Week 1, Semester 2

One week down, fourteen to go! The new semester is off to a good start. Classes are a little more intense than last semester, but more focused on detail rather than general concepts, which is easier for me. I’m amazed at what we’ve already learned in just one week. Here is a sampling.

• Injections (Dart that needle in! I’m grateful that we haven’t had to puncture other students or patients at this point, just oranges!)
• Nursing cares for people with stomach and upper gastrointestinal illnesses.
• How to write Nursing Diagnoses and create Nursing Care Plans. (And here I thought I’d seen the last of legalese upon leaving the Colorado Dept. of Law!)
• Medications ~ Memorized a list of 60 medications. Not just the names, but also the drug class, their use, what we need to assess as nurses prior to and during the course of therapy and their side effects.
• Proper administration of medications. We reviewed this in the fall, but were tested on it today. I, patting self on back, passed with flying colors!

There have been things I learned outside of class as well.

WINTER! I didn’t really know what winter was. Winter in Colorado is days of sunshine, punctuated by a handful of cloudy snowy days now and then. You need nothing more than a sweater sometimes. The snow melts in 2 days. It gets really cold only a few days a year. Winter in Iowa? WEEKS of DARK gray clouds sitting low, punctuated by partly cloudy days where it is LESS GRAY. Once in a rarity, the sun actually comes out. I crave those days and find myself basking in the sun like a cat! It’s COLD. FREEZING. WINDCHILL BELOW 0 for days on end. ICY. There is ¼” or more of freezing rain on every surface, followed by snow, followed by more freezing rain, followed by… you get the picture! It’s SLICK! I need studded snow boots!

But in the cold and ice, there is AWESOME beauty as well. Ethereal frosted fern patterns on every window. Forests of barren trees shining in the late afternoon sunshine like a forest of Venetian chandeliers, every twig and branch coated in ice, gleaming, and sparkling, reflecting light. Landscapes in muted tones of white and lavender with every blade of grass or pine needle frosted and standing out in relief. Horses in the pasture wearing thick white blankets of snow. And in my apartment, pots of brilliant amaryllis the color of rubies, paperwhite narcissus filling the air with fragrance and a monstera philodendron, a souvenir from my working days at Lam-Wood threatening to take over Creston. There is beauty everywhere. Our challenge is to find it, where ever, whenever we are, even when the wind chill is well below 0.

The Lord bless you and keep you: The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26