Life, clinicals, and almost done...

Two more days before I'm finished with one third of my nursing program. I'm almost one third of a nurse. That's a little scary.

Life outside of school has been going extremely well lately. First and foremost, the bat guys came today and did their work on the house. So, there should be no more bat invasions, and no unpleasant surprises for my incoming sublettor (sublessor? sublessee? I have no idea...)

Secondly, I had dinner with my soon-to-be housemates last night. They are wonderful! And they love to cook, and are very good at it. Jordan is a second year medical student and Jessica is a music teacher who is going back to school for a Master's in counseling. They invited me over for a "simple dinner" which included panini (on their shiny new panini maker!) salad, pasta, chips and hummus, wine, and peach cobbler. And it was all fabulous. I'm going to like living with these people. One of their friends was there too, a blind pianist from Eastman School of Music who had just returned from an international piano competition in Moscow. A really amazing guy, with a lot of good stories. The four of us got along great right from the start, lots of laughing and making plans for the house, and going on outings together, and all sorts of hilarity. I had a blast, and stayed way past my bed time on a clinical night, but it was completely worthwhile. I'll be moving into the house as soon as I can after I return from Portland.

The whole Paul thing is going rather well right now too. There was a day of canoing on the Genessee River, and some cuddling, and the purchase of a webcam for me so that we can chat to each other while gallivanting around the west coast. He's currently in San Diego at a conference, and won't get back until Friday, the day before I leave for Portland. Bad timing, but the webcam/Skype thing is pretty cool. Sarah seems to be incredibly proud of herself for managing to set us up.

Lastly, school stuff. Like I said, I'm almost done with this semester. I've determined through this clinical rotation that I have no interest in working on an ENT floor. I prefer patients that can talk to me, and so far I haven't had a single one of those on this floor. A lot of them have trachs and that makes talking very difficult unless they use a speaking valve, which can make breathing difficult. Usually they choose breathing. Also, I don't enjoy phlegm and sputum. I'd honestly rather deal with vomit and diarrhea. The whole suctioning out a trach thing is quite gross to see, but even worse to listen to. My next rotation will be Psych, on the Mentally Ill/Clinically Addicted floor. That will be very different and probably really cool. I bet I'll be longing for the patients that don't talk after five weeks of patients in withdrawal, though. And then I'm on the Cardiac Surgery floor, which I'm looking forward to a lot. Oh, and there will be a ton of classes mixed in with that stuff too. Fall is supposed to be the hardest semester of this course. Can't wait.

I think that's about it for now. I don't know how much I'll be posting from Portland, but I'll definitely be getting photos of my new place up here as soon as I can after moving in. So exciting!