Baseball season has begun. Virginia is 5-0 on the season including tonight's win over ODU. It is definitely arctic cold outside, but there were a good number of us who braved the temperature for love of the game. Nathan and I were even chosen to compete against one another in the dizzy bat race in the middle of the 5th. We both fell down and had to crawl to the t-shirts that we were supposed to untie and put on. Try getting a t-shirt out of a knot when the ground is spinning and you can't feel your hands. It was hilarious. I hope to compete in many more throughout the rest of the season as UVa athletics have replaced the plethora of sporting options I had in Denver. Now that I can feel my hands and feet again, back to studying:-)

I realize that my most recent posts of pictures and captions is not the true intention of a blog. I should be using this forum to update everyone on my life, opinions, and experiences, using pictures to prove that it is all really happening. I had this ephiphany during an evening shift tonight at the hospital when I found myself looking at something that no one else would ever find normal and thinking that a picture might be the last thing you would want to see on my blog. I know that several of you are queesy at the sight of your own papercuts so I will leave out the details, but I will say that there are things that are now part of my daily life that I never imagined. Being a nurse involves using your whole body, mind, and soul to assess each patient's current and critical needs and providing them care without judgment, but with the knowledge and understanding that if they didn't have to be in the hospital, they probably wouldn't be. Oftentimes I see fairly unattractive things that might make others sick to their stomachs. While I admit that there have been times where I was taken aback by the sight of something I did not expect to see, I am very tolerant of "gross" stuff from a purely clinical vantage point. What I mean is that drawing blood does not phase me but I do sometimes come home and really struggle with the impact that a certain disease process or surgical procedure has had on a patient. But more than that, I have just been reminded again and again that the human body is a phenomenally intricate work of art and the lengths to which it will go in order to protect your vital needs is just a testament to how perfectly it was made.

I wish that I could let you all in on a day in the life of a nurse. It isn't just giving medication and making beds. It really requires a strong stomach, a stronger conscious, an exceptional level of clinical competence, a realistic view of the world, impecable critical thinking skills, enough guts to stand up to people when you need to, a sharp scientifically trained mind, a calm spirit, and an endless supply of understanding. So I know I said I would spare you the details, but I need to explain just a little bit. I was working on a patient who had poor peripheral blood flow (called peripheral vascular disease) and received a dual toe amputation yesterday. It was wrapped with gauze but the dressing needed to be changed during my shift. As I unwrapped the foot, some fairly unhealthy tissue presented. It was a deep wound and was not healing properly due to the lack of blood flow to the area. Now, historically in our country, we think of the nursing profession as one suited to women, however we think of trauma, EMT, and surgical fields as male dominated. Well, let me just tell you that this was no little scratch and I know that the men in our class would have been able to handle it without any problems at all. As would the females. But my point is that this isn't a flowery, soft and gushy field. We roll our sleeves up and get in there and get the job done no matter how greusome it may appear to anyone else. So, yes, nurses are caring and compassionate, but they are also incredibly smart and strong and can take pretty much anything that is thrown at them.

The preceptors and future colleagues that I have worked with thus far during my clinical rotations have inspired me to write this posting. I am amazed at their overwhelming knowldege of the pathophysiology related to each disease, their understanding of the components of a metabolic panel and what one serum level out of whack can do to a person's body, and their textbook explanations of why a prescribed medication is not appropriate for a certain patient. It is really an amazing job and I am so thrilled to be a part of the nursing world.