go away :(

I have been so sick all week...well, over a week now. I missed all my classes except for one clinical because I can't miss more than one without having to make it up, and I had to call off work Thursday. I just can't shake it. It's not nearly as bad now, but more of an annoyance to me and everyone else with all the nose blowing, sneezing, and hacking.

Mom came over for an hour on Thursday mostly just to pick up my little dorm refrigerator for Josh because his new apartment doesn't have a kitchen. It's just sitting in my shed, so someone might as well get some use out of it.

The only thing I've really been doing all week is sleeping and playing the new world of warcraft expansion. I guess that's the only thing good about being sick and having to stay home. Russell's been taking real good care of me. He even had to put me to bed one night and drug me up, lol. He wasn't ready to go to bed, yet, but he laid there with me for a while and talked to me until I was almost asleep which was nice.

He also said some really cute stuff tonight which I just have to share because it was definitely way to cute not to. We saw a dad playing with his little baby girl, so we got to talking about us having babies, and I asked him if he thought our first little girl would be a sporty or a prissy, and he said "definitely prissy". When I asked him why, he said because he was going to spoil the crap out of her and put her in little frilly dresses and such. He also said that she was going to be the kind to complain to granny and pawpaw about the cow poop and how they stink. It makes me just fall even more in love with him. :)
It seems kinda funny that we don't even have a time plan for when we have kids, but we already have a definite first girl name picked out and a few possible boy names. I also had a dream last night that I was so pregnant that I was ready to pop and going into labor, and the baby was actually doing flips around in my belly, and you could see it. It was really weird, lol. There is this girl that I work with that is the same age as me, she just got married a few months ago, and she graduates from nursing school in May....she just found out she's pregnant...which of course was not their plan at the moment. She was shocked at first, but now she is so excited. It's weird how much we are alike in certain manners with all the things I listed above, and I would love to have a baby, but I know now it way far from the right time. We definitely don't have the money or time for a baby, and I know for a fact that I am not responsible enough yet to have a baby. I am still way too selfish to sacrifice so much. I want time with Russell. I don't want another worry on top of everything else I have right now. And I want to finish school and be someone. I won't be completely finished until I'm at least 26 years old, so maybe then. If I had to I could do it, but I do not choose it.

Well, I've rambled on long enough since I haven't posted in a long time, but now I gotta go do some chores. The laundry and dishes are both piled up, and I have to take a 50 question pharmacology quiz online which should at least take me an hour or more since I have to look up all the questions, so until later, TATA!

Little update

So, I supposed you need an update. Classes are good, but very busy. My pharmacology class is a joke. We don't even get "taught" anything. We have a week to start an at home online quiz that is open book, and we have 6 hours to complete 50 questions. The only thing we do in class is go over the quiz, and that's it. Pretty much a selfer. Kinda weird for something as important as learning drugs. I had my first clinical today. It went very well! It's so amazing how much working at the hospital has made. I am so much more comfortable and confident in my ability. I'm used to this medsurg stuff, so I think the whole semester will go well. We had to take a med test after that and get above a 90% to be able to administer drugs, and I passed, so yay me. It was a calculation test for IV drip rates and stuff.
This poor woman I had today had to have all of her teeth extracted (which happened to only be a mere 15)...I know you're sitting there counting your teeth right now. Don't try to act like you're not.
Well, I am beat. I had to work 7:00am-7:00pm yesterday, then I had to go to the 8th floor to preplan for clinicals, then I had to come home and look up a bunch of meds and do a bunch of paperwork to prepare for today. It was a very bad day....not to mention I got stuck by myself with 15 patients. I think I'm going to have to have a talk to my manager about that.
Anywho...I'm going back to bed.

I measured my boobies according to a website online, and it says my cup size should be a D??
Umm, no. My boobs are not D material.

My bras are not tight in the cup size area...but maybe................no way in hell do I wear a D.
Anyone else think it's shit that I should wear a D?

Discuss. lol

Some nice links to visit

Pregnant man:
http://www.vidmax.com/index.php/videos/view/189

Two headed girl:
http://www.vidmax.com/index.php/videos/view/209


BY THE WAY, I HATE MORGANTOWN TRAFFIC VERY MUCH! ALL YOU STUPID STUDENTS WHO DON'T LIVE HERE....GO HOME!

Back to school

Great Grandma's funeral was this weekend, but I made the decision not to go. I would have liked going and seeing all the family, but it's the weekend before school starts, and the last thing I need right now is more stress. Mom said they picked out a really beatiful casket for her that was light cream color with gold trim, carved roses (which was her favorite flower), and the inside was lined with soft pink material. She said there were over 120 people there which makes me feel good that so many people loved her. Something funny that mom told me was that a little while ago before she started getting real bad, she started rhyming all the time. I think I may have made a post about this a while back. I'll have to go look for it so I can tell you one of the rhymes again. I think it was about poop, but I can't remember.

School starts tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to it. I'm so tired of all this stress, and I feel like my head is going to explode. At least my StuffOnMyCat calendar is now on the wall to cheer me up.

Here is my Spring 2007 Schedule:

MONDAY:
1:00pm-3:50pm NSG 334 - Concepts: Adult Health
TUESDAY:
2:00pm-3:50pm NSG 322 - Concepts: Pediatric Health
WEDNESDAY:
7:00am-1:50pm NSG 335-002 - Interventions: Medical Surgical
2:00pm-4:50pm NSG 376 - Clinical Nursing Pharmacology
THURSDAY:
off
FRIDAY:
7:00am-1:50pm NSG 335-002 - Interventions: Medical Surgical

The interventions are clinicals where I do my thang at the hospital all day. Medical Surgical is the hardest clinical of all of them. Everything is in super detail and for every patient you have, you have to preplan and go through every body system with every problem they have...not to mention looking up every drug they are on and knowing them. Major suckage when you have to do that and work. I will be in the hospital 4-5 days out of the week every week.

Crooked eyebrows

Lately I've felt like getting things in order around here. I've gone through all the boxes in the office closet and in the guest bedroom, but now I'm still trying to figure out what I want to keep, where to put the things I want to keep (since most of it is junk, and I'm a pack rat), and getting rid of the things I don't want. It's hard to part with things that you've had for so long even though you haven't even set eyes on it in years. I'm washing the guest sheets right now, lol. It's sad that makes me happy.

I got my hair cut again. It's cute I think. I probably got another 1 1/2 - 2 inches off. It's right at the base of my neck. It looked okay in the hair salon, but then when I got home I noticed the left side seems longer than the right. I'm obsessive compulsive about this, and even if Russell thinks I'm a bit crazy, I still want to go back and make them fix it, lol. AND, she also made my eyebrows crooked. Bitch.

Viral or bacterial something or another

I took Russell to the doctor this morning.....a lot of question asking.....a lot of palpating. He even asked if we were sexually active, lol. They say they think it was a lingering viral or bacterial something or another, but they don't think it's a gallbladder problem. So, in other words, they just don't know what it is, but they don't think it's serious. BUT, since Russell's family has a history of gallbladder problems, and we just paid $100 deductible plus a $15 copay, he's scheduled to go in next Friday for an ultrasound just to make sure there are no problems or possible problems.
I hate it when doctors don't know what's going on so they chalk it up to viral or bacterial something. Since he's been getting better, they're not going to give him any antibiotics or anything. What's really funny is it was a med student asking all the questions and such, and as soon as Russell told him I was a nursing student, he went and washed his hands, lol.

After the appointment, I got to take Russell up to where I work and show him around.
I have to go back today for a "mandatory" CA meeting. Probably just a bitch fest for the few people who aren't doing their job like they are supposed to.

Great Grandma passed away this morning.

What's really weird is that Gunther never sleeps with me anymore (he sleeps with Russell), and today he slept with me all morning.

Doctor Update

I talked Russell into going to the doctor. His appointment is Wednesday January 3. Everyone hope for the best please.

Christmas update

Here is my 2006 Christmas present list...

From Rusty:

• PostSecret Book
• StuffOnMyCat wall calendar
• StuffOnMyCat daily box calendar
• Harry Potter 4 dvd collection
• Candy cane pajammies

From Mommy:

• HUGE ASS universal remote control (too funny)
• Portable dvd player (for traveling)
• dvd player case
• fancy silverware with wooden case

From the in-law's:

• small wooden box (kinda like a small hope chest) with "Young" carved on the front
• Bob Evan's gift card (a running joke for years now since we ate there and neither one of us had "working" money)
• a fleece shirt for me
• a nice shirt for Russell

And then of course we both got money from others who never know what to get us, lol. It was a good Christmas. The first night we got into Braxton we watched Jet Li's Fearless which is a must see, and we also watched The Wickerman which was really creepy but not that great. Rusty's been so sick lately. Saturday was the worst, but ever since then he has different problems. I've been trying to get him to go to the doctor since he can go for free with our new insurance, but you know men. He's says he's going to wait and see how it goes, but if it's his gallbladder, then it will come and go anyway. Somehow I need to think up a plan to trick him to go.

I've been making pretty scarves with my nifty knitter. It really doesn't take long at all to make them either. I gave grandma one for Christmas (and she called it her prayer shawl since she's been sick), and then she has to show me up and take me to these crocheted afghan baby blankets that she's been making for me, lol. She decided to make 2 for each grandchild now because she says she won't always be around to make them, and apparently my great grandma made a few and now family is fighting over them now that she can't make anymore. It's sad. She was doing a bit better for a while, but now they say she's sleeping all the time and only waking up to eat a little bit. Mom wanted me to go up there this weekend since they think she won't be around much longer, but I have to work, and what's the point really when she won't even know I'm there to see her anyway.

Russell and I are taking down Christmas decorations today, and we have to go grocery shopping. I'm going to start a new hobby today if I can figure it out. I'll take pictures of the wooden chest whenever we get stuff moved around and put it out. It's so pretty.

Random Comments

Great Grandma is eating again.

I really want to snoop in the presents Russell has for me under the tree.
One of them is either a dvd or a game....or he's somehow being sneaky. He's just like that. He likes to put presents in other boxes to confuse me, and it works.

I feel down being here by myself tonight, but he'll be home in an hour. Still counting down.

I don't understand some people.
They must not think of me anymore.
I still think about them.
Maybe it's just because I'm feeling down tonight.

I want to be cuddled for a week straight and not leave the house.
I want to go home to Braxton and live there...now....not years from now when I'm finally done.
I want life to be easy.
I want this house to clean itself along with the dishes.
I want Red Lobster.
I want to have pictures of everything and all of it neatly and creatively put in all this scrabooking stuff that I have but don't have time or energy to use.
I want this scarf I'm making to be magically done so I can start on the next one.

I want to sleep for a while so I don't have to think. Maybe that's why I nap so much.

I just found out tonight that they think my Great Grandma is close to dying. She's been sleeping for the past few days and just woke up, and now she's having trouble breathing. I don't know what I expected. She's in her mid 90s. It's just that I never got to go see her this year because life got in the way as it tends to do.

Now all I can do is wait.

I don't want to get up early *tear*

Russell, Andrea, Seese and I are having our Christmas dinner/exchange presents tomorrow night. Actually, since it's after midnight, that would be tonight. I'm making a yummy lasagna since my lasagna is the bestest and some garlic bread, and they are bringing a veggie and a dessert. I'm really excited for them to open their presents.

I did some Christmas shopping for Russell today. I think I might buy him one more thing. We said a $75 limit, but you know me. I'm already at $88, and there is still that one more thing. He says I'm done, but we'll see about that.

I know I should be going to bed right now since I have to get up at 6:00am for work, but I'm so used to going to bed at 3:00am for the past week and a half now that I just can't go to sleep. I'm too awake.

I have been trying to buy the damn nifty knitter thinger, and I've checked both Wal-Marts in Morgantown, and they are BOTH OUT! What a crock of shit. It looks like I'm going to have to make a trip to Michael's even though I really don't want to. I need something to take up my time now that I have no classes...other than Harry Potter of course.