86 days until graduation

If I go to bed exactly right now, I will get 7 hours of sleep. The problem is that I'm not tired yet. And I need more sleep or I won't function well tomorrow. But instead of sleeping right now I am doing some homework. I've vowed never to take an online team class again if there is any way to prevent it. This class is crazy. Right now I'm afraid my computer is going to delete the email I just wrote. Oh good. It just barely went through. Every time I log on to this class I feel like I am doing damage control. It is exhausting. There are 6 people in my group, and we didn't get to pick teams. We were assigned, so of course none of our schedules match up and we don't really have time to get to know each other. I really am just in a full out sprint for the finish line. For graduation. I try to plan one fun thing every weekend, just to give me something to look forward to and to motivate me to use my time wisely and get my homework done. There are so many things I would like to do and so little time. I want to read books, and catch up on Doctor Who episodes, and sleep in, and go to karate, and socialize with the YSA, and swing dance, and rock climb, and ride horses, and so many other things. But instead I sprint. 86 more days until this sprint ends. I'm already tired.

101 days until graduation!

D&C 45:62 For verily I say unto you, that great things await you;

I'm excited for graduation! And it's right around the corner! This semester I am rotating at a orthopedic surgery center. We do a lot of shoulder and knee scopes and some foot/toe surgeries. It is a nice facility and a change of pace from the hospitals. They cater lunch every day and they run things so efficiently that I frequently get out early. The people are nice. I think the hardest thing I'm dealing with is my online class. The school totally revamped the Blackboard website that all online classes are done through, and I am really not liking the changes. I used to have the whole layout memorized and now I feel like I am shooting in the dark trying to make sure I find all of the assignments and then complete them and submit them properly. The assignments themselves aren't very hard. It's time consuming and my poor slow computer isn't making the process any smoother. Of course I have seen my computer act worse. Right now it is functioning relatively awesome compared to previous experiences. Oh the life of a poor college student. I've gotten pretty good with duct tape. I actually have some duct tape on my laptop so it's outer shell doesn't fall apart. I'm looking forward to less hours working, no homework, a little financial stability, more free time, getting back to karate, and maybe picking up another hobby. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a good Thanksgiving and a good Black Friday. On Thanksgiving I slept in and then went over to my parents’ house and helped get ready for dinner. We ate our Thanksgiving Feast in the early afternoon. It was delicious thanks to Katie and my mom. Thank you Katie and Mom! Then we played games and watched movies and relaxed for the rest of the evening. We took naps in preparation for the midnight black Friday sales. I went with Katie to Target. We got there about 15 minutes before the doors opened, and the line to get in the store wrapped around the back of the building. Waiting in line would have been better, but there was this poor group of teenagers right in front of us. They were very scantily clad. Two of them were wearing cartoon socks instead of shoes. They were rocking out to some songs with very inappropriate lyrics and showing off some even less appropriate dance moves. There was a nice couple behind me and Katie that thanked us for our behavior in line. They were fun to talk to in line. They drove to this specific target because they thought the line would be shorter. They had passed by 4 other Targets on their way to this one and said this line was definitely shorter. That made me happy. They were shopping for a new TV and for some Christmas gifts for their sons. The mom is a school counselor, and I don’t remember what the dad did for a living, but they were a nice couple. We finally got into Target at about 12:15am. We went straight to the back of the store (there was a blue line marked on the floor for anyone wanting electronics). In the electronics section, we got in another line. It took about an hour for me to get to the front of the line. Every few minutes, and employee would work his way down the line announcing that another electronic item had been sold out. I was worried that we would get right up to the front, and then he would say that the netbook I wanted was all gone, but I made it just in time! There were 5 more netbooks left. I was happy. I’ve been wanting a little netbook for a couple years now, but they’ve been too far out of my price range. This one was on sale. It was a doorbuster black Friday sale. Plus, I really needed something to make sure I can finish my homework for the next five and a half months until I graduate. My poor laptop has been on its last leg for a while. Its outer shell casing is cracked, so I can’t really carry it around much, because I don’t want it to break the rest of the way and fall apart. So it is like a little desktop that is over seven years old and runs really slow and just can’t handle much. It works okay as long as I treat it soft and only do homework and don’t browse the internet too much. Now I can do my homework and browse the internet without worrying about a crash. This netbook is pretty low end as far as netbooks go. It is the basic of the basic, but it will do just fine until I get out of school. I like it. So, after we got this netbook, we headed over to Old Navy. I was going to pick up some jeans for me and a present for mom, but they were out of the thing I wanted to get mom, and the jeans were in such disarray that I couldn’t find my size. Katie found cute clothes, but the line to check out was three times the length of the store. One nice employee I ran into told us that we could put things on layaway and then just come back before the sale ended at eight to buy our stuff, so we did. There was a little bit of confusion when I asked a different employee to put it on layaway for us. She was quite outraged and claimed it was against the rules, so I apologized, and went back to the first employee. She was super friendly, and we were out of old navy by two am. Then we were going to check on the Gap outlet, but traffic was horrible. There were at least four cops directing traffic just to get into the parking lot. We pulled a u turn. We decided to sleep from three until six, and then we got up and finished shopping. The pick up went well at old navy. I found jeans that were in my size. I really want the ones that are an inch shorter in the legs, so I will maybe exchange them for the shorter ones next week. But, the ones I have now will work, and they were only fifteen dollars each. Then we went to Macy’s, the gap outlet, and hobby lobby. I didn’t get anything else, but Katie found some good deals. After shopping, I slept until the afternoon. We had waffles and hashbrowns, and rested and watched tv. It was nice and relaxing. I’m still working on getting over my cough/URI. My nose seems much better, but I have bronchitis and maybe some mild pneumonia. I am coughing up a lot of junk from my lungs. If I lay on my left side, I don’t cough as much.

For Thanksgiving I am thankful for...
My family
My job at the physical therapy clinic
The surgical tech school program I am in
Graduation is in less than 6 months
My car works
My new netbook computer
My dog
Good food
My faith

What is next?

So now that graduation is almost here, I have to decide what to do after I graduate. I have a couple ideas. I am planning on staying here in Plano. I will apply to Surg Tech jobs and take the one I think is the best for me. They are opening up a new hospital in May, so there should be plenty of places hiring right when I graduate. The previous graduating classes from our school's program have all been able to find jobs with no problem, so I really don't anticipate trouble getting a job. With my job, I will work full time. I will pay off student loans, build up some savings, and then update and replace some of my stuff that is falling apart (like my clothes and my laptop). I will probably get a car, too. One with good gas mileage. :) I will take a break from academic school work and focus on other goals I have. I want to get back to karate practice. I've only been going once a week, and I want to get back to being at the karate school like 5-6 times a week. I want to spend more time dating, too. I've been trying to spend more time with the young single adult group here, and I've gotten a couple dates, so I am making some progress. If I do all that and still have more time, I will take up some hobbies. I was recently reunited with my violin from middle school, and I can still play it pretty well on a beginner level. I would also like to learn Spanish or Japanese or sign language. After getting some work experience, I will look into going back to school. Most likely i will get into a first assist program, which is a step up from a surg tech. If I can find the right program at the right price, I might work on getting a bachelors degree. (but that was a major reason I chose to be a Surg tech, because I was going to have to pay double tuition for 4 years to get a bachelors). One thing I would consider is BYU-Hawaii. I love Hawaii, and they wouldn't charge me double tuition, and I could get a bachelors from them in under 4 years, if the academic advisor was correct. From there I could move on to a PA program or do the first assist program. I think being a Surg tech meets my wants and needs just fine. My major goals in life don't include having a stellar career. I want to be able to have a good job that meets my needs and some of my wants, but my major goal in life is having a family. So, I need to meet more guys and date more.

11.20.11

I've had a sinus infection for 17 days so far. Sometimes it isn't too bad but the last couple days have been miserable. I've been to CareNow twice. I'm on my second dose of antibiotics. First I took a Z-pack, and now I am on a strong dose of amoxacillin. I finished a pack of methylprednisone and I've had a steroid shot. I'm still miserable. Mucinex helps a little bit. Ugh.

In other news, we are making good progress on the bathroom remodeling project. The bathtub, sinks, toilet, and light fixtures are good to go. All the cabinet work has been painted. We got a new exhaust fan. We tore down the wall paper and the ceiling texture, and then retextured the walls and ceiling. We've finished painting the ceiling an the top half of the walls. The lower half of the walls are primed and ready to be painted and have the boards hooked on. It should be finished Monday hopefully. Then we need to do the floors. We already have the flooring. We just need to cut it an install it.

Thanksgiving should be fun. Everyone will be in town; Bruce, Katie, Julie, Ty, Abby, me, Daniel, and the parents. I have some shopping to do. My jeans got a hole in them so I need new ones. I have some other clothes I need too. I can't wait until next year when I will be out of school and have a steady good income so I will be able to afford the clothes I need before they break. And I will get an iPad and a new laptop and a wireless printer and a car with good gas mileage. I have a whole list written down of things I want to buy when I get out of school. I've been counting down until graduation and I have less than 6 months left in school. :)

First impressions are not everything...

Some months ago I scrubbed into a case for clinical rotations, and it was just a horribly off day for me. I was handing the surgeon all the wrong instruments, a sharp retractor snagged on my glove tearing a hole through both glove layers, and then proceeded to fly through the air and fall on the floor. So I'm contaminated and the instrument needed to be resterilized and they only had one of them, so the procedure was on hold for several minutes. As I'm changing out gloves, I accidentally touched my gown with my bare hand, so then I had to totally break out and go scrub in again... Things just kept going wrong for me. (the procedure went well, the patient was perfectly fine). But it was just a bad day for me. I felt horrible and fretted over it all weekend, replaying the day in my mind.
The next week at clinicals, I am assigned to the same surgeon doing the same procedure. I take some deep breaths and try not to panic as I approach the room. I'm expecting to get kicked out of the room and yelled at as soon as the surgeon realizes who I am, but I go in there and my preceptor introduces me to the surgeon again. He totally doesn't remember me. At all. I think he is even pronouncing my name wrong. But, since I was mildly traumatized by my shortcomings at our last encounter, I practically have the procedure memorized. I know exactly what he calls all of the instruments and exactly what he wants next and I have figured out how to pass that sharp retractor without stabbing myself. I get an amazing review for how well I'm doing, and that is how the surgeon remembered me for the rest of the semester.

6 months left until graduation!

I'm really looking forward to graduation. :) People keep asking me why I chose to be a surgical tech. I chose it for lots of reasons. I wanted a job in the medical field. I didn't want to be at a desk or sitting down all day. Surg tech has very little paperwork to complete. Nurses have hours of charting and paperwork to complete for each patient every day. Surg tech has decent hours. Most surgeries are scheduled weekday daytime surgeries. There is still some nighttime, weekend, and on call, but not too bad. As a surgical tech, I get to participate in the surgeries. I like being able to get in there with my hands on. I thought about being a doctor or a PA, but I'm ready to be out of school for a while. A year ago i was thinking about it and figured I could get a job I enjoy in only 2 years, and the cost of school would only be $3000 including tuition, books, and supplies, or... I could spend 4 years earning a bachelors at $20000 a year, and then spend 3-4 years in med school or PA school paying that huge amount, and then have internships and residencies for years, and then finally be able to get a job I want and start paying off loans. When I thought about it like that, the decision was easy. So far it has been one of my best decisions ever. I am loving it. I am amazed at what they can do in surgery.
I have touched brain, held a kidney, helped deliver a baby, remove countless gall bladders, replace knees, and so many other things.