Fall in New England and my goings on

It's hard to believe that it is almost November! I've got more than 2 months of nursing school under my belt and more knowledge, skills and experiences from those two months than I could ever have thought were possible!!! Admittedly, there have been some moments when I've wondered why it is exactly that I left teaching to learn about cell metabolism and to scrape liquid feces from a bed and into a specimen cup. But, then I take a walk through the maternity ward or begin to explain why I'm here to someone I've just met and I remember. This year - this bombardment of my senses and brain cells - is not everything. There is an end to this difficult journey.

So, I push my way through pharmacology, pathophysiology, medical/surgical nursing and anatomy. I strain to remember the drugs, doses, contraindications and best practices I'm presented with daily. I attempt to learn what I'm doing not only in English, but in Spanish as well. And, of course, I continue to look for ways in which I can impact not only people in my own country, but people around the world. What a tremendous challenge I've set for myself!

And just when I think my brain is about to burst, I look out my window and see splashes of red, orange and yellow. Fall in Connecticut is beautiful. I want to run outside and roll in the leaves. I will yet - of that you can be assured. I haven't taken pictures this week but here are a few I took about ten days ago. You can start to see the color. I'll try to get some more up soon - they are falling quickly!



This past week I joined with students from the other medical professional schools to help put on the play "the Doctor Stories". I worked (as the stage manager) with an awesome group of actors to portray several scenes from a book by the same name written by Dr. Richard Selzer (surgeon, writer and former professor at Yale Medical School). What a joy to meet such an amazing group of people with whom, through the adventure of putting on a show, I could connect with quickly. The show was a success and I was blessed with some new friends. Here is a picture of some of us from the cast party after the show. (I was in my Halloween costume).



And speaking of Halloween.... Saturday night saw a crazy costumed Halloween party at the graduate school pub. Some nursing friends and I went as "gang green" (i.e. Gangrene). Check us out:



Happy fall and Happy halloween!

These books were made for studying...and that's just what I'll do

These are the books that took and time and paved the way to learn the stuff in the school that Yale built!

Needless to say, you can see that we have quite a work load - and I didn't even buy ALL the books!!! So, it's been crazy and exhausting. The before and after pictures from the last illustration pretty accurately show the state most of us are in right now. This past week we learned how to prime, and calibrate an IV. Here's a great picture from a friend of mine entitled "GEPN year IVs"

photo courtesy of Brandon

This week we will start administering medication and setting up IVs during our two days of clinical in the hospital. This is an exciting step forward from taking temperature, blood pressure, giving bed baths and making beds (yes, with hospital corners!) . I have also done blood glucose finger pricks as well - both in the hospital and at a soup kitchen where I will volunteer a couple of times this semester (and where the people are simply fabulous - this is why I'm doing this!).

Slowly but surely the skills and knowledge is coming. The pace is fast, the hours are long and the intensity can be overwhelming if we let it, but we will get there. I try to stay focused on why I'm here and where I will be in 3+ years!

On another note, the class of 2010 has been officially welcomed into the Midwifery sorority of YSN (Yale School of Nursing). I think that the midwifery "clan" has a really special energy and bond that may or may not be present in the other clinical specialties. I know I've chosen the right field. Here are the future nurse-midwives of 2010:

What a gorgeous bunch!

And despite how busy I am with class, I refuse to put my life on hold, so here are a couple snap shots from some non-academic fun of the past week.

1. Argentinian Tango class - last weekend I went to a "boot camp" (7hrs) to learn to dance Argentinian Tango. I can't quite claim to truly dance it yet, but we're getting there. It was a lot of fun and I made some new friends along the way. I think now I'll join the Sunday night Tango classes. (Seems to be the big thing around here these days).

with some new friends after class

taking a turn around the floor with the instructor

Yesterday was a fellow midwife's birthday and though we had a test to suffer through in the afternoon, there was a party at the Grad student pub last night. "Blast from the past". A good time was had by all!

"Happy Birthday Mara!"