Today was a big day. It was my first official day at Madison College as an instructional lab planner. Honestly, it was great. I spent most of the time observing nursing students "testing out" on their foley cathetor insertion, speciman collection, and removal skills. It was fun to interact with the students and answer questions (when they weren't testing). Also high ranking in my world...I have my own desk.
Even bigger in my world, was the request this morning by Ella (she is nearly 19 months old) to sit on the potty and with immediate success. She started verbally requesting potty at diaper changes yesterday, and I don't expect it is really going to be this easy, but I wouldn't mind an easier go of it than her brother has given us.
Today was also E's first day staying a full day at preschool. He did his normal preschool class in the morning and then after care for the rest of the day. He has done after care plenty of times before, but he has never stayed a full day. He did great! He didn't want to leave when I came to pick him up. He never really naps in the after care room, so I wasn't sure what he would be like tonight, but he went to bed like a champ. I'm cautiously optimistic about tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Time flies...
Time flies when you're having fun...or when you are in over your head and always have a list of things to do that is 20-30 things longer than you can possibly accomplish at any given time.
This month has not been my favorite month of my life. It has been 3 weeks since my last blog post and that isn't because I haven't wanted to write a post, it's because I have been crazy busy with school and life. Allow me to bring you up to speed...In the time since I have last wrote I have
It's not that I haven't had any free-time, I have...but...it has been few and far between and interspersed with a lot of interruptions, and I have noticed that my usual favorite online activities, Pinterest, Facebook, and silly games like Candy Crush Saga have taken a serious decline. In fact I originally got my laptop out just so I could get on Candy Crush and "give lives" to all my friends that feed my addiction when I play, but until now I had promptly forgotten about that.
Whew! One thing done that wasn't even technically on my list. I'm also supposed to be "folding diapers" right now. I have about 9000 emails and phone messages to respond to and really all I want to be doing is sleeping...on a beach. Ahhh! Someday....
So back to the job thing because that is my big secret...
I've talked about looking on here before, but at the time I wasn't ready to go back to work or seriously looking. For a couple of years I have watched the postings for nursing instructors at the local technical college and a few other places. I've pondered it, but never really felt it was the right time. I was still lurking and watching the hospitals, particularly UW and Watertown. UW is where I used to work for nearly 5 years and Watertown, I only worked at for a few months, but they have been very generous with me and technically, I am still on a long-term leave of absence.
In December, there were no postings on the Watertown website and I wasn't ready to go back to work, but Madison Technical College had a posting for two part-time positions as a "Instructional Lab Planner-Nursing Skills Lab." All of the hours were set and posted. None of the shifts were longer than 6 hours and it seemed like something I would potentially be able to do. I thought about it, I talked about it with Geoff and my family and finally on the last day to submit applications, I took the plunge.
That was January 2nd. Since then I have had a couple interviews and obviously a job offer. My offer was actually a couple weeks ago and they wanted me to start the next week, but due to my school schedule and changing daycare days around I asked for a couple weeks. I start this Wednesday.
Then a little over a week ago my nurse manager from Watertown called. She left me a message about a position she had opening up and wondering if I would be interested. I talked and talked with Geoff. We considered every option. Watertown only. Technical college only. Both. Neither (I won't lie, we are still worried how all of this is going to affect my energy and health...and I do carry a full-time credit load for school). We talked about both jobs and my clinical rotations this summer and we stewed and stewed.
Initially, I wanted to do it all. That is always my inclination. In reality though, we both agreed this is a terrible idea. We talked more and we realized that I can't do it all. In fact, we aren't even sure I can do a 8 or 12 hour floor nursing shift once a week, much less a couple a week. At the same time, I don't want to officially leave Watertown, so I called my former manager back and decided to ask her about per diem positions (kind of like substitute teaching). She directed me to my contact in HR (they call it "Talent and Aspiration")...so I have to interject here that my nurse manager and HR contact are "the dream team." Anyone, I meant it, anyone, would have to be nuts to not want to work with for them/with them. They are sweet, intelligent, sweet, fair, sweet, ridiculously accommodating, and did I mention sweet?...So my "Talent and Aspiration" contact actually brought up the idea of 6 hour shifts instead of per diem because she already understood my concerns before I said anything. Did I mention how amazing both of these women are?!?! So in the end they talked and starting in the end of March (after I'm done with classes) I will start working 2 six hour shifts at the hospital/week for 6 weeks and then we will try increasing it.
I have summers off from the Technical College so much of my clinical time will fit in during that time, and the UW Midwives have already told me that they will work with me around my work schedule. There are a few weeks where I am going to have 2 jobs and clinicals going on and I'm not exactly sure how it is all going to work out, but I am going to have faith that it will. Also, I'm exceptionally appreciative. Almost the entire time I have been in school we have worried how we were going to balance finances with my clinical rotation and suddenly it seems to all be falling into place. I'm not sure how it will all work out, but somehow it will, and I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, I have my first big follow-up appointment in a week. It is my "3-month appointment" and the first time I see my radiation oncologist since October. Don't tell her, but I missed her a little and I'm looking forward to seeing her. This appointment is also when we discuss the plan for my follow-up scans to ensure that I am still cancer-free. I detest scans, but secretly, I am a little anxious to hear that I am still cancer-free.
Ironically, in my 3 months "off" I don't think I have made it longer than 2 or 3 weeks since I have ended up going back in. This has been endlessly frustrating to me and I can't tell you how many times I have cried, especially in the last week. I'm sick of being a patient and I'm ready to make the flip back to the "taking care of patients" side of things. I suppose this means I should actually get back to work on my homework so that I can finish these last few weeks of school. Not that I'm counting (or have the actual countdown written out in my planner) or anything, but this week begins week 8 out of 11 for this term, the last official didactic term of my masters. Three more (miserable) weeks, 4 more tests, 3 more reflections (including the one I'm procrastinating right now), and one more paper and that's it. I get to move onto the clinical portion, the "fun stuff" and then time will really fly!
This month has not been my favorite month of my life. It has been 3 weeks since my last blog post and that isn't because I haven't wanted to write a post, it's because I have been crazy busy with school and life. Allow me to bring you up to speed...In the time since I have last wrote I have
- registered E for 4K
- taken 3 tests
- written at least 2 papers
- registered for Clinical Bound in April (my one week intensive clinical training camp required before attending clinicals)
- registered for Clinicals
- arranged/discussed/negotiated (all still in progress) Clinical rotations
- had 2 background checks
- multiple immunizations
- filled out, scanned, and submitted everything but my underwear size to my school so they are ready to "legally" send me to clinicals (also, I'm sure they already know my underwear size)
- accepted a very, very part-time job as a Nursing Laboratory Instructor/Assistant at Madison Technical College
- also taken a position with Watertown Hospital
- lost my lists of things to do approximately 4,562,189,034 times
- gotten another infection/irritation courtesy of my favorite combination of surgery and radiation
- handmade Valentine's for about 40 preschoolers
- volunteered as a parent helper at preschool
- had my first experience being a parent of a child with a head wound (it was Ella...no, we don't know exactly how it happened...yes, we feel awful...and yes, she is now the proud owner of a temporary staple...and yes, we are all very over it and going to survive)
It's not that I haven't had any free-time, I have...but...it has been few and far between and interspersed with a lot of interruptions, and I have noticed that my usual favorite online activities, Pinterest, Facebook, and silly games like Candy Crush Saga have taken a serious decline. In fact I originally got my laptop out just so I could get on Candy Crush and "give lives" to all my friends that feed my addiction when I play, but until now I had promptly forgotten about that.
Whew! One thing done that wasn't even technically on my list. I'm also supposed to be "folding diapers" right now. I have about 9000 emails and phone messages to respond to and really all I want to be doing is sleeping...on a beach. Ahhh! Someday....
So back to the job thing because that is my big secret...
I've talked about looking on here before, but at the time I wasn't ready to go back to work or seriously looking. For a couple of years I have watched the postings for nursing instructors at the local technical college and a few other places. I've pondered it, but never really felt it was the right time. I was still lurking and watching the hospitals, particularly UW and Watertown. UW is where I used to work for nearly 5 years and Watertown, I only worked at for a few months, but they have been very generous with me and technically, I am still on a long-term leave of absence.
In December, there were no postings on the Watertown website and I wasn't ready to go back to work, but Madison Technical College had a posting for two part-time positions as a "Instructional Lab Planner-Nursing Skills Lab." All of the hours were set and posted. None of the shifts were longer than 6 hours and it seemed like something I would potentially be able to do. I thought about it, I talked about it with Geoff and my family and finally on the last day to submit applications, I took the plunge.
That was January 2nd. Since then I have had a couple interviews and obviously a job offer. My offer was actually a couple weeks ago and they wanted me to start the next week, but due to my school schedule and changing daycare days around I asked for a couple weeks. I start this Wednesday.
Then a little over a week ago my nurse manager from Watertown called. She left me a message about a position she had opening up and wondering if I would be interested. I talked and talked with Geoff. We considered every option. Watertown only. Technical college only. Both. Neither (I won't lie, we are still worried how all of this is going to affect my energy and health...and I do carry a full-time credit load for school). We talked about both jobs and my clinical rotations this summer and we stewed and stewed.
Initially, I wanted to do it all. That is always my inclination. In reality though, we both agreed this is a terrible idea. We talked more and we realized that I can't do it all. In fact, we aren't even sure I can do a 8 or 12 hour floor nursing shift once a week, much less a couple a week. At the same time, I don't want to officially leave Watertown, so I called my former manager back and decided to ask her about per diem positions (kind of like substitute teaching). She directed me to my contact in HR (they call it "Talent and Aspiration")...so I have to interject here that my nurse manager and HR contact are "the dream team." Anyone, I meant it, anyone, would have to be nuts to not want to work with for them/with them. They are sweet, intelligent, sweet, fair, sweet, ridiculously accommodating, and did I mention sweet?...So my "Talent and Aspiration" contact actually brought up the idea of 6 hour shifts instead of per diem because she already understood my concerns before I said anything. Did I mention how amazing both of these women are?!?! So in the end they talked and starting in the end of March (after I'm done with classes) I will start working 2 six hour shifts at the hospital/week for 6 weeks and then we will try increasing it.
I have summers off from the Technical College so much of my clinical time will fit in during that time, and the UW Midwives have already told me that they will work with me around my work schedule. There are a few weeks where I am going to have 2 jobs and clinicals going on and I'm not exactly sure how it is all going to work out, but I am going to have faith that it will. Also, I'm exceptionally appreciative. Almost the entire time I have been in school we have worried how we were going to balance finances with my clinical rotation and suddenly it seems to all be falling into place. I'm not sure how it will all work out, but somehow it will, and I'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, I have my first big follow-up appointment in a week. It is my "3-month appointment" and the first time I see my radiation oncologist since October. Don't tell her, but I missed her a little and I'm looking forward to seeing her. This appointment is also when we discuss the plan for my follow-up scans to ensure that I am still cancer-free. I detest scans, but secretly, I am a little anxious to hear that I am still cancer-free.
Ironically, in my 3 months "off" I don't think I have made it longer than 2 or 3 weeks since I have ended up going back in. This has been endlessly frustrating to me and I can't tell you how many times I have cried, especially in the last week. I'm sick of being a patient and I'm ready to make the flip back to the "taking care of patients" side of things. I suppose this means I should actually get back to work on my homework so that I can finish these last few weeks of school. Not that I'm counting (or have the actual countdown written out in my planner) or anything, but this week begins week 8 out of 11 for this term, the last official didactic term of my masters. Three more (miserable) weeks, 4 more tests, 3 more reflections (including the one I'm procrastinating right now), and one more paper and that's it. I get to move onto the clinical portion, the "fun stuff" and then time will really fly!
Monday, February 4, 2013
Outnumbered
 |
| Almost everyone...1 kid and 2 adults missing and a whole lot of 4-legged furries |
My old roommates and their families came to visit. We lived together while they were in vet school and while I did a variety of things including deciding to go back to school for nursing.
I started nursing school during their 4th and final year of vet school. I began the academic year single and intending to stay that way until I met Geoff in October...(so, I didn't make it very long with those intentions)...and they both got engaged.
When they graduated they both moved in with their fiances and I moved in with Geoff. After 4 years of living with Sara she moved to Marquette, MI which seemed like the other side of the earth to me at times. Meanwhile Shannon moved to a southern suburb of St. Paul and I to a western suburb of Minneapolis. We weren't very far away from each other, but again it seemed like the other side of the world. Nursing school, starting a career, planning weddings...We had "busy" lives and we didn't see each other very much.
In retrospect it's one of my greatest regrets from that period of my life, I should have found more time to visit Shannon because now I live a state away and we all have kids and it is never as easy as it should be to get together.
Ever since Geoff and I moved to WI 5+ years ago all of us have tried to have annual or biannual reunions. Initially we were all without kids so our visits were centered around New Years and usually a camping trip in the summer (aka drinking). Then all of us girls were pregnant at overlapping times and things became more difficult. New Years no longer had the same appeal and then camping, well camping was a challenge.
On one of our first camping trips I realized I was pregnant a day or two before the trip. Then the next one fell 2 weeks after E was born and we went (we put extensive thought into this). Sara couldn't come because she was almost due (ended up having her baby a week later) and Shannon was ending the misery of the first trimester. Needless to say our camping trip lasted less than 24 hours. It started with excessive mosquitoes and ended with a downpour. It was too miserable with a two week old, but E will always have the right to claim he is hardcore and started camping at 2 weeks old.
All of us have still managed to get together plenty of times over these past three years, but it has definitely been more challenging. Again E is the oldest of the kids and he is just over 3.5 years old. There are 6 of us adults and 7 kids. (Shannon is an overachiever and had twins).
Sara now lives about a mile from my parent's house so when I go "home" it's inevitable that I'm at Sara's house at some point and Sara has come to visit me a couple times over the last few months while I was too sick or uncomfortable to travel to her. We've had a hard time coordinating all of our schedules and I've had a hard time knowing if I was going to feel up to a traveling, so this time everyone came to us.
 |
| Most of those are ours. |
I have felt bad because our kids will never have cousins the same age that they will grow up playing with. We can't have more children so they likely won't have more siblings, but then I see all these guys together and I think these are the kids that my kids will grow up with. These are the kids that my kids will share over-embellished stories with and the line of what they "actually" remember and what they have been told so many times will become blurry.
There is something about all of us together that just feels right. Of course it is actually absolutely insane so by the end of the weekend all of the munchkins are melting down and everyone is ready to retreat back to their respective "normal" lives too.
By the time everyone left today I was exhausted and ready to crash. I wanted to get my kids back into a routine and just take it easy for the rest of the day. Maybe it's because I have a "self-reflection" assignment due for school, but I found myself reflecting on a lot of this weekend and what a blessing it really was.
I love that Ella was enthralled with "the babies." Really they aren't that much younger than her, but from the first moment I saw her with them she was instant friends.
I love that my zoo adopted an attitude of "5 more kids in our house...ya, whatever."
And finally, I love that all of this spawned day-dreaming between Geoff and I about what we want our future house to be like so we can continue to accommodate friends and family.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)