Flight Purgatory!
There have been days and flights in my life, where I have arrived to the airport a day early or a day late or missed a flight or tried to get an earlier flight from the airport. and more often than not it has always worked out. Not today, my friends, not today.
Air Canada does about 4 flights a week to Honolulu. But, they are pretty much all squished around the weekends. During the week, there is a flight on Monday, and on Thursday. When I booked my original flight to Hawaii, i thought I would be doing clinical right until the end of may. But, I was done early. So I thought "hmmmm, i should try to go to the airport on monday morning, and get an earlier flight to Hawaii. I mean, 1.5 days in Hawaii prior to my race is just NOT enough. I will be jet lagged, hot, and grumpy." and, it is annoying to not be able to fly standby anymore. it was even more annoying to have to lug my bike box back to the city (as if i am going to pay 10$ a day to store it at the airport).
But, alas. it was not to be. So, what do I have to do in the next 3 days!? Um. Nothing. Nothing at all. because I am tapering, I have a grand total of 2 hours of working out to do. and. that. is. it. honestly. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next 3 days. It is like i am in flight purgatory. not moving forward. not moving backwards. but, at least it is going to be sunny. so, I think the next 3 days will involve something like this...
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but, in other news. I finished my last day of clinical at the Royal Victoria Emergency Department. what a WONDERFUL stage. It had it's down points, but in general, i LOVED it. i loved the pace. I loved the personalities of the nurses. I loved seeing the huge diversity of people who came in. I loved being able to connect with my patients, even though it is often brief, and being able to create a more comfortable environment, in an environment which is tedious, annoying, and unpredictable.
I think the craziest thing I saw was a fellow with liver failure following a transplant. Liver transplant patients don't often live super long following surgery... and, this fellow was Y.E.L.L.O.W. i have never seen jaundice like that. nor have i seen ascites like that. unbelievable, really.
i also saw a lot of goo. goo coming out the body from tubes, from holes that are meant to be there, and holes that are not meant to me there. I saw toes which were 3 times the size of normal. i saw people who were post stomach bypass.
it was a challenging rotation, but, I felt like I learnt a lot. I actually feel like my "head to toe" assessment skills made a HUGE improvement, and (shockingly enough) learnt how useful the things we learn in class are (as in... PQRSTU and A(llergies) M(edication) P(ast medical history) L(ast meal) E(nvironment)...) for a quick medical-concern and patient history interview. I learnt hands-on skills that i have not done a lot of previously. i poked people who had little viens, i poked people with big ones.
and, on the last day, the best thing happened (twice) which really just finished my year off right. two of my patients, as I was ending the day and saying goodbye both told me something to the effect of "thank you so much, you did excellent today. Good luck with your school, because you have certainly chosen the right profession for you." and "we were a little worried this morning about having a nursing student as our main nurse. but, you are really good. thank you."
and honestly... it is those little things that are so worth it. And it is so worth it to be able to share with people (even patients. the guy who said the second commendation above had asked me earlier "Why the hell do you do this? why would you ever choose this to do?") why i love nursing. It is such an incredible privilege to do what we get to do as nurses. And, i just can't wait to begin my career.
but before then.. I have a little racing to do. And, i have a little time to spend in edmonton with the boy i like. And, i have a little trip to take to Africa.
but, you know. small things.
Air Canada does about 4 flights a week to Honolulu. But, they are pretty much all squished around the weekends. During the week, there is a flight on Monday, and on Thursday. When I booked my original flight to Hawaii, i thought I would be doing clinical right until the end of may. But, I was done early. So I thought "hmmmm, i should try to go to the airport on monday morning, and get an earlier flight to Hawaii. I mean, 1.5 days in Hawaii prior to my race is just NOT enough. I will be jet lagged, hot, and grumpy." and, it is annoying to not be able to fly standby anymore. it was even more annoying to have to lug my bike box back to the city (as if i am going to pay 10$ a day to store it at the airport).
But, alas. it was not to be. So, what do I have to do in the next 3 days!? Um. Nothing. Nothing at all. because I am tapering, I have a grand total of 2 hours of working out to do. and. that. is. it. honestly. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next 3 days. It is like i am in flight purgatory. not moving forward. not moving backwards. but, at least it is going to be sunny. so, I think the next 3 days will involve something like this...
- try to force my body onto hawaii time. meaning: go to bed late. wake up late. perhaps it will help with Jetlag.
- get a book. sit in the sun. read.
- get a book. go to a cafe. bring my journal. read. write. drink decaf.
- go to a late movie.
- buy some snacky summer food. Have a picnic in the park.
- drink water with nuun tablets.
- do yoga.
- do my taper workouts.
- talk to the boy i like on skype.
- obsess over prior Honu 70.3 race reports and race videos. read about and think about the list of things to do on friday, because it will be a busy day!
- nap.
- talk to my coach on skype, to see if these seem like good plans. pretty much, i will yield my week to what she thinks i should do!!! :)
------------------------
but, in other news. I finished my last day of clinical at the Royal Victoria Emergency Department. what a WONDERFUL stage. It had it's down points, but in general, i LOVED it. i loved the pace. I loved the personalities of the nurses. I loved seeing the huge diversity of people who came in. I loved being able to connect with my patients, even though it is often brief, and being able to create a more comfortable environment, in an environment which is tedious, annoying, and unpredictable.
I think the craziest thing I saw was a fellow with liver failure following a transplant. Liver transplant patients don't often live super long following surgery... and, this fellow was Y.E.L.L.O.W. i have never seen jaundice like that. nor have i seen ascites like that. unbelievable, really.
i also saw a lot of goo. goo coming out the body from tubes, from holes that are meant to be there, and holes that are not meant to me there. I saw toes which were 3 times the size of normal. i saw people who were post stomach bypass.
it was a challenging rotation, but, I felt like I learnt a lot. I actually feel like my "head to toe" assessment skills made a HUGE improvement, and (shockingly enough) learnt how useful the things we learn in class are (as in... PQRSTU and A(llergies) M(edication) P(ast medical history) L(ast meal) E(nvironment)...) for a quick medical-concern and patient history interview. I learnt hands-on skills that i have not done a lot of previously. i poked people who had little viens, i poked people with big ones.
and, on the last day, the best thing happened (twice) which really just finished my year off right. two of my patients, as I was ending the day and saying goodbye both told me something to the effect of "thank you so much, you did excellent today. Good luck with your school, because you have certainly chosen the right profession for you." and "we were a little worried this morning about having a nursing student as our main nurse. but, you are really good. thank you."
and honestly... it is those little things that are so worth it. And it is so worth it to be able to share with people (even patients. the guy who said the second commendation above had asked me earlier "Why the hell do you do this? why would you ever choose this to do?") why i love nursing. It is such an incredible privilege to do what we get to do as nurses. And, i just can't wait to begin my career.
but before then.. I have a little racing to do. And, i have a little time to spend in edmonton with the boy i like. And, i have a little trip to take to Africa.
but, you know. small things.
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