Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Walk for a Cure

This past Saturday (only a few hours after we returned from LA) Mom and I did the MS Walk.

I love doing walks. I love being a part of something bigger than me. My mom does too. This was our third year doing the MS Walk together, and man is it fun! Typically it's at Legoland, but this year they offered one in Liberty Station, so we went to that one. Because really, it's the cutest area ever.
 Gettting started... and we're off! I've convinced her self-portraits taken with the camera held out in front of us are totally the latest and greatest.
 Yep, we definitely walked down Harbor Dr. Lots of planes! :)
 Half time. The moment we had been waiting for. They had these super yummy cold vanilla latte drinks - excellent idea!
 We each got two. Mom only had to go to the bathroom three times. ;)
I love the harbor. Every time I go down there I think, gosh I really should come down here more often. (we both said that).
 And the big finish!!
[Mom really liked those little coffees. :)]

Thanks for doing it with me, Mom. You're the best. I love hanging out with you. And hey, we got free coffee and pizza after! So it was totally worth it!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Something simple on Monday

[clarification: Steve is the mastermind behind all things outside. he works so hard every week to keep it looking fresh and beautiful. so credit where credit is deserved... way to go Esteban!]

sometimes it's the little things

like the flowers in my parents' front yard
that I wait for to open.
every Spring they never fail
to open on sunshiney days, big and yellow and proud.

it's like a secret garden 
walking up the pathway
you feel special, like they opened just for you
to welcome you home.

i really love flowers
the ones in our neighborhood make me smile
but there's just something about the flowers at my parents' house
that makes me smile extra big.

i love when nature does just what God created it to do
boldly proclaim His existence
and bring Him glory
by being beautiful

Sigma Theta Tau

 I had the privilege of being inducted into the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau, Friday night. So I totally didn't think it was a super big deal, but it ended up being kinda special! (which my sister so sweetly wrote about...have I mentioned I have the best sister in the world? I do).

The first sign of that was the fancy table settings and purple theme color. Doesn't that mean royalty? ;)

My sister and mom joined J and I. It was fun to have them all there. My mom zoomed up straight from an all-day conference, and my sister rushed over after a final. We all got stuck in traffic. And everyone was still smiling.

Too bad we never took a picture all 4 of us. I totally forgot. But I appreciated you guys!!

Some of my nursing friends.

So I applied for a couple scholarships (and congratulations to our group for winning half of them! way to go Cohort 10!). And I won one of them! The Phyllis Esslinger Endowed Scholarship. I happen to think Phyllis Esslinger is the cat's pajamas (and she pretty much is in the nursing/history/academic world), so I was really honored.

Then we got our cords and certificates and our pins.

Lindsey and me

And all the nursing students.

My director and me

and Phyllis (left), the woman behind it all, and Dr. Cone (right) who awarded my scholarship
What an honor. 

Wow. 
My first "society." 
I'm such a grown-up. :)

Friday, April 23, 2010

Red and yellow, black and white...

...they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Yesterday was our last day of our pediatric clinical at Rady Children's Hospital.
I was actually really bummed. I really liked it there.


We made our nurses cookies to try to show them a glympse of how much we appreciated them.


Some things that stood out to me during my time there...

- the best group of nurses I've met thus far that love the kids, their jobs, and each other
- the kids and their sweet little personalities
- you hear people singing to kids sometimes to make them feel better
- the very best, most authentic and caring clinical instructor ever, and a great example of what following Jesus looks like
- I was once a patient there, and now I get to humbly take care of those patients
- parents rock!

We had a celebration dinner together and pretty much all cried when Bella (our instructor) had to leave at the end. Literally, we were just quiet for like 5 minutes and were like, awwwwww. [Pardon the picture quality... they are iphone pics :)]

Bella, Allison, Tiffany and me ... and the whole clan



I love my nursing friends. This semester, although so frustrating at times, has been such a blessing in that I have seen things that make me feel like, maybe nursing is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing after all.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Adventures in Del Taco

It went something like this...

Yesterday, I decided to walk over to Del Taco. Not because I like it there, but because it was close and cheap, and I needed something to eat between classes.

I ordered my food and heard a weird sound around the corner by the bathrooms, but ignored it. I noticed it took an especially long time to get my food and there suddenly seemed to be no one around. The lady handed me my order without looking at me and walked off. I thought, gosh I love it when customer service people are friendly.

As I was leaving, I looked to my left around the corner to see a man lying on the ground, appearing unconscious, and some employees gathered around with one on the phone. I asked if they needed help.

"Are you medically trained?"
"I'm a nursing student and I know CPR."
"He's just lying there. I dunno..."

I stepped in and knelt down, prepping my hands for chest compressions. This is where the rubber meets the road Jordanna. Ok - check for breathing. He's breathing. Ok - check for pulse. Wait... if he's breathing he has a pulse. Ok - check for consciousness.

"What's his name?" They told me. "Sir, can you hear me?"
No response.
He's definitely unconscious.

Ok - call emergency personnel. They're on the phone - great. Then I hear the lady say to 911 "ok thanks, bye" and hang up. I say, "are they sending an ambulance?" "Yes - she said to call if I needed help." Great, thanks 911. Ok - I'm in charge. Keep him alive and safe. Well, he's alive. But safe. 

"Do you guys have any medical history on him?" (he was an employee).
"No."
"Did anyone see what happened?"
"I think he was getting the trash in the bathroom."
That's not exactly what I meant... how else can I ask that question... oh well, I'll figure it out later.

He opens his eyes. "Sir can you hear me?"
He wasn't responding. I told him where he was and who I was, and told him I was going to stay with him and he was ok. We were taking care of him.
His eyes met mine for about a second. Check the pupils. Oh wait, I don't have a pen light... hmmm... can I get him to look at me to see if they react... nope, he's not gonna look at me. Maybe I should take his pulse and respirations. They were normal. That's good.

He was sweating buckets and super confused. The next thing I know he's pulling his pants off frantically. "Sir, what are you doing?" He stops and looks at what he's doing. "You can put your pants back on, it's ok. You can relax your head, you're ok." He buttons his pants back up. Whew. 

In the meantime... here comes 15-year-old girl who works there... "He needs to have his head between his legs. He needs to be sitting up. That's what they say." Oh gosh I'm so glad I know that is NOT what you do. That's before you pass out... he's passed that part. "No, he's ok laying here. I don't know if he hit his head so we aren't going to move him too much right now. Thank you for your help." She leaves.

And then, the glorious sound of a siren getting closer and closer. The store manager says "They are just driving around out there but they aren't coming."
"Ok - they probably don't know where we are. Can you go outside and tell them we're in here and open the door for them." She goes.

Here come the paramedics... all 5 of them. I stand up and grab my food, and give my report.
"I found him unconscious but breathing...."
"Ok. Are you a nurse?"
Yes! No.... almost... "No, I'm a nursing student, but I'm CPR and ACLS certified."
"Ok thanks."
They totally didn't need to know that. It was a yes or no question. 

They did their assessment. They know just the right questions to ask. They got the people to tell them he had been shaking when they found him. SEIZURE!!! Oh, ask if he was shaking... smart. Be more direct... Oh I forgot to tell them his pulse... "His pulse is 80." "Ok thanks." That's normal Jordanna, they don't care about normal. Let them do their job. 

As I'm leaving and they are getting him on the stretcher to take to the hospital, I say to the paramedic with tattoos down his arms, "do you need anything else from me?" "No thank you maam." Obviously they don't need anything else from me, there's 5 of them and they know way more than me. 

I talked with another employee who told me in broken English he had an assault called on him on the trolley and they brought him to her (what...? Oh, I get it... I think...)

As the paramedics are climbing into the ambulance, "An employee just told me he's aggressive." "Ok thanks." Doors closed. And they're off. I don't even know if that's what she was saying. And they can take care of themselves. But still, they might need to know. 

Lessons learned:
- I really don't like Del Taco's food that much
- Pay attention to weird sounds and environmental changes
- People often have a reason to be less than polite :)
- I love (sort of) knowing what to do in emergencies
- I can stay calm and take control
- Be nice to people trying to help 
- Don't try to be a paramedic (even though it's most definitely the coolest job in the world)
- Just give the important info in report... concisely... ONE time... not FIVE times
- I know better questions to ask for next time (if there is a next time)
- Giving report is fun. It's cool to say "this is what's happening, this is what I did, your turn."
- I can't wait until I can answer "YES" to the "are you a nurse" question!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Better days

BLS certified in a half hour (thank you Christina!)
an Ikea trip to dream up our next project (we like projects :)
church with a really neat group of new friends
the gym
dog walks
some homework
starbucks
free smoothies (thanks Jess!)
seeing my sis
a choir concert with sis (I love her because we have comments about every song)
the funniest radio show episode ever
staying up late with J, pretending like we're so young and hip
finally (almost) getting my 4th semester schedule
mc frappes (seriously, amazing.)
Target (always)
selling a book 
making future plans with J
2 presentations down
1 paper checked off the list
registering for the MS walk (looking forward to it, Mom!)

Yes, the last few days have been much better than last week.
Thank goodness! :)

Happy birthday Grandpa!

This past Friday was my grandpa's 81st birthday, so Saturday evening we all got together and had a little birthday party for him, complete with homestyle cookin'! Thanks Grandma - it was awesome!


Grandma also gave us a tour of her yard. They have the hugest amount of property and I didn't even realize all that my grandma did to keep it looking so nice. She's got full-on trees growing in the back that she planted! As well as a beautiful flower planter and the prettiest garden I've ever seen.
 She layed every one of those bricks by hand. 

She calls these her Dr. Seuss flowers. :)

I love the way my grandma loves life. I love her creativity. And I love the way she loves my grandpa. And it was sweet to see him smiling. :)

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Frustrated, overwhelmed, and loved

Lately, it's been a series of crazy stressful and overwhelming days.

My bad attitude:
- There's no new RN jobs. Like, not until January 2011. What the heck am I doing.
- If one more person tells me they would rather be in school than work or they are so glad they aren't in school anymore, I'm gonna cry.
- I have 4 papers to write in the next 10 days. None of which are started.
- My email has been crawling it's so slow, gosh darn it Azusa.
- I forgot to do my bible homework this week.
- I'm a failure blogger. (I think about blogging multiple times a day. Unfortunately it's tough to do when I have homework that should be a priority.)
- Turns out my Red Cross CPR is not what the hospitals want. They want it through American Heart Association. It's the same thing! Just another $60 and 6 hours.
- I'm tired. And Baker and Emma keep eating the couch cushion stuffing and it's everywhere.

Hope in the midst of it:
- Baker and Emma are the gosh darn cutest little things ever and they love each other so very much. And I love them way more than I love my couch.
- J ate my dinner tonight and said he liked it even though it totally wasn't good (tip of the day: if a recipe tells you to cook something in salad dressing, don't do it. salad dressing smells bad when it's hot).
- I got to see some great stuff at clinical today (for fear of deterring anyone from my blog, I won't be too specific...at this point in time). Just 2 more shifts there!
- I love Children's Hospital.
- I really like critical care.
- Our pastor is our neighbor.
- Our complex is having a mexican fiesta potluck next weekend.
- Mom came over and followed me around while I got ready yesterday. When life gets crazy that's sorta how we hang out, and I like it :)
- J gave me the very best hug tonight. (He's very good about hugs ... we established that early on :)).
- 14 weeks and I'm done with nursing school :)
- God is faithful and He meets me where I am.
- He knew I hate to be alone so he gave me a permanent buddy. The best ever.


See Jordanna, It's not that bad.
It's actually pretty good.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

2 weeks (and then some)...

then I will be done with this semester

all the papers I have yet to start
presentations
clinicals
and pinning craziness

all I wanna do is be with my fam
and make money
and take pictures of cute things to post

sorry i have neglected you, blog
school has taken over
for now

14 weeks and i'm done with nursing school
and on to the crazy job hunt

first things first
2 weeks .... please come fast

Monday, April 12, 2010

Our little terrors

Baker and Emma have been very busy the last few days.

Baker taught Emma. We know because she was an angel back when she was alone.  
Turns out they put their little brains together to create double the destruction. 
In very creative ways...

Wednesday: the lamp

In a zillion little pieces. Not recognizable.

They had a few drinks in the midst of their shade-tearing. 
The evidence was in their whiskers.
And in their water bowl.
 

"Baker made me do it, Mom."
 

Friday: the trash. 


 No food remnants left.
Amazingly, no sickies either.

Saturday: the books. Actually, J's books.
From tight in our bookshelf.
7 of them.
One in particular has no more index or front or back. Those are in many pieces.
Sorry about that hun.
You had the book memorized, right?

Sunday: we set up (we being J) a webcam that broadcast their actions to J's iphone.
Of course they were perfectly cute and still the whole time.

Monday: the couch. and trash. and potty.
Complete with coffee grounds and bird seed from the trash. 
Regarding the couch, the couch cushion, to be exact. 
Just the stuffing inside though, no biggie.
You can still sit on it.

Good thing I place more value on my animals than on my physical property. 

Good thing we didn't really need the lamp, or the trash to stay in its trash bag, or some books, or the couch or carpet. 

And good thing they're cute.

We really gotta get Luigi an emergency cell phone.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Friday, April 9, 2010

Research Adventures

Thursday was the 6th annual Research Day conference at APU [Mahea - I wrote this and then clicked to your page to link to you and saw you started yours the same way! hahaha. I think I copied you though since you were first, sorry]. Research + Jordanna = not really friends. But, Mahea made it so much better. She took some photos and told the story well of our morning (which began at 5:45am) of Starbucks, a long drive up the 15 to LA, Shakira en espanol, and an exciting experience with the GPS (I give in... they actually are really cool).

The day was filled with presentations of many fairly non-applicable studies (in my honest opinion) with a few important and fun tidbits inserted in there. Fortunately, I had my friends and my new iPhone (! I know !) with internet... never thought that would be cool, until Research Day. :)

Mahea and I - she gets me through this crazy thing called nursing school with lots of smiles and hugs. 

Amber and Blair

Blair, Lisa, Katelyn, and Ashley

Jennie and Nancy

I love all these girls. We sat together. They have each blessed my life in a unique way. It's so fun to be friends with people so different from me! :)

Jose and Brian - our token guys :)

Okay, so research day ended up being kinda fun.

Highlights:
- Drinking water from pretty pitchers
- Unlimited iced tea and coffee
- Standing in a forever line for salad for lunch (keeping us healthy I guess)
- Pretty desserts (they must have been saving money for the desserts with the lunch)
- Learning about the prevalence of rice in the Filipino culture (I know, right!)
- Learning about rural India (now that was interesting)
- Meeting Jennie's mom (she works at APU)
- Hanging with friends
- Carpooling with Mahea
- Pinkberry on the way home (Mahea told me we could get Pinkberry on the way home... all day I was excited since I'd never been to Pinkberry... "so it's like frozen yogurt? or ice cream? is it like smoothies? i'm so excited" ... she's a good sport to put up with my antics)
- Confirmation that Mahea is staying in San Diego

We chatted the entire way home, which made the two hour drive go much faster. Thank goodness for not much traffic. And for a friend who will talk about anything :) ... papers, music, faith, cord blood .... ;) Thanks for riding with me, M!

I love how our nursing class loves each other. This is such a team effort.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

I want to 'pump you up!'

Well, J and I rejoined the gym

It was time. 

Her's what I know about myself (kinda ironic since I'm gonna be a nurse): I know I live in the prettiest city and can "just go running outside" and ya-de-ya. I tried it. A couple times. I hated it. Every time. And so I won't commit to it. 

The gym, on the other hand, has variety. I can run or walk or elliptic (is that the verb for elliptical?) or bike or swim or take a class or lift weights or do sit-ups... and it's a controlled environment. I am not disciplined enough to do it at home.

My reality: I need a building to tell me to work out. 

I know, it's ridiculous. But it's the truth. I almost like the gym. Kinda.

We went tonight for the first time. I hated it and I loved it. 

We celebrated with yogurt afterwards.

Don't make fun... I'm totally a fan of the reward system.

So, we are committed ... wish us luck!

Monday, April 5, 2010

My kind of day



If only I could be home instead of at school. :)

Spring [break] spurts of joy

Grandma time

A lovely bike ride along the water with my friend

Sister time






Dinner and dessert with great friends

Getting PALS-certified

Pet and honey cuteness



Easter festivities

Along with some homework... so much time spent, yet not nearly enough accomplished. Oh well.

And now... 4 weeks and counting til the end of 3rd semester... it's crunch time.