Semester Three | Final Grades

I was in Haiti when final grades were posted. We had wireless, but it was pretty flaky and so it took multiple tries to access grades via the Blackboard app on my iPod Touch. Email was practically impossible because the outgoing email config and the local network didn't like each other. Accessing internet was a touch better, but not enough to access gmail directly. Facebook app was by far the best communication tool I had. Somehow I could upload photos via the FB app, but could not access gmail reliably. I had hoped to post something here at least once, but trying to post a coherent blog entry using my iPod Touch keyboard wasn't exactly my idea of fun.

But the good news is that I got A's on my final exams and that was enough to bump up my final course grades to A's. For both classes! Granted it was by the skin of my teeth that I got those A's, but I'm so thrilled! Starting the semester I really thought that taking two classes this semester would mean B's. It was a TOUGH semester, but I worked my butt off. And despite my low expectations for myself, the hard work paid off. A good lesson learned amid a positive outcome!

My back was a big issue in Haiti. Sleeping was pretty miserable. I think I changed what I was sleeping on 3x. Despite having slept on my air mattress here at home for the week proceeding Haiti, my back would have none of it. Doing the exercises prescribed by my chiropractor proved difficult because of space, pain and our schedule. I think it must've been my 3rd day there, in the middle of clinic, that one of the physicians on the team suggested taking a muscle relaxant. I was like "We have some???"  Wonderful. So the first one I tried was Flexeril (cyclobenzaprine). I slept great as it has a sedative side effect, but I woke up in excruciating pain. So the next morning I started taking Robaxin (methocarbamol) along with ibuprofen and that really seemed to do the trick.  My back felt remarkably good (much less pain) this past weekend since I had been on Robaxin continuously, but I'm feeling increased pain again now that I am not taking it. I was given enough to get home and have a day or so of coverage, but I decided to hold off taking it as soon as I got home and just save the few pills I have for when it's really bad (or for my chiropractic days). I am not scheduled to see my physician until mid-June (for blood work and annual TB test--for nursing school) and would prefer not to go in simply for a prescription--but I may have to. My hope is that now that I'm back in my own bed, not enduring airports/airplane seating, not hunched over textbooks that my back will be less stressed. However, unpacking is pretty unpleasant and in a couple days I will be stuck in a car for 8 hours. Yeesh.

All I know is that I NEED to get my back healthy again before fall. I simply cannot go into clinicals with my back in spasms. I also am going to focusing on dropping 20 lbs this summer, but need to be a cautious with my back. Those first few days of starting back into any new exercise regime is always a miserable experience. I'm hoping that running will actually make my back happy and not angry--but need to play it very safe. Money is tight, so I can't be hiring a trainer or coach either.

The other reality that I'm facing is that I really need to make some money this summer to refill my dwindling savings account. Someway, somehow. I have a lead on a possible day job providing care for a quadriplegic in his home but they live probably 45 minutes from my house. That's a lot of time and gas! It's not the best money as it would be at a medicare rate for a non-licensed caregiver, but it could be really great experience and something I could put on my resume. But again my priority is taking care of my back!

I will post something soon about my Haiti trip. I'm busy unpacking and putting away stuff and also need to subdue the gigantic nursing school pile on the dining room table!

One Year Down, One Year To Go

Yay! I'm done! I've officially completed my first year of nursing school! Woot! Won't know final grades until next week sometime. But Haiti will be a wonderful distraction. (Although I *think* I did pretty well).

Thankfully that random icky feeling has disappeared. Now I'm just left with my back pain. sigh.  I *should* be spending my time packing tonight, but I'm so tired and my back hurts. It's been a full day on only four hours of sleep. Walking around the house bending over to pick up stuff off the floor and move it somewhere else is not my idea of fun! Thankfully I did run a bunch of errands this evening, but I have no motivation to do any packing. I've probably got way too much stuff--but that's because I like to be prepared. But what I have to keep reminding myself is that I'm only going for a week...not a year. And if I forget something...it's not the end of the world...well okay, if I forgot my camera, I'd be pretty annoyed with myself.  

Well, to bed I go...chiropractor appt in the morning...then a full out packing mission.

Can't remember the last time I felt really icky...

Wow, I feel icky. Not exactly nauseous, but a vague discomfort in my upper abdomen and a not-quite headache. And kinda sorta, but not really, clammy or diaphoretic yet (low blood sugar?). Yesterday I switched to taking off-brand Excedrine (aspirin, caffeine, acetaminophen) for my pain--just to see if it would be better than the ibuprofen. I felt fine all day and then last night as I was studying (after 11pm), this general icky feeling came on. I went to bed about 2am after eating a dozen saltine crackers (hoping maybe I was just hungry). But I woke up with same feeling. Pain med should be long gone from my stomach by now. Hmm? Maybe I've finally done it. Maybe I've finally taken enough ibuprofen/aspirin in the last two weeks to give myself an ulcer? Lovely. Well, I guess I'll go try to hunt down some antacids and see if that makes any improvement. And no, I'm not pregnant. No chance of that. Abdominal aneurysm cross my mind but--that's only because I'm a nursing student and prone to think of all the worse-case scenarios!

I'm planning to take my LAST final exam this morning--so this is not boding well for a great performance (and I was going to get up and study a bit more this morning). *sigh*  Plus after my exam, I'm supposed to be heading off to be a standardized patient for 4 hours this afternoon. But my biggest concern is, HOW LONG is this ickyness going to hang around? My biggest concern is that I'm flying out for Haiti this weekend!

Well, I best go and pull myself together: Wash face, eat breakfast, find antacid and do quick review of the notes I didn't get to look at last night. Heck, maybe it's just gas?  :/

Hopefully a better report later.

Not in Charge

One thing about being jammed up right before leaving for Haiti, is that I am completely relying on my team leaders to figure everything out for the team. Every other time I've been on an international mission trip, I have had some sort of team leadership/administration function (Ireland and Liberia x3).

This morning I finally was looking online to see recommendations for arrival time at airport. Dulles suggests three hours for international flights, which means I need to get to leave 3-ish to get to airport for my 6am flight! Yeesh! Thankfully my sister lives only 20 minutes from the airport. However, American Airlines again suggests three hours when departing from Port-au-Prince.  So our flight is at 9ish Saturday morning. So that means getting to the airport about 6ish. Well that's all fine and dandy except we are staying in Gonavies, which I think is a 3 hour drive from PaP!  So again, it seems that I'll be headed to airport at 3AM. I'm so glad someone else is worrying about this. 

So yesterday my back felt a bit better for having gone off Allegra. But this morning I woke up and my back was BURNING!  I'm really puzzled. Does it really take several days for Allegra to leave the body, or are my nerves really just this irritated?  I have not been able to get the pain under control today with ibuprofen or Excedrine.  Last night, like the past week and a half, I have slept on my air mattress --the one going with me to Haiti. But last night I took the mattress downstairs and slept on it IN the mosquito tent. I was too tired to go upstairs to get a legitimate blanket and just grabbed a fuzzy warm lap/throw blanket. I was COLD all night long. So I'm guessing, that in the midst of trying to stay warm, I probably did not have very good sleeping posture/alignment.  So it's hard to say what exactly exacerbated things. *sigh*  And tonight I'm planning to sleep on my regular mattress/bed while my mosquito net airs out (from Permethrin treatment), so again I'm adding another "change" into the mix. This is just really frustrating. So glad to be going to chiropractor tomorrow to get stretch out again.

Okay, so I'm glad I'm not in charge of Haiti trip details...but I sure wish I could do something about my back issue. Mercy!!!!

Amberjack Is A Success!

Almost missed the UPS delivery of my Amberjack mosquito tent this evening. If I hadn't heard him drive up my street and been waiting for him at the end of my driveway, he probably would have kept driving! Apparently he couldn't find the house, even though the number is CLEARLY on the mailbox. He had given up looking for the house when he drove by (leaving) and saw me and looked at the mailbox. Something to do with our street not following odd/even numbers. Whatever...I got the tent!

PROS: It will fit in my carry-on luggage. My twinsize air mattress fits inside easily. Good price.

CONS: It's a bit more complicated to set up than the SansBug which virtually took 2 seconds (go back and look at the video I posted). The Amberjack is a lot like a regular tent and requires manhandling the shock-corded poles. And really, when was the last time you set up a regular tent in your living room? Yeesh! Those poles are kinda wicked. I think I'm going to suggest that once we arrive in Haiti, we need to set up our tents one at a time or help each other--otherwise we're going to make enemies fast by poking eyes out.

So tonight I'll be sleeping inside the tent. Tomorrow I'll take it outside and treat it with permethrin (mosquito killer) and let it air out before I pack it.

Three down and one to go!

 I feel GREAT and relaxed! Last week was so crazy with all the unexpecteds heaped on top of the pressure to take Pharm Test and Final and start prep for this morning's test. Right now, I feel like I can breathe and I'm not feeling near the same pressure. I've got 2.5 days to study for Med-Surg final and prep for Haiti. I think it's doable. My living room is my sorting and packing space for all things Haiti. I'm taking a trunk-like container (with wheels) for all the meds/supplies and it's right at 45 lbs. I'm hopeful that my personal stuff (bug tent, air mattress, snacks, clothes, fan and 8 D-cell batteries etc...) will all fit in my other checked bag and carry-on.  My bug tent is scheduled to be delivered today. And the SansBug people were really great about me returning the other one.

Last night I stopped taking my Allegra and instead took Claritin (the bottle expired in December!). My hope is that the Claritin will take over sufficiently and that I'll get the Allegra out of my system. I had considerable back pain during my test this morning, so it's just a waiting game to see when/if the back pain will dissipate. Hopefully soon! I've got appts with chiropractor on Wed and Friday, so I wanted to see if perhaps I could lessen pain before those appointments.

I think this afternoon/evening I will be setting forth a study plan for the next two days, as well as catching up on stuff that has fallen by the wayside--like LAUNDRY & dishes! Once laundry is done I can start packing! :D  I have a number of other errands I need to run [bank, gas station, library, church for documents scanning (for emergency retrieval while in Haiti), store returns, etc...], but think I will probably try to do those piecemeal around my chiro appt on Wednesday and my very full-day on Thursday (test in AM, standardized patient gig in the PM).

I know it's been the prayers of my friends and family that has enabled me to stay calm in the midst of everything. I have truly felt the Spirit's peace. Yesterday, I sent email to my prayer team and wrote:

"I am realizing this trip will be unlike my other trips, in that I won’t have spent weeks and months thinking, planning, reading about Haiti, etc…ahead of time.  It’s a unique place for me to be, as I am a planner/control freak! In some ways I feel I’m not as  “prepared” -- as I would prefer. But yet, I know all the bases are covered (even if I haven’t figured out the history, geography, and natural resources of Haiti!).  Because of this, I go with my hands empty and open and trusting the Lord to provide in my lacking. It’s actually kind of exciting and wonderful and possibly a BLESSING—even though it makes me a bit uneasy."  It's true, I have felt the Lord's supernatural hand on me these past few weeks and while my instinct is to want to be in control, I definitely am NOT in control. Back pain, car problems, storms...etc. I  can make a plan, but it doesn't mean that I'm in control. So going without knowing every single detail is kinda scary but in a sense very liberating! I'm so excited to see how God shows up in the midst of it all!  Actually, I'm half expecting my luggage not to make it...because sometimes that is how God works!

Two of us, on the Haiti team, are celebrating birthdays while in Haiti. I'm trying to be creative as to how we can uniquely celebrate. My birthday is at the beginning of the week (before we all really know each other) and then the other gal's birthday is at the end of the week. Hmm?  I've thought that water balloons would be fun and refreshing, but I'm not sure we'll have pressurized water to fill them up...maybe??

Well, off to be productive. Ur, I hope.