Stroke of Insight - Jill Bolte Taylor

It's been a while since I've posted - my apologies. However right now I'm in the throes of winding up my quarter. I can't believe that finals are two weeks away! ACK!

I'm up to my eyeballs in studying but wanted to bring you this powerful video. I was doing some research on neurological stuff, partly because that's our next area of coverage in patho class and partly because I had the opportunity to spend time with a young woman who recently suffered a stroke. Her progress has been amazing and I am honored to have spent time with her, laughing, joking and talking.

Anyway, a nursing forum I frequent led me to a site called TED: Ideas Worth Spreading. There is a video of a talk given by a neurological researcher who suffered a stroke in her late 30s. She recounts her experience and really details the loss of function in her brain and her levels of awareness through the entire ordeal.

It's worth eating your lunch at the computer to watch this one!

Validation

The other day I was at Panera enjoying some chicken noodle soup and working on my preschool paper for nursing. I was stopped by two women who noticed that I was wearing my nursing sweatshirt.

They proceeded to congratulate me on getting into school and for choosing nursing as my profession. It was a mother (probably in her 70s) and a daughter (probably in her 50s) and they had nothing but praise for nurses. The daughter is trying to convince her two children to go into nursing as well

They wanted to know where I went to school, what specialty area I was interested in, what I thought about the process of getting into school. It was so validating to have two complete strangers sing your praises and tell you that you were doing something noble. Talk about an ego boost! I thanked them both sincerely and wished them luck on convincing the next generation to move into this field as well.

Odds-n-Ends

First off - phew! I had my very first nursing school exam last week. It was in Pathophysiology (the study of diseases) and covered cardiac and respiratory diseases. I was terribly anxious going into the exam. I had no idea what to expect because everyone has been talking about how to answer "nursing questions". The idea that more than one answer may be right but you have to pick the option that is the MOST right or the BEST answer.

I'm very happy to report that I scored an 89.23%! Woo hoo! I am also happy to report that is only 0.77% away from being an A grade. What that means is that I can easily boost myself up to an A for the next exam. I found a great study method that really seemed to work for me. I use concept maps to outline each disease separately. It covers their eitology, pathology, signs & symptoms, dangers, diagnostic tests and treatments in a visual manner. Here is a sample of one that I did:
It's a bit hard to see the specifics but you can get the general drift. Pretty neat, huh? Thanks to Miss Emilie for linking me to this great free software!

Now my only problem will be to keep up with doing this on a weekly basis instead of waiting for the two days before the next exam. I know with this method of focusing on the diseases I will be able to do great in this class, as long as I don't procrastinate and wait until the last minute. Uh oh! That's going to be a big challenge for me!

In other news, I played Rock Band for the first time this weekend and it totally kicked ass! I love it. It's my new favorite game! I'm going to have to scheme a way for us to get a playstation 3 and Rock Band soon! Maybe prices will drop after Christmas?

I also got to do some knitting this weekend (thanks wildtomato!) and finally got started on my socks. Yes, the socks I was going to learn to knit over the summer. Since the weather has been so nice here lately (until today) does it count that I'm learning during an indian summer?!? It will be so nice to have a small project to take with me during my l-o-n-g commute to school and a great way to decompress on demand.

Lastly, here is a picture of me from my first day of school. Matty had some issues with getting a picture but this is what we've got! I messed around with the color and jacked up the picture because my face was completely washed out by the flash.


Oh, truly lastly, we joined the local climbing gym Planet Granite in the Presidio. They have workout machines, yoga classes and of course, climbing walls. I'm going to take the belay class in the next few days (Matty already took it) so we can have some fun together!

Blerk!

Wow! This nursing school stuff is pretty intense. I'm loving it. I'm frustrated. I'm overwhelmed. I'm excited. It's a whole new world out there. And I'm part of it!

First Hypochondrical Moment

For years I've read about nursing students and their tendecies to come down with every disease they happen to be studying at the time. It's only my second week of school and I've already been down that path!

In my pathophysiology class we're studying the cardiovascular system. In reading about blood and circulation and heart disease, it is enevitable that cholesterol and lipids (fats) gets drawn into the mix. Once of the signs and symptoms for coronary artery diesease (CAD) is dyslipidemia. Dyslipidemia is an abnormally (high) concentration of lipoproteins. A high concentration of lipoproteins is a modifiable risk factor for atherosclerosis (clogged arteries). One of the signs of dyslipidemia is the presence of xanthelasma, especially on the eyelids.

That got me worrying. See, I have this weird little growth on my lower eyelid. It doesn't affect my sight and the eye doctor told me it's nothing, not even a blocked tear duct. So as I'm reading about CAD and about the risk factors I come across genetic predisposition (paternal grandfather died of stroke, paternal uncle had a quadruple bypass at age 55, father had a quintuple bypass at age 53), diabetes (paternal uncle and father both diabetic) and the presence of dyslipidemia and xanthelasma. Ding ding ding!!! I figured we had a winner. I know I'm a woman, and in my early 30's but I was pretty convinced that I was going to keel over from a myocardial infarction (that's heart attack to you non-medical type) walking from the library to the classroom.

So I did a quick google image search on xanthelasma. Turns out I was jumping the gun. Here is what xanthelasma looks like:

Pretty nasty if you ask me. And fortunately nothing like what I've got on the rim of my lower eyelid.

Phew! That's one major disease down. Only 48,200,357 more to slog through!

School Daze

So today is my very first day of school, real school. Not the school I've been doing for the past 3 years. That school was evening school, squeezed around my work schedule and plodded through one course at a time.

This is different. It's all school, all the time. I'm sitting in the library on campus right now trying to absorb the culture. It's been a long time since I've really been on campus, using the library, checking out the student union (hey- they have 2!), reading all of the posted fliers announcing this or that activity.

But I'm a commuter. No living on campus, rolling out of bed 5 minutes before class and dashing to my seat in my sweats. No hopping in the car with all my gear and driving 5 (maybe 10 in traffic) minutes to work, parking for free in the Fort Mason lot and skipping over to Safeway or Chestnut street for work. This morning I packed my bag with my computer and power cord (I'm going to try taking notes with it), a book I need to do some reading in, a pleasure reading book, lunch fixings (student budget you know!), personal gear and some extra bags. I waited for the bus, smashed in the aisle with my 20 lb. bag and careened down to the BART station. There I just missed the train I was shooting for. Had I realized that I didn't need to walk all the way across the station to go downstairs I would have made it just fine. But I took the next train and headed to the east bay. Got off the BART and got in line for the free shuttle to campus.

Totally different world for me. I've made a pretty conscious habit of not commuting for the past 8 or 9 years. I've typically lived within 5 miles of my work. And I so love my car that even on days when I could have take the bus, I still drove. A 10 minute car ride was a much better option that a 40 minute bus trip! Now I'm reversing that. I could drive to school in less time than it takes to use public transit. But even with all the standing, swaying and missing trains by "that much" I think I can get used to this.

If it's going to be a whole new world I may as well embrace it fully, with open arms, a giant school bag and a smile on my face to mask the sheer terror!

First day of school picture will follow soon!

Kitty Drive-by

Just a couple of pics I snapped yesterday while taking a break from a monster cleaning/organization task. Phew!

Sleeping Oscar

Long arm of the paw

Snoozing Goblin (a rarity)

Extreme close-up!

Tired of the paprazza!