Nervous?

As many people close to me know, I am not usually one to get nervous. Especially to the point of tears! I just typically do not get jittery or scared of many things. But last week I found myself hardly able to manage my nerves.

It was the night before my first day of clinicals. I had to wake up at 5am in order to leave my house by 6 and be at the site at 7. But that wasn't the nerve-racking part for me to deal with. The nervous part was that I was actually starting down a career path. This was no longer just a class; I wasn't going to just sit in on a lecture and regurgitate the information a few weeks later. This was very real-- I was facing a make-it-or-break it situation. If I don't succeed in clinicals, I am not going to succeed in my nursing program, let alone in the nursing field.

It's not that I felt that I was going to fail. I knew I would do okay. So why was I nervous? Why did I get scared to walk into my patient's room that morning? All I had to do was talk to her. Why was my heart racing?

The bad news is that I have no idea why. It doesn't make sense. I was prepared as anyone else in my clinical group and had the sweetest patient I could have imagined. The good news is that I calmed down as soon as I got started. My patient, Pearl, was amazing-- a very forgetful but incredibly pleasant 96-year-old Jewish lady. She couldn't keep track of her age ("I think I'm 94 or 95, I was born in 1913, you do the math"), but she was very good at letting me know that I'm doing great and "will get an A". Thanks, Pearl.

I'd like to do well in my grades, but most of all I'd like to be a great nurse. And if Pearl thinks I will be a good nurse, then I better make sure she's right.

The Ale House

It's easy to sit at a table and get impatient with the server when they don't come immediately when you want them to, or when your food takes longer than your stomach would desire. It's equally easy to say how you would do it better.

It's not nearly as easy to be that server. I discovered that this weekend as I finished my first full weekend of serving at the Ale House-- there is so much more than taking orders and delivering food, especially when you also need to know the taste differences between the 22 beers we have on tap. There's getting water, and beers, and putting the orders in for food on time, and bussing the empty plates from the tables, and making sure salad eaters have the right dressing, and everyone has the right silverware, not to forget getting used to that computer system... for 12 tables. At once. Not the easiest thing.

It definitely puts a different perspective on the whole dining experience for me. I always thought it must be such a simple job, to serve people their food-- how hard could it be? But believe me, as I found out this weekend, I really do believe that I'm earning the tips you give! It's not as easy as it looks, especially with no hostess and no one pouring the beers for you. And everything takes just a little bit longer than you expect.

But all in all, my job is to make the customers happy, and so far I think I'm doing a good job of it. I had a twelve-top yesterday (that's serving jargon for a table with twelve people), and one of the customers said as they were paying up, "you did a really great job serving us today, thank you so much." That is so much better than any tip he could have given me-- it was so great to know that someone that could have just as easily paid the tab and left, instead took the time to compliment me on my service that I had worked so hard to do well at. As Mark Twain once said, "I can live for two months on one good compliment"; that one good compliment kept me going for the rest of the night, and now I'm blogging about it. :-)

I just hope that this kind of service helps me to learn to be a good nurse. Of course, taking care of patients is very different than taking care of hungry customers, but the same philosophy can be applied to both: make them as happy and comfortable and content as you can-- that is your job-- and while you're at it, you may as well smile and enjoy it. It really does make all the difference, and anyone, whether patient or patron, will be able to see that there's something different about the girl with the smiling heart.

That's my goal at least. :-)

One love,

CJ

My first few weeks in nursing school

I finished up my first few weeks in nursing school today! So far it's been quite a whirlwind of information but it's getting a little easier as I settle back into NEP. I still have yet to really move into my room; many of my clothes are still in bags and my human phys books are still waiting to be postreferenced in a box in the big room in my parent's basement. I've moved some furniture around, but still have yet to use my desk as it is still covered with boxes of office supplies and room decorations.

Meanwhile, I do have all of my nursing lecture notes and colloquium worksheets organized alongside my medical dictionary, "Fundamentals of Nursing", and my personal favorite, the two-volume set of "Medical Surgical Nursing". Good times are in store for me! I am actually really excited to start clinicals in the fall. A lot of my fellow students feel a bit of anxiety towards this but I'm just pumped. Learning is one thing, but applying is my favorite.

Last week, Dad and I cleaned out the attic in the garage. Half of it, at least. It took all day, but now you can walk up there! Woot!

I got a job at Concordia Ale House too! I begin my training on thursday morning. Soon I'll be serving every friday, saturday, and sunday night, and bartending on tuesday night! I'm so excited! Come see me if you're in town!

One love,
CJ

My last week in Eugene

It is a stressful but exciting time as I move into finals week of my last term at U of O! I have four finals in the next three days:
Endocrinology- Monday 8AM
Motor Control- Tuesday 1PM
Economics- Tuesday 3:15PM
Business Finance- Wednesday 3:15PM
Sounds crazy but I couldn't have designed it better myself. For the most part everything is fairly spread out, and the only time it isn't is when my easiest final is right after my hardest one. I'm excited for three days from now!
I also am moving into my last week at Diablo's! My last karaoke night is this tuesday. If you're in Eugene, this is your last chance to come sing for me! ALSO, come check out Bikes n Blues n Barbeque night this wednesday for some down-home Mississippi cookin' and some incredible live blues jam bands! It's always a good time!

I can't believe I only have five days until graduation! I can't wait for all my family to come into town. And then two days later I'm going up to Seattle to watch my cousin Joel, the ASSP president, graduate from SPU! I wish I had more time to spend in Seattle, but I have this little thing called nursing school that I will be starting the next day! I can't wait to begin.

That's all for now. I've got finals to study for and a whole house to pack up! So many things to do, and so little time...

One love,
CJ