Monday, March 28, 2011

March 28th 2011

What I learned today...

I have raised my microbiology grade a full letter from the last exam we had.
I got a B on my Nutrition Mid-term exam and my nutritional analysis report, both are worth 25% of my grade.

When one part of your life comes together, another falls apart. If it's not your mind going down the drain, it's your body.

One step in my becoming an EMT is attending training classes. Saturday the class was fire rehab. Where we watch the emergency response personnel for signs of stress and fatigue to fight preventable injuries. One of the things the EMTs did was practice taking vitals. Because I have not yet been trained I was used as a guinea pig. The most interesting part was when they could tell me which lung and which part (upper vs lower) of my lung was the affected part. According to what they heard I still have some fluid in there. Hopefully it will sort itself out in the next couple of months.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

March 22 2011

Well, spring break is over, I have been to most of my classes again. My first class, first aid and cpr was canceled on Monday. I had mixed feelings about that, one I was happy because I hurt my knee in my roller derby bout on Saturday and I am using crutches to walk since I walk so far at school, but two, I was upset cause I could have slept in later, but oh well, such is life.

What I have learned so far this week:
I passed my phlebotomy mid-term with flying colors, we will not need to draw blood in front of our instructor for the final, and this semester is my instructors last semester teaching.

In Microbiology....well, I got a higher score on my mid-term exam than the first exam. The section I thought I did better on, I didn't. I did however get a much better score on my short answer and essay questions so I am pretty happy about that. I learned that I need to find a better way than flash cards to memorize the 20 microbes assigned to us at the beginning of class.

In Nutrition, we didn't get our scores back yet for the mid-term because our instructor was out of town for medical reasons and she still had a few students who needed to take the test. In class we learned all about antioxidants, and how they work.

I also learned that the committee that reviews the applications for the respiratory program has not even met or started the process yet. When I called last month I was told to expect my letter around the end of March, now we are being told to expect them around the second week of April. This is very frustrating. I know I do not have to take any classes this summer, I will have all my pre-requirements done at the end of this semester, but I would like to know what I am going to be doing in the fall.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

March 14th 2011

My adventures in expanding my horizons.

Before we left Yuma I had flirted with the idea of taking an EMT course. Shortly after we moved to small town Illinois I went to the local community college and asked about their EMT course, cause in Arizona that's where the EMTs went, to AWC. I was told that they did not offer the course at the college and to approach my local fire department. I went down-village (cause I don't live in a town) and knocked on the fire house door. I must have come at a time when there were only firefighters there because no one there could answer my question about how to become an EMT.

Now it has been a few years and I had kind of given up on the idea and focused on becoming a respiratory therapist. Then I met an amazing woman who very quickly became an amazing friend. She introduced me to her fellow EMTs, she invited me to come along to a training meeting. On March 14th I filled out my application to become a member of the Local Fire Protection Service. If accepted I will be starting out as a driver and running calls. I won't actually work on the patient, but act as the gofer for the EMTs fetching items and helping where I can. Hopefully in the near future a class will be held and I will start the learning process to become a licensed EMT.

Thank you Goldie Rocks, for rocking my world into a direction I have been trying to find for a while.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

A project

Well, the only suggestion I have had for my blog is to write about what I learned in school today. Well, today, is Saturday, yesterday I had only one class, first aid and cpr. We practiced our rescue breathing. This past week was dedicated to mid-term exams.

This coming up week is dedicated to spring break. I have 2 assignments due the Monday we come back. One is my lab-report and the other is a report on one week of my food intake, for nutrition class.

So, I will actually have to do homework during my time off.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Gloomy

This winter just seems to drag on forever, every time we get a glimpse of spring, the gray clouds move in to ruin it.

This week is week 8 of my 16 week semester, next week is spring break. I hope the weather got the notice. I hope to find out if I am accepted to the respiratory program this month, I am skating in St Louis in 2 weeks, and I am going to be lifting a weight off my shoulders shortly...I hope.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Ok, gotta get off my butt

Well, it is now the third month of 2011, what have I accomplished? Absolutely nothing. Okay, I take it back. I have gotten into an accident, skated in my first WFTDA sanctioned bout, broken the plate on one of my skates, drawn blood successfully from a live person (not a fake arm) and passed my CPR exam with flying colors.

This year has gotten off to a very busy start. My new roller derby league has been skating in bouts about twice a month, and so I have been skating about twice a month. My endurance has improved, but I am still not up to what I would like.

As for my lung condition, I still do not have an answer. I will be returning to Madison on Tuesday and hopefully I will have some good news, or at least some news.

Well, that's about all I have to say for now, so I will let you all go. I promise I will try and update this blog more often. I need a task so that I can not get out of this blog. If you come up with any ideas shoot them my way and I will see if it is possible.