Today the semester opened with our semesterly (new word) Dosage Calculation Test. 10 questions. Must get at least a 90% to pass. If a person does not get at least a 90%, he or she has one opportunity to retake it. Must pass or be kicked out of the program. So went in at eight this morning to take the test. Only a couple tricky problems, but felt really good about it. Results were posted this afternoon and I got what I hope for: 100%. So far, I have not missed a dosage question yet --not on the semesterly test, nor on the lecture tests (there are usually a few on each test). Feels REALLY good. Dimensional Analysis, I tell you. That's how it's done.
After our test this morning, we split up into our clinical groups and met our clinical instructors. I really like the clinical instructor who I've been assigned to. I believe I'm going to learn a TON from her. I'm assigned to the ortho/trauma unit this semester and we will be doing patient care twice a week. This semester we are given our patient assignment the day before clinical and we have to complete/present a working care plan (too much to mention here) prior to our first clinical day. We then care for our patients. yay! After clinical we then evaluate/revise that same working care plan and then provide care again for same patient (hopefully) on the second clinical day. It's going to be a TON of work with the lecture component and clinical prep PLUS pharmacology. I really hope I can manage it all. If it proves too hard to do well at both, I can drop Pharmacology and take it during the summer. But there are a number of reasons why I'd like to have my summer free--namely my desire for a social life and the possibility to take a medical mission trip somewhere. We'll see. It's been a VERY long time since I've taken ten credit hours (oh, about 15 years!). So grateful to not be forced to work while in school. I learned today that two people in my clinical group have been and ARE working full-time! ack! How do they do it? I'm totally in awe.
For the next couple weeks I've got my standardized patient (SP) gig. I've been doing it now for a few years (a friend hooked me up when I was without a job after returning from Liberia). It has not only been a fun way to make money, but it's also a great learning experience! Every time I participate, i learn something new! And this evening, when I showed up early for training, the director of the SP program invited me to participate in a pelvic exam training session designed for 2nd year medical students this Saturday! I am sooooo excited! I guess she (the director) has gone through the training (as a non-medical person) and thought it was an amazing experience. I believe it will include both male and female pelvic exams--up close and personal, not Powerpoint, video or a dummy...this will be the real deal with real human parts! Because I'm an outside participant, I can choose if I want to just observe or if I want to actually practice the exams along with the medical students! It seems weird to say that I feel blessed for this opportunity to observe/practice pelvic exams! But I do. I probably wouldn't get this experience unless I was going through a Nurse Practitioner program or something similar. I will have an OB/maternal course/clinical my last semester, but think that this learning experience will far surpass what I'll get in our school clinical. I'm psyched!
Lately I have been counting my blessings and feeling so grateful. I am humbled by the Lord's provision and continued care for me! In no particular order, here are some of the things that I am feeling grateful for:
- A wonderful place to live rent-free!
- A generous scholarship for school!
- The luxury of not needing to work!
- Transportation that is very reliable and paid for!
- Income possibilities (seasonal job, SP gig, pet-sitting)!
- Supportive family and friends!
- Strong, healthy body!
I have been enjoying the reminder of the blessings in my life. Because it is soooo tempting to look around and think the grass is greener (husband, kids, house, dog, size 6 closet, hair/skin/nails to die for, blah, blah) in someone else's life, but what I've come to believe is that we ALL have gotten to be very talented artists. We've become really good at painting our brown, stiff weeds a pretty shade of green so that the weeds don't looks so bad and maybe even from a distance, they look like lush green grass. However, the reality is that we've ALL got brown patches and yes, in some seasons we actually do have beautiful green grass in a good bit of our yard, but in other seasons, it doesn't matter what we do, the yard is just brown and ugly. And if we can admit it...we'd notice that sometimes the weeds aren't doing so well. And we are ashamed. We live in fear that we are being compared, that we are missing out, that we have been swindled- Who took my grass seed and gave me weed seeds? So even if someone has the hubby, kids, house, size 6 closet with hair, skin and nails to die for...there's likely some brown patches they are ashamed of and trying to hide. To realize this, it's not to make ourselves feel better. It's to realize that the grass is NOT greener.
So I feel very grateful that the Lord has enabled me to see the blessings in my life! They are gifts. Undeserved gifts. But the real gift is having a grateful heart. And believe me...next week I will probably be back moaning to the Lord about my perceived lack. He is so good. Why do I doubt that? Why do I think He does not know what's best for me? And that it's always for my good. We can't see the big picture. We can't see how He's working it out for our good and His glory. I have to fight daily the notion that I know better, that I know what's best for me. But I don't. So I trust Him, or TRY to, praying that my faith will increase and I will live faithfully where He's got me.
