Joy!

Today was a day of tests. We had one in Socology at the early hour of 7:00 a.m. and then at 1:00 p.m. we had a big test over the assessment and diseases of the renal (kidney) and urinary systems in Med Surg. It was a pretty tough test. What a great joy it was to find out this evening that I was one of 2 people in the class who got 100% on the test! 100% test scores in Med Surg are exceedingly rare so it makes me even more excited about getting that grade!! We also had a test on Monday, which I got an A on so it has been a really good week!

Spring into Summer!

Springtime in Iowa

Spring semester is over and summer semester has begun. Only six weeks away from completing the LPN program! It’s amazing how quickly this year has sped by. Testimony to how positive things can be when one really enjoys what one is doing. I find the thought of graduating from the LPN program almost bittersweet. I think back to how unsure I was of myself last August and see how far I’ve come and how much I’ve enjoyed learning this year. It’s really been a good year and I almost hate to see it end. All the same, I’m looking forward to moving on into the RN program beginning in July!

Spring semester finished well and I was able to maintain a 3.2 GPA and my spot on the Dean’s list! Here is my report card! Keep in mind that our grading scale is a little different from the norm. An A is 93% or above, a B is 83 to 92% and a C is 75 to 82%.

Medical Surgical Nursing I ~ B
Maternal Child Nursing ~ B.
Human Growth and Development ~ A
Nutrition ~ B

It’s a tough program and I feel pretty good about those grades especially since a couple of our instructor’s let me know that I am in the top 10% of the class! My grade in Maternal Child grade was actually 91.8% so I just barely missed that A!

Now in the first session of summer semester, I am taking Med Surg Nursing II and Sociology. We have clinical practice two days a week and I’m at Cass County Hospital in Atlantic, Iowa for that.

May 27th is the LPN lamp lighting ceremony and June 24th is our LPN graduation. I am looking forward to the 2-week break after graduation and anticipating visits from various friends and family! It’s a beautiful time of year here in Iowa when all the wildflowers are in bloom and the fields are growing lushly. It will be nice to have some time off to enjoy it and to share it with everyone who visits!

July 11th is the first day of the second summer session and I’m planning on getting a head start on the RN program by taking Microbiology. I'll get a two week break in August before Fall semester begins. It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to come back to Colorado for a visit so keep those e-mails, letters and phone calls coming or leave a comment below! I really love hearing from everyone.

Blessings of peace and harmony to all!

Spring!

Spring arrived in Iowa with the return of the redwing blackbirds that sit evenly spaced between fence posts along the roads. The robins arrived shortly after. What a joy it is to wake to their morning song. Farm machinery that has been tucked away in sheds all winter is appearing in farmyards once again. Sunny days begin to outnumber the cloudy ones. Farmers are disking their fields and the smell of newly turned earth permeates the air. Newborn calves with snow-white stockings have appeared in the pastures. With each new rainstorm, the grass turns a darker degree of green. One night was silent. The next, the pervading chorus of spring peepers filled the air. It’s a comforting sound that says, all is right with the world. Spring is really here!

School is going well, but I definitely have a case of spring fever, which makes it hard to concentrate on studies at the moment! Have been able to maintain strong B’s in both nursing classes as well as Human Growth and Development and continue to have an A in Nutrition. It was discouraging to learn that we do not have a break between spring and summer semesters. We have finals one week and begin the summer semester the next Monday. Sadly it means that I must miss a much-anticipated gathering with my Posie friends on Cape Cod in May. On a happier note, the summer semester ends June 24th with our LPN graduation! Hard to believe that this first year of nursing school is almost over. One more year to go!

On the agenda for this week are tests over the cardiovascular system, protein metabolism, and pediatric blood, lymphatic, and metabolic disorders. In nutrition, I also have a paper due on vegetarian diets and complete proteins. In Human Growth and Development, there are two projects due, one an activity book for which I am doing a Sibling preparation book aimed at 3 to 5 year olds and an adolescent obeservation paper. In Maternal Child we also have several chapters of workbook due. In addition, we are working on our third care plan which is due the following week. It's a busy week!

Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

Be still and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10

Promises of Spring

Winter Blooms

Gifts of Grace

Desktop Blooms
In clinical each week, we are assigned to a patient whom we work with for one or two days. On our patients from the last week of January, we had one week to complete a detailed nursing care plan. Nursing care plans consist of:
· A report on the pathophysiology of the condition affecting the patient,
· A bibliography,
· A complete head to toe physical assessment,
· Detailed information about the medications used,
· Detailed information about the diagnostic tests and labs done,
· 12 nursing diagnoses, and
· 4 nursing diagnoses written up with short and long term patient goals, intervention strategies and evaluations of effectiveness.
This care plan was due Thursday morning. I worked all week on it. On Wednesday night, I taught a portion of my childbirth class curriculum for a Human Growth and Development class at the college. It was hard to give up the 3 hours that I could have worked on my care plan to teach, but I put it in God’s hands to help me complete the work. I literally was up all night working on it on Wednesday. By 5:30 a.m. Thursday, I realized I couldn’t do anything else but that I had to get ready to go to clinical and that I had no choice but to print it out and turn it in, incomplete, for better or worse.

Saturday evening, the instructor called and wanted to know where the rest of it was. I explained to her that I just hadn’t been able to get it done. She asked if I knew how much it was going to hurt my grade and with what was probably a sob in my voice, I said, yes, that I did know. She was silent a moment and then said, could you get the rest of it to me by 6:00 p.m. tomorrow? I had it turned in by 2:00 p.m. The amount of time it took me to finish? Almost exactly 3 hours. God is gracious.

One of my joys is forcing hyacinths and paperwhites to bloom indoors on cold winter days. Back in October, I filled one vegetable bin of the refrigerator with hyacinth bulbs in forcing glasses. By December, the glasses were filled with pristine white roots but the tops of the bulbs showed no growth yet. By the end of January, the papery tunics form a ruffled collar around the pale yellow cones of leaves that have pushed up an inch or two. In order to provide a steady progression of blooms over the next month, every few days I bring another hyacinth out from the refrigerator and put it on my desk where I can watch it change and grow daily. Leaves turn from pasty yellow to chartreuse to deep green. Sculptural flower stalks rise, released from the protective cocoon of leaves. Each waxy bud tips outward until it springs open, spilling fragrance into the room.

Paperwhites are much easier. I simply nest the bulbs in a glass container filled with fine black gravel, add water and wait. First the white roots snake down through the gravel in every changing patterns and then green shoots begin to telescope skyward from the rich papery brown tunics. Paperwhites grow so quickly, that the growth is nearly visible to sight. When the leaves are about three inches high, the blossom sheaths begin to rise between the leaves, swelling each day. The sheath turns translucent and embryo buds can be seen within, growing, changing day by day. Now the bud sheaths are so pregnant with blossom that I anticipate being able to watch them split open any moment into bloom. Then, while occupied with something else, I hear a quiet snapping pop and look over to see infant blossoms bursting forth. What a miracle of life to be witness to.

So while my family and friends are taking February visits to places like the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Florida, Paris and Costa Rica and another is enjoying blossoming cherry trees in the San Francisco area, I have my own little Eden, my own bit of spring growing on my desktop. Such grace God gives us, to bring such joys into our lives.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thessalonians 3:16