Interests and Peeves: Van Goghs 'Skull with burning cigarette" as seen by an RN

Skull with a Burning Cigarette this painting By Van Gogh links many of my interests and peeves in one painting.

INTERSTS:
Van Gogh: as a favorite artist and mental illness its presentations and treatments throughout history.

Momento Mori: ( Latin translation: remember you are mortal) as a theme in art and as a motto ( "short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle") for living and creating.

Paradox: "an anomalous juxtaposition of incongruous ideas for the sake of striking exposition or unexpected insight"

PEEVES:
Second Hand Smoke: This painting personify the injustice of secondhand smoke. according to a CDC fact sheet " An estimated 49,000 of tobacco-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure."
Smoking: (especially after its already killed you). I am not opposed the the use of the occassional tobaco product in recreation (paradoxically "restoration to health"). My Peeve with smoking has to do with the "Disparities" among those who are addicted to smoking and suffer from the myriads of related diseases. According to a 2001 CDC report in 1999 The prevalence of smoking was highest among adults living below the poverty level 33.1% and lowest among those living at or above the poverty level 23.4%. Similarly Education levels have direct correlation with smoking 34% of adults with less than high school education smoke, this number reduces to 29% with a high school education and to just 11% of adults with 16 years or more.
(Healthy people 2010)

I took my nursing Licensing exam on Monday August 31. Afterward I felt terrible, I was sure I didn't know the answers to over half the questions. Today I found out I passed and in a few weeks I should have my licenses in the mail. I am very excited and relieved. This is my I did it picture for everyone who missed the dance (no one saw it but Kevin heard it on the phone he also heard me hyperventilating and getting dizzy).

Thanks by the way for all the prayers, well wishes, and support you all have offered during this whole process. And happy birthday and anniversary and special holidays to all of you who I neglected while I studied.

I hope to usher in an era of new routines were I keep in better touch with friends, brush my teeth on a more regular basis, and cook things like corn bread, biscuits, Baba Ghanouj, and lots of things made from pumpkins or sweet potatoes. Read more books and exercise everyday. (HMM)

But first I am going to celebrate and take a few days off.

I did it!!!!

Here is a copy of the announcement I made up to send to friends and relatives.

Photos from 2cd semester's End party







I really enjoyed my second semester. I especially the people parts. Getting to know new people making new friends and hanging out with old friends. I also liked the learning parts of course.

I am starting my 3rd semester at MGH IHP today.

You can probably tell by the lack of posts that the program keeps me really busy.

I don't really know why I am bothering to post this now but maybe someday I will fill in some of the blanks in this blog. Or at least it is a record of how little time I had for blogging as a nursing student.

At the moment I am not even sure what my courses are called. I know that there are 4 of them.

ethics, policy, synthesis and OB/Peds. I guess I do know them. I have chapters and chapters to read so I guess I had better get to it.

focus on the heart

I have spent a good chunk of this week learning about the heart how it works and what happens to cause it to stop working what we can see when it isn't working and what we can do to help it stay healthy or recover when it has been sick. There is a lot to learn. It is pretty interesting once you start to piece it all together. I am still working on that but I find pictures help me allot. I wish I had taken my anatomy and physiology classes more recently, I took them over 5 years ago and so I really have to review to get a grasp on some of the basics.

Electrocardiogram


we are learning what a normal EKG looks like and what to suspect in the case of an abnormal one. The ST segment for instance should be isometric (neither elevated or depressed) if it is raised it indicates an infarction (the heart is not getting enough blood and cells are dying)
a tall pointy T wave indicates hyperkalemia (to much potasium). Learning these things makes me feel like I really am on the road to becoming a nurse.

One semester down

I finished the first semester of My Accelerated BSN at the MGH IHP! I made a little collage to commemorate the crazy summer of meeting new people making new friends and learning a lot of new and interesting (sometimes slightly disgusting stuff)

From the looks of it Nursing school is a lot of fun! I think that that is the truth of it. Its hard work but the people I work with are good to be around and that makes it all a lot better. I am looking forward to the coming semesters. Somebody remind me that I said this in 2 weeks when it all gets going again.

introduction

I thought I would keep a blog related to My adventures In the ABSN at the MGH IHP (accelerated bachelor of science in nursing at Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health professions)
I don't know what this will actually look like once the program starts up again. It might just be me reporting at Christmas that I am still alive. I completed the summer semester. It was hard but also good. I learned allot in a short amount of time more than I thought was possible when we started the program in May. In May I was sure that it was impossible. Now its the end of August and I have a semester under my belt and a little more confidence that by this time next year I will be an RN.
I guess all I have left to say right now is I will keep you posted (if time allows)