What a week...

I started my first clinical rotation in long term care this week. After touring the facility on Tuesday I called home and cried. The place I work probably hasn't bought new furnishings since the early 80's, smelled funny, was hot and humid and had elderly residents sitting in the halls staring at the wall. It scared the bee-gee-bees out of me. I remember when Grandma started telling me not to get old and now I know why. It's scary. Of course Mom gave me a great pep talk so on Wednesday I went in determined to get it my best shot. I got paired with a PCT, and man, they work hard! I didn't get to do any "nursing" things but I got patients up and clean and dressed and comfortable. At the end of the day I helped care for a women who was aspirating. I have to say I've never felt so gross at the end of the day and I don't think I could handle it long term but it was gratifying to take care of people who needed it so desperately.

Thursday turned into a very exciting day for me. I've developed asthma since moving to Tucson, in addition to my horrible allergies, so I've been seeing an immunologist and getting allergy shots. At my first appointment I had to do this lung volume test - 3 little houses show up on a computer screen and I have to blow through a tube and try to "blow them down". The first time I did it I did well - above average lung capacity (still got a diagnosis of asthma :( ). This week I could only blow down 2 and 1/3 houses - not a good thing. I've lost about a soda can worth of lung capacity in the past 2 weeks. I also have a sinus infection. So I started on antibiotics and steroids to bring down the inflammation in my lungs. One of the steroids was an inhaler with a long-acting albuterol, which would have been good for most people but it made my heart rate uncomfortably high. So I went to clinical and couldn't breathe, couldn't walk without getting super winded, light-headed when I bent over, not to mention the pasty skin. Anyway, I got sent home to rest - and to prevent me from passing out. It all worked out okay, I got a new inhaler without albuterol and was back in clinical today. Never a dull moment with me.

Today was a pretty exciting day. Due to HIPPA rules I have no idea what I can say but today I got to complete my first assessment on a real live person and take vitals! Very exciting day for me. However, that wasn't my most important learning experience of the day. Here it is: get you colon cancer screenings. I won't gross you out with details but, please, get your colon screened.