Finals... Finally!!

I never thought that I would see the end of this semester. It couldn't come fast enough. Today I have my A&P lab practical and final exam. It has been stressing me out more than I have realized. My husband was kind enough to point it out to me a few days ago.. and again this morning. When I stopped to think about it, he is absolutely right. I have been snapping at him and biting his head off over minute things. Things that I would normally laugh about. I know that it's no excuse.. but look at everything I have been through the last couple months. My Pepere passed away, I found out my Aunt Marie is dying, and then my Papa ends up in my ER in really rough shape.. all while working 40 hours a week and going to school. It has really done a number on me emotionally and mentally. But atleast my hair has stopped falling out!.. or maybe it hasn't.. but either way I'm ending this semester with what appears to be a full head of hair. Bonus!
I can't wait to have two weeks off from school! That's right. Only two weeks and not the entire summer. I signed up for another two classes. Human Growth & Development and A&P II. I am hoping that if I take A&P II right after A&P I, while everything is (hopefully) still fresh in my mind that it might make the class a tad bit easier. I guess I'll find out soon!!

A down grade and a good grade.

Finally, some good news. Yesterday my Papa got down graded from the CCU to telemetry. His NG tube has been removed and he hasn't had any vomiting since then. He has had two flu swabs done, the first one being positive and the second was negative so as far as I know they are still treating him with flu precautions. He was able to get up out of bed with a one person assist, which is far better than the four person assist he needed when he came into the ER on Monday. Things are looking up for him.
More good news.. I managed to get a 96 on last weeks statistics test, making up for the 73 I got a few weeks ago.
Yesterday I was also able to convince my Nana into coming down to the ER to be checked out to make sure she didn't have the start of a pneumonia or the flu, since she has also been sick for the last couple of weeks. I know she wasn't happy with me for making her do so. And although she'll never admit it, I'm pretty sure she was damning me to hell. But I worry. So if she wants to be mad at me for caring so much, I'm okay with that. All of her test results came back fine. My family and I are finally starting to let out that sigh of relief, and at the same time I'm sure we're all still holding our breath and wondering if or when something else is going to go wrong.

Someone else's turn

I have to make this quick since I have to leave for school in about 15 minutes. Things have not been getting better since my last post. My Papa (the brother of my great aunt that is dying) arrived in the ER I work at yesterday.. while I was working. He was not doing well at all. I'm going to lie.. he had me so scared at one point. The ER physician who I am really good friends with, looked at me and said, "If I have to intubate him, are you okay with that?" I was terrified but knew that I had to keep myself together since my Nana was there in the room. Luckily we avoided intubation, however, he was still admitted to the CCU with pneumonia related sepsis and an upper GI bleed. I went to see him this morning and he looked a lot better than he did yesterday. The stress just keeps piling up on my plate. I just keep asking myself when will be someone else's turn?

It's been a while

My apologies for being absent for a while. Life has been a whirlwind of emotion for me lately. Last weekend my husband and I took off to Canada to see visit my Pepere who was in the hospital. It was the first time Tony got to meet him, and the last time I would ever see him alive. The following Tuesday my dad contacted me to let me know Pepere had passed away. So on Wednesday we packed and headed to Canada for the second time in one week. Friday morning, while still in Canada, I found out from my mom that my great aunt (Aunt Marie) had been taken by ambulance to the hospital I work at, and had been admitted. The next night, after my Pepere's funeral, my mom got another call from family back here at home. My Aunt Marie had been diagnosed with colon and lung cancer and that she doesn't want any treatment. She wants to go to a nursing home, live out her days, and go home to God. The following day, Tony gets a call from his family only to find out that his grandmother had just been diagnosed with liver and lung cancer. She is in good spirits though. She just recently battled breast cancer and she's ready for another fight. But honestly, how much more bad news can one person handle?! I suppose the old saying when it rains, it pours is true.
At some point my grandparents, my mom, and myself (and maybe a couple other sets of hands if I can round them up) have to go to my aunt's house and remove anything and everything valuable. Whenever it is that she does go to a nursing home, they will have all rights to her house and anything inside. I think that's crazy. But then again, I don't exactly understand how or why it is that the nursing home will own everything she has. I don't know when I am going to be able to help them. I go back to school tonight, and back to work tomorrow. I have a really full schedule, but I know I need to be there for my family as well. It's so hard to focus on anything right now. The one thing that does stand out in my head, though, is a quote from Mother Teresa, "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

Stop slacking!

I've made it to spring break! And I'm still here... at home. Aren't I supposed to be in Florida partying it up with all the other college kids? Oh how I wish I had the money to do so! However, even if I did have the money, there still would be no partying for me this week. I am sick again! Usually every year from November until April I get sick an amazing number of times. And now with the added stress of school, my immune system hates me more than ever! I have a lot of stuff to do for A&P this week and I haven't even started any of it!! I don't have the energy. I have a severe case of faucet face right now accompanied by an unattractive cough. I have been anything but productive this week with my school work. I went home early from work Monday and yesterday. I didn't even care about celebrating St. Patty's Day. Instead, I was far more comfortable parked on the couch and not moving. I don't feel any better today but unfortunately I need to put the slacking on hold and meet up with one of my classmates today at the school to work on our fitness center lab. So I suppose I should stop sitting around in my own filthy germs, go shower, get ready and stop slacking.

Kicked in the gut

This past Tuesday I had my first lab practical exam in A&P. I studied as much as I possibly could and still walked out of class with that gut feeling that I had failed it. I could barely even sleep that night because I every time I closed my eyes I could see the test questions and the answers I had put down and would realize that I put down the wrong answer! After only a couple hours of sleep, it was time to wake up and get ready for work. It was an alright day in the ER, I suppose, until I got kicked in the stomach by a patient. It wasn't accidental either. His intentions were to hurt someone, and that someone just happened to be me. The charge nurse told me he wanted me to press charges. At first I wasn't going to. I have enough on my plate with work and school. And patients that assault medical staff always seem to get away with it. So what's the point? After speaking with a police officer, and hearing about this guy's history of assaulting people, I figured I'd give a shot. Even if all they do is ban him from the hospital, I'll be happy with that. Luckily I wasn't seriously hurt. It could've been worse. And I don't want it to end up being worse for one of my coworkers in the future. If people keep letting him get away with it, he's just going to keep doing it.
However, I suppose the only good thing about being assualted by this guy, is that he kicked that gut feeling, about my lab practical, right out of my stomach. I got my exam grade back on Thursday and was in complete shock when I found out I passed it with a 100! I was tempted to ask her if my grade was accurate or not, because I shouldn't have scored that high. But why argue? I'll take it!! 100 is good enough for me!!

I'm losing it!

The good news is... my sister and rick are safe from the tsunami that pretty much didn't happen. It wasn't nearly as bad as people thought it was going to be.
The bad news is... I'm losing my hair! The stressing over school and grades is literally causing me to lose little small clumps of hair! I don't feel like I'm stressing out that much, but apparently I am. I can't really think of any other reason that would cause this to happen. I've been told to get my thyroid checked, but it's always been fine as long as I take my pill, and I have been. And the hospital continues to bill me everytime I do end up getting my TSH checked. I don't know why considering I have my health insurance through the hospital. I'd rather not have any more bills than what I have now. It's not going to help my stress level much. I don't think anything at all is going to help my stress level at this point.