After being destroyed by the Patho/Pharm test, we had to muster up a smile for pictures. Not sure why they needed pictures of us, maybe for a website or something.

Elise is currently a CNA, so she works weekends in a hospital. She has more experience than most of us, and I'm glad she is in my clinical group. She also wants to practice invasive nursing procedures on other students all the time. As far as I know, nobody has let her.

To practice injections, we use weird slabs of fleshy rubber. I'm not sure what they are actually called, but I heard one of the instructors call it a Jelly Butt. Maybe it's a proprietary name, like Jelli-Butt. I don't know.

Lacking the ability to heal, they are full of little needle piercings. When you inject a liquid into them, it shoots out another hole somewhere, usually at another student or in your eye. I'm pretty sure this doesn't happen in real patients.

This week is busy. Last week's snow day gave us two extra tests in addition to the three already scheduled. After two tests today, I was able to get together with my old roommates Nick, Bill, and Trupe at Twin Anchors. We try to get ribs at least once a year. I wish it was weekly.

After skills practice today, Jackie and I were studying for Thursday's Pathophysiology/Pharmacology test in the Student Center when a man came in and started yelling at everyone on his way through. He was saying something about us wasting our time on education, then something about Vietnam and 25 inches of snow. I foolishly made eye contact with him as he passed, which prompted the following exchange:

Crazy: ...and that's the way it is, Fatman.
Me: Are you talking to me?
Crazy: (as he disappeared around the corner) No, I'm talking to the wall.

Definitely one of those moments where you want to call a do-over and say something or do something better. "Are you talking to me?" Whatever. I think what bothered me the most was how much this random unstable person was able to hurt my feelings. Fatman needs thicker skin or he won't last long in this profession. (Fatman should probably lay off the ribs, too.)

As a nurse, I'm probably not supposed to call someone crazy.
Nursing Diagnosis: Ineffective coping.

Contrary to the smiles, suctioning respiratory secretions from an airway seems like a really awful thing to have to do to somebody.

In an effort to stimulate the economy and fight terrorism, I used my tax refund to buy a TV.
Sometimes dreams do come true.

Proctored the ACT test at Holy Trinity High School to make a little extra cash. My friend Kellina is nice enough to let me help out every now and then. I haven't been around high schoolers for a while, and it made me miss my old students. A lot.

Went to a fly fishing expo in Schaumburg. I started fishing this summer, and it's great. A nice gentleman from Wheaton helped me tie my first fly. I had way more fun doing this than is reasonable.

Got a flat tire on the way to dinner with my family. It put me in a foul mood, but I was efficient like a Daytona pit crew. I changed the tire in 9 minutes, not quite as fast as during the Champaign Keg Emergency of '99, but still a respectable time.

By the time I got to Wildfire*, I was cursing the suburbs. I sometimes feel bad for the oft-maligned burbs, but then I go there and all sympathy ceases. I feel more claustrophobic in the suburbs than I ever do in the city. I quickly calmed down in the presence of my wonderful family, and we had a nice meal. I wish I could spend more time with them.

*Slightly overrated, but decent food and service. I'm not sure how a restaurant can be called a proper steakhouse if a soup or salad is not included with the meal.

Thursday and Friday we spend the whole day in lecture: Pathophysiology, Pharmacotherapeutics, Integrated Healthcare, and Cultural Fluency.
Laptops are required for the nursing program. Ten years ago, students who brought a laptop to class were just asking for silent judgment. Now I am one of them. I just wish I had shelled out a little more and bought a lighter computer.

The best part about it is being connected to the internet all the time. The worst part about it is being connected to the internet all the time and checking your email repeatedly, desperate for some sort of communication with the outside, praying that your shadeball friends will update their blogs, and when they finally do, that you won't get the giggles when reading all the hilarious things they have to say. Because once you start giggling, it's over; the professor knows there is nothing funny about acute kidney failure.