So, an update. I NEED to unwind and just relax here a bit; it's been a long week and an even longer day.
But it was a GREAT day, I finally was able to get some skills observed and "checked-off" by my Clinical Instructor today as I took care of 2 patients- one of whom had more tubes and drains, IVs, infections and surgeries than I thought he had body parts to accomodate them all. I held his hand through painful turnings, listened to his story, and cared for him as best I knew how.
Anywhoooo..... we also had our first "farm emergency" as well this week. NariLoo went out to check on the goats after she settled in from getting home from school and came screaming in that a goat was "down". I went and got the neighbors who have a small herd of meat cattle, and grabbed our bolt cutters and scissors. We had them staked on a small bank, and apparently one tripped/fell? and got tangled up in it's wire and the whole works got it stuck in a way that it couldn't get up. It REALLY looked like the clip that hooks them onto their chains went THROUGH the flesh of heel, but turns out it just had clipped onto that part of skin between the leg bone and the achilles tendon. You know, that skinniest part of the back of your ankle? The worst part about trying to get him unclipped and untangled was his pitiful and horribly frightening screaming as we worked frantically. Thankfully, after some working it, the clip came off, we cut the harness off and he popped right up. I didn't expect that at all, as I suspected he was going to have some systemic damage from laying there all day without water and all. We think he was there a good while, as there was a fairly large pile of doo-doos by him. But up he went, peed a river, and promptly picked up a leaf to munch. I knew it was all golden, as truly sick animals (and people) don't do any of those things. Long story short, that took the one evening I had to dink around here earlier this week away. Sad day.
So, here we are, the weekend before Exam #3. Half the term is gone. I've earned my Clinical Instructor's trust I think, have turned in all but one of my papers for this term, and only have 3 exams and 1 (Comprehensive) Final to go. Definitely feeling a TON of the pressure off now. Yes, there is a LONG way to go with 5 more Clinical days, a small write up for each of those, and COUNTLESS hours of studying so I don't flunk out. We truly are only technically graded on our Exam scores- everything else is Pass/Fail. If your instructor doesn't like you, they will find a way to weed you out, but 99% of folks who don't make it, at least in our program, fail out in the Theory portion. I mention that because the hardcore studying for this upcoming exam starts tomorrow and will run 4 straight days except for an 8 hour "break" in which I"ve agreed to take a shift at work. (Gots me some trip to pay for.....)
That's about all I can muster tonight; I've been up since 5:00 and on my feet since. It was GREAT having dinner all made by my the kids and Mike. I pulled a frozen roast beef meal out of the freezer last night and they did it up; and it was DELICIOUS!
Hopefully, a REAL update tomorrow, eh??