A new day, a new perspective

Sometimes just a day or two can make a world of difference, in one's outlook.

I had my first 'real' peds shift yesterday -- 'real' in the sense that I was actually assigned a patient to care for, not just a buddy shift like my first one, where I just shadowed a nurse.

I had the cutest, sweetest 4 month old baby to care for.  He cooed and gurgled and smiled at me...and it seemed that his cooing was the loudest when I was trying to ascultate his chest.  What a sweetie.

I even got to accompany a nurse and patient to the diagnostic imaging centre, where I watched a technician do an ultrasound of the head, through the fontanels.  She asked if I was a nursing student, and then proceeded to explain all the brain anatomy that we were seeing, as she did the scan.  We watched arteries pulsating, and she made the machine show arterial and venous flow.  It was surreal.  My textbook learning from anatomy/physiology classes came to life, in front of my eyes.

And even though I'm still fighting off this nasty head cold, I made myself exercise.  I love to run, but was not motivated lately, for being so busy and feeling so crappy.  So I told myself on Friday, after writing my blog post, that I was going to at least go for a walk, if not a run.  Off I went, and I actually did a short, easy run of just a few km. 

Yesterday was busy, with school work in the morning, my daughter's birthday party at noon and then an evening shift 3-11 pm...so there was no time to exercise.

But today I just finished another short run, and yes, I feel good.

Off to do some house-related stuff, and then get ready for today's evening shift.

I should also add, at one point during last night's shift, as I was ascultating the baby's chest and doing vitals, and he's full-out happily cooing and smiling and interacting with me, I thought to myself, this is my future work environment.  No, it won't always be that pleasant and wonderful, but at times, it definitely will be...and that is something I would NEVER have had in my first career. 

It felt so great.  I felt so thoroughly happy and content.  And that alone, made me realize that all the angst and worries about leaving my first career were for naught.  This was definitely the right decision and the right change.  There are sacrifices in the short term while I go to nursing school, but the long term benefits far outweigh any and all sacrifices.

Now I just need to remind myself of that the next time I'm feeling almost overwhelmed, which may be as soon as tomorrow...  Lol!

Kate