Coming soon to a blog near you...

I haven't had much to write about these past couple of weeks, just the same old work, sick kids, etc...but Melanie (aka my twin...seriously, we have more in common than you want to know about) and I are going to see Michael Buble in concert tomorrow night (hereafter referred to as "our Mikey")! We are oh so excited to hear our Mikey woo us with his soothing sexy voice, and are more than ready to swoon. Be prepared to see many, many pics posted later this week :-)

Time to celebrate!

I got into IHC's SLCC nursing program!!! As some of you know, I've been attending Provo College's nursing program since January of this year. I've been doing all the work at Provo College while waiting to hear back from slcc/ihc, and I was just about ready to give up hope of ever hearing from them. I got ready for and took my midterm exam this week, and did pretty well, so I was ok with whatever did or did not happened with slcc. So, of course I got the call from IHC saying I got into the program the day AFTER midterms! I really do like Provo College's program, but it's just sooooooo expensive. I really didn't want to have to deal with 40k in student loans by the time I graduated, that's just too much stress. Since I work for IHC, I can basically go to school at SLCC for free with their tuition reimbursement program, and I have to contract to work for IHC for 2 years after graduation, so I am basically guaranteed a job. We decided to take the kids to Pirate Island to celebrate (yeah, I wanted to go to Pirate Island, so what?), so here are some pics from last night....

Me and the kiddos at Pirate Island



Nick and Bella love to play together, but they are both SO competitive. They both want to win, and neither handles it very well when they don't. If you look closely, that puck is about to go into Bella's goal, and that was the winning shot. This was the last pic of them playing together, because shortly after taking this shot, Bella stomped away and pouted because she lost....


Here is Bella playing on her own, still not quite over the recent air hockey loss to her big brother...

Nick and Mario playing with guns, of course.


Me and my favorite little guy, Nick.

You know you had a good time when at least one of the kids looks like this as you're pulling out of the parking lot.

One moment to turn the day around...

So today, I had to face one of my weaknesses. I always feel horrible admitting it, but I have a hard time working with the geriatric population. I don't know if I just don't like facing the reality of end of life issues, or what, but it's not my comfort zone. It's pretty much the last place I want to work. I love the babies. Even when they are screaming, or dirty, or sick, to me that's their appropriate developmental stage, so it's ok. When it's someone's grandparent, it just makes me sad and I have a hard time dealing with that. So when I saw that we were going to a care center for clinicals today, I got nervous. I do so much better with wounds, incisions, stitches, staples, blood, stuff like that. But care centers, adult diapers, grown up bibs and wheelchairs....like I said, I hate to admit how uncomfortable it makes me.

It was a rough day. I helped the CNAs get the residents up to the bathroom, showered, toileted, dressed, and fed. We spent the day doing that process over and over again. Some were fantastic and funny. Others were sad and angry. A few may or may not have taken some swings at us. Rightfully so, I'd say. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be in their heads, confused and wondering why some strange girls are taking them to the bathroom and changing their clothes.

Now, to understand my next little bit of the story, you have to remember my Psych background. I'm drawn to strange and unusual behaviors. So my favorite resident of the day was one of the ladies who fought us while we got her changed and dressed, who babbled more than spoke words, and basically had to be dealt with like a one year old. It made me sad, but there was something about her that drew me in, so I paid special attention to her throughout the day. She had pretty eyes and a cute smile when she thought something was funny. Once in a while a few words would slip through her gated mind, and there would be the slightest moment of clarity. Mostly I would talk to her, and she would smile and babble and motion with her hands. She was telling me a story, which made perfect sense to her, and it was obvious that I was the one with the communication problem.

The day dragged on and on, and just as I was counting down the last 30 minutes of my shift, I decided to help my new friend up from the lunch table. She was telling some story again, and I smiled and added my two cents in, even though I doubt my part had anything to do with her story. As we sat down on the couch, I reached over and put a blanket over her lap. Her eyes twinkled, she smiled and babbled something sweet, and then leaned over and gave me a little hug and kiss on the cheek.
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I hope that sometime in the future, whenever it may be and in whatever life, I'll be able to tell her that at that moment, she made my day.