Rundown of my week...

Sunday: Worked in the PICU as my required holiday. Not happy because life goes on without me-Has goes to VA for a BBQ. I was the charge nurse and facilitated patient transfers and discharges...so many patients that we went from needing 8 nurses during the day to 5 nurses for the night.

Monday (Labor Day): Slept in. French toast for breakfast! Has and I packed up our bikes and went biking along the NCR Trail in Hunt Valley. This convereted trail was an old railroad track that extended from PA to MD over a total of 2o-something miles and located along a shallow riverside. Popular with hikers, bikers, canoers, water-tubers, and marathon runners because of it's flat terrains. We bike a total of 16 miles (not bad)! Beautiful day and ate an early dinner at Chipotle!

Tuesday: Second week of classes...all day with no lunch and study group afterwards. Still haven't paid my school bill. Rode Baltimore's METRO system and held my breath because it smelled bad and the trip in general made me nauseous. But it was worth saving the gas.

Wednesday (First day of clinical at Loyola College): 10 minutes late because of stupid Charles Street! This semester I will be the student Family Nurse Practitioner at Loyola's Student Health Center. VERY laid back environment and handled various appointment from panic attack to UTIs. Interesting fact #1: Because Loyola is a Catholic university, we are not allowed to prescribe ANY form of birth control including pills or condoms. Interesting fact #2: Loyola is one of Maryland's largest drinking schools and associated with the University of Notre Dame, an all-women's college with a large lesbian and pregnant population. Hmmmmm.....

Thursday: Study day (yuk). Published my blog about "As Seen on TV" products (yeah!). Went to Hopkins Hospital for the Camp All-Stars orientation for Sept 24-25th. This overnight camp is free to pediatric patients from Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland Pediatric Nephrology (kidney) Department. All of these kids have some form of kidney failure, some with kidney transplants, and others on home dialysis. I will be a camp counselor with my own group of kids. Our goal for the weekend is make sure they forget their chronic illness, make new friends, and experience a "typical" camp environment. I'm SO siked!!!!!

Friday (Clinical at Dr. Lazar's family practice): MUCH different environment than Loyola...saw a whirlwind of patients that were scheduled and double-booked, ate a free lunch sponsored by Pravachol, and wondered if a patient I saw had a boob-job. They were REALLY perky!

Saturday (my plan): Sleep in. Work on my senior paper. Read my assigned readings for this week. Work on a lecture about pediatric respiratory diseases (epiglottitis, tracheomalacia, and viral croup). Then, maybe go to a "Body Shop" party at my friend's house...depending if I get all the previously mentioned done before 4pm!