Be A Great Nurse

Many people tell me that I will be a great nurse. "You are going to be great nurse!" - I often hear similar lines from my patients, my nurses, and my supervisors. My favourite so far is "here comes my super-nurse!". There are also times when I think I will be a great nurse too! 

Yet here I am, having completed my final preceptorship, wondering how I will become this great nurse that many people tell me I will eventually be. At my ESN interview awhile back, the interviewer asked me what makes a good nurse. I said, "one who cares, with knowledge and experience, makes a good nurse". 

I care.
I only have some knowledge.
I need more experience.
I am determined to be a great nurse.

To Langara Nursing Grad 2010: the end is near. Let's all be great nurses together. :) Cheers!

What are you grateful for?

Three years of nursing. Though I haven't quite seen it all, I have seen enough that I at least know how to handle some of the situations. I have an idea of what to do, how to react, how to intervene, and I am starting to know what to say. I only know very little, I don't know enough, but I know some. 

Today, a newborn baby died in our OR. After working on the baby for 1/2 hour, we did get a faint pulse at some point, but it just wasn't meant to be in the end. 

What do you say to the parents after, who spent an hour with us at PACU? How do you ask the typical questions of "how are you feeling?", "you feeling alright there?", "any pain?", "you feel ready to go up to the ward?"... etc. I was at lost of words. And I wonder how I will ever learn to handle such situations. 

I am grateful that I was born healthy. What are you grateful for?

Passion for Life

I love watching So You Think You Can Dance. It is not only because I love watching dance shows, but also because it inspires me to watch people doing something with such passion and dedication. I often forget what it is like to have such love and passion for something. I have missed that feeling. 

I find it inspiring. When I look at the dancers, that's who they are, that's all they have. Everything they have in life, they have put it all into dancing, because they love it that much. Or when I listen to their stories, their lives have been completely turned around because they got into dancing, and they love it that much.

Life is short, and to be able to find one thing that you absolutely love is difficult. Not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to find that one thing. I found it, then had to leave it behind. I loved being in cadets. During the 7 years, "being a cadet" was all that mattered to me. It was where I built my confidence, it was where I discovered myself, it was where I grew up, it was where I learned many life lessons. If I wasn't a cadet, I wouldn't know who I was or who I would become. Yet, life moves on, and I had to too. After leaving cadets, I have not found anything else I am equally passionate about. I have tried to get involved in different organizations, joining different classes, learning or doing different things. 

I still have not found the same passion, but I will keep looking because that passion is needed to make life meaningful and to live life to the fullest. Where is your passion?

Christmas

Christmas is probably my favourite festival. If Christmas happens in the summer season, I would like it more. Well, I guess that happens in Australia. 

I love shopping for presents for people. I love wrapping lots of presents. I love getting presents. I love Christmas trees and Christmas lights. I love gathering with friends, parties after parties. 

I also love my friends, though Christmas or not :)

and many more...... 

I can't imagine what the last three years would have been like without these and many more people. Here I have met some of the most amazing, supportive, and fun people... and probably some of the best friends I will ever meet. 

Snow is Here

So it is finally here. All day today, similar to every Winter season, I dread for the snow to come. I wake up every morning, peak through the blinds hoping not to see any of those crazy white fluffy things on rooftops and tree branches. 

Many people know I don't like snow, but hardly anyone knows how much I really don't like snow. It's almost like... how much I don't like ketchup, but it's also a little different. I feel like snow debilitates me. It's an awkward feeling. It is always so cold and so wet when there is snow. I can't drive with full confidence without having to be extra careful of other crazy drivers. I can't even walk properly without fear of ridiculing myself by slipping and landing on my butt. Or worse, face.

Tonight, I had my first drive on fresh snow. From what I remember, in previous years, I would drive after it has finished snowing and after the snow is more or less gone. When I turned out onto the "big road" tonight, I lost control of my car, and did a half circle one way, and half circle another way. My car hit the curb then stopped making half circles. Luckily, there were no cars around me. 

It was a very insecure feeling to lose control of my car and had every possible consequence flashed through my head, especially when I saw a car slowly approaching my way. Eek.

I learned my lesson tonight. I am not afraid to drive in snow again, but I will drive slow. REAL slow.