life must go on.

 This week has been a pretty crappy one looking back at it, but oh well life goes on. I don't really even know where to start so this might be all over the place but here we go. I got sick while in California last weekend and Monday I was able to feel better, but Tuesday the sinus congestion hit and didn't feel too great. Wednesday I medicated and felt alright enough to make it to my couples massage date with Jesse. haha. how romantic. It wasnt a normal massage it's actually called reflexology. It was super relaxing and honestly much needed. We then shopped around the area and did what we normally do which is spend money. 

Jesse left her glasses at my house that night and this is the picture she recieved. I sure do love hanging out with my friend/sister look a like. Thursday started my work week. I was welcomed on shift with news of being floated to the clinic for the day. We have been sending nurses to other places because since the flood we can't take enough patients right now to give a full floor of nurses something to do sooo to the ENT clinic I went. Except I did NOTHING there all day. Except be verbally harassed by the other nurse I was working alongside. I love making old ugly men feel inferior to me therefore they have to tell me all day long about how hard working and successful they are. Let's just say I feel bad for this man because even though he bullied me all day - I know its because he lives a sad life. ANYWAYS I was dyinggg to get out of that office and away from him so I took my lunch and told my bosses I refused to go back to the clinic and that I would make myself useful on the floor. They were ok with that and I ended up taking a patient out of ICU that I have really enjoyed having. I have had him the last three days and told him to request me back tomorrow haha. He's a 55 yr old who while serving in desert storm in 1991 was hit by a missile. Every other man in his truck died except him. That accident (the surgeons think) is what caused the problem he finally was able to fix this last week and the issue he has been struggling with for 20+ years. He has something called an arteriovenous malformation (I was excited to hear this because I just learned about this in school) of his inferior mesenteric artery. AVM's cause high pressure arteries to directly flow into veins which means disrupted blood flow to surrounding tissues and organs. In his case, he had dilated bowels from the congestion of blood flow which means he felt painful bloatingness almost all the time. he told me in the early years he would eat a meal and couldn't eat all week due to the excess feeling of fullness. Over the years he learned to just nibble on easy food little by little to try and fight the bloat. Over the last couple weeks I guess it really flared up and when he finally came to our ER our vascular surgeons were pretty amazed at what they saw and wanted to operate immediately. He had 38 coils placed in the AVM. The coils pretty much thrombos the area to stop the arterial blood from directly going into the venous system. He's doing really well and is eating a little bit more each day. After all these years of not eating a real meal he told me he just wants an appetite back. So it'll be a work in progress physically and mentally, but Ive really enjoyed taking care of him this week and getting to know him and his case. Work was good otherwise, just fighting a constant headache due to sinuses and probably stress and lack of sleep. 

At work I mentioned I was going to get a pumpkin smash smoothie on my way home and all my coworkers wanted in so I took a quick jaunt down the road and picked us up the goods. 

More good news before the bad: Grandma invited me to lunch on Monday! It was a treat to spend some time with her and have some delicious Benja's. We talked about her joy journal on instagram and one thing that I love about it is it reminds us each day to find joy. I think it's really easy - especially in the midst of a mundane work day or just doing school work 24/7 - to forget to find the things we are grateful for. This goes for many things in life... I think if we can have a journal or a blog or and instagram page where we can reflect on where god's hand was in our day, or the tender mercies we came across or just the things that made us happy then we will be better people for it and our lives will automatically be more full of blessings. So yes, it wasnt the greatest of weeks, but I'm grateful for a blog that I can reflect on a week full of blessings such as time with my grandma, a great patient, time with my friend and that my sickness is finally over with!

And whoops I guess I'm ending on a not so good note - well I just failed my midterm. Honestly I'm not that mad or worried about it. Just frustrated that I did study for it and maybe one or two things I studied for showed up on the test. The other 40 of 50 questions I didn't even know where I couldve found that information. Frustrating, but life goes on. I am enjoying school though. There is so much to freaking learn. Let's just say in the last four weeks we have gone over diseases in subjects such as. cancers, cardiovascular, respiratory, ENT, neurological, pain and other random things like cell cycle. And if you know anything about these things you know there is A LOT of diseases within these systems. SO I did my best but I guess my best was a 74%. lol. Just glad it's over with. Alright - decent week - got to get to bed to do it all over again tomorrow. love ya