I can honestly say that the past few weeks have been among the toughest of my academic life (and this is not my first degree, there's been a few of those already).
There is a plague going around our nursing class. Our first exam last week seemed to have its own soundtrack -- coughing and sniffing. I haven't been this sick in years, and not be able to take any time off to recover.
Even today, after feeling exponentially better in the past few days, I still come home and need to lie down and sleep for a bit, before I can continue with my evening.
And my last complaint (for now), is that this semester is extremely morning-heavy. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. However, I can certainly get up and do morning stuff. But the fact that the days are all completely busy are killing me. In the past years, I would have at least a half day or two, to myself, to study and get work done. My only free time this term is in the evenings, and that time is not at all free as I am a mom to three busy kids. So I try to study with lots of chaos in the house, and I cannot even stay up later to study, as I have to get up way too early every morning. It is very unfortunate that I didn't get assigned to lab times later in the day. That would have made a world of difference to this student mom. It is seriously awful this semester, and I am feeling at the end of my rope, with fatigue and stress.
Thank God this is the last year of this. That is my only motivation right now to keep at it. I cannot imagine another year of this -- I must finish now. Six more months. 28 more weeks, and of those 21 are school weeks (yes, I'm counting.) I simply cannot wait to graduate in April, and leave the school craziness behind me (at least for a few years, if that NP goal is to be realized...).
Enough of a vent. Must get back to my studies and I still have a quiz to do. Oh, and then I get to wake up for the next two days at 4:45. I can hardly wait.
I have so much more to write. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll start getting my energy back and feeling more human again. I can but hope.
Kate
Showing posts with label sickness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sickness. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Friday, September 23, 2011
Am still so sick...caution...complaining/venting post...
It was a week ago last Thursday, that I sat through a full day of lectures shivering, even though I think I was wearing about 4 layers of clothing (never a good sign!!!). A few days later, the head cold emerged. By Wednesday (2 days ago) I was feeling better, but then yesterday it seemed to mutate into a chest cold. I spent most of yesterday's marathon lecture day (I really don't like Thursdays) coughing (much to the 'appreciation' of my classmates, I'm sure) and it zapped me of all energy and brain power.
Today I'm a bit better, but did NOT have the energy to even think about driving to class, and then listening attentively. OK, maybe I did think about going, but that expended and depleted my energy stores!
Luckily, very luckily, I now have friends in class, whom I can lean on for info for the missed class.For this, I am extremely grateful. Merci, merci, merci. :-)
I just want to feel like myself again.
For the first week of class, I was a bundle of nerves and excitement, given that it was the actualization of so many years of thinking about doing this and wishing it.
During the second week of classes I was mostly a shivering heap, knowing full well I was in the early phase of fighting a nasty virus.
This week I am lethargic and coughing my lungs out.
Oh yes, and on top of all this, I feel that I have fallen so far from where I wanted to be in my studies. And add to that, that my first mid-term exam is in less that two weeks...not a good feeling.
I just want to be my energetic, enthusiastic, 'normal' self again, who exercises on her treadmill most mornings, walks the dog before the kids leave for school and (mostly) meets the daily challenges head-on with energy to spare.
Here's to next week. There's always hope, that much I know!!! Here's also to a full weekend of studying, to catch up on my studies.
Today I'm a bit better, but did NOT have the energy to even think about driving to class, and then listening attentively. OK, maybe I did think about going, but that expended and depleted my energy stores!
Luckily, very luckily, I now have friends in class, whom I can lean on for info for the missed class.For this, I am extremely grateful. Merci, merci, merci. :-)
I just want to feel like myself again.
For the first week of class, I was a bundle of nerves and excitement, given that it was the actualization of so many years of thinking about doing this and wishing it.
During the second week of classes I was mostly a shivering heap, knowing full well I was in the early phase of fighting a nasty virus.
This week I am lethargic and coughing my lungs out.
Oh yes, and on top of all this, I feel that I have fallen so far from where I wanted to be in my studies. And add to that, that my first mid-term exam is in less that two weeks...not a good feeling.
I just want to be my energetic, enthusiastic, 'normal' self again, who exercises on her treadmill most mornings, walks the dog before the kids leave for school and (mostly) meets the daily challenges head-on with energy to spare.
Here's to next week. There's always hope, that much I know!!! Here's also to a full weekend of studying, to catch up on my studies.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
2 weeks down...only 94 more to go...
On Thursday it will be two complete weeks of school. It feels like about two months have passed, not just two weeks.
There have been so many new experiences and changes in these past two weeks, that my head is still reeling somewhat. I have felt such a range of emotions too, from wishing so much that I was still sitting in my safe, comfortable, familiar office, to wondering how I will ever read and learn everything I have to read and learn, and even to thinking that I'm finally, really, truly doing this! I actually am a nursing student, I am going to finish this, and I am really going to work in a hospital or clinic as a L&D nurse.
The amount of reading I've been doing has been a shock to the system. I love to read, and I did read on the bus on my daily work commute, and whenever else I found some time. Now it is a scheduled read, and not just reading for pleasure, but reading to learn and memorize. Definitely more intense reading is going on!!!
On the positive side, one thing that I was told to expect (thanks T!), and that has indeed happened, is that all the studying I have to do does not seems like a chore that grudingly needs doing. I am so enraptured with the medical stuff I am learning, after so many years of wanting to learn it, that I actually look forward to my studying time. Granted, this may not last, but for the time being, I am grateful to be able to crack open my anatomy book and start learning it for real (I say 'for real', because there have been many times over the past years that I've opened a physiology or anatomy book 'for fun', to glance over and wish I had chosen to study this for a career.) Now that time is here, and it is 'for real'.
A bit of a routine if finally developing, although I still feel far from being settled in one. I've been taking our kids to various medical and dental appointments that I had 'saved' up for when I knew I wasn't going to be at work, to save from being absent from work too much. Now it seems like that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks, and thankfully, the end of those is in sight.
The other thing keeping me from fully getting into a real routine just yet is that I am already fighting the first %^&* virus/cold of the school year, brought home by one of my kids. Our oldest is 10 years old, so I thought I'd already built up a half-decent immune system from so many years of school germs coming home, but nooooo. Dear husband and I are both battling an awful head cold, sore throat, sinus infection, absolutely no energy or appetite... Not fun at all, but I am slowly getting better. I detest being sick and having no energy. Yesterday, I was yearning for a 'sick day' from work. Alas, they don't exist right now. On the flip side, I was able to keep my youngest home from school, as she was also sick, and not feel bad for taking time off work to be home when my child is sick.
Here's to hoping everything will be back on track by next week. Now, back to the books (actually, back to the computer, as that's where most of the studying and reading happens!)
There have been so many new experiences and changes in these past two weeks, that my head is still reeling somewhat. I have felt such a range of emotions too, from wishing so much that I was still sitting in my safe, comfortable, familiar office, to wondering how I will ever read and learn everything I have to read and learn, and even to thinking that I'm finally, really, truly doing this! I actually am a nursing student, I am going to finish this, and I am really going to work in a hospital or clinic as a L&D nurse.
The amount of reading I've been doing has been a shock to the system. I love to read, and I did read on the bus on my daily work commute, and whenever else I found some time. Now it is a scheduled read, and not just reading for pleasure, but reading to learn and memorize. Definitely more intense reading is going on!!!
On the positive side, one thing that I was told to expect (thanks T!), and that has indeed happened, is that all the studying I have to do does not seems like a chore that grudingly needs doing. I am so enraptured with the medical stuff I am learning, after so many years of wanting to learn it, that I actually look forward to my studying time. Granted, this may not last, but for the time being, I am grateful to be able to crack open my anatomy book and start learning it for real (I say 'for real', because there have been many times over the past years that I've opened a physiology or anatomy book 'for fun', to glance over and wish I had chosen to study this for a career.) Now that time is here, and it is 'for real'.
A bit of a routine if finally developing, although I still feel far from being settled in one. I've been taking our kids to various medical and dental appointments that I had 'saved' up for when I knew I wasn't going to be at work, to save from being absent from work too much. Now it seems like that's what I've been doing for the past two weeks, and thankfully, the end of those is in sight.
The other thing keeping me from fully getting into a real routine just yet is that I am already fighting the first %^&* virus/cold of the school year, brought home by one of my kids. Our oldest is 10 years old, so I thought I'd already built up a half-decent immune system from so many years of school germs coming home, but nooooo. Dear husband and I are both battling an awful head cold, sore throat, sinus infection, absolutely no energy or appetite... Not fun at all, but I am slowly getting better. I detest being sick and having no energy. Yesterday, I was yearning for a 'sick day' from work. Alas, they don't exist right now. On the flip side, I was able to keep my youngest home from school, as she was also sick, and not feel bad for taking time off work to be home when my child is sick.
Here's to hoping everything will be back on track by next week. Now, back to the books (actually, back to the computer, as that's where most of the studying and reading happens!)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
The plague...
...seems to have hit our family.
This has been, I believe, a record bad year for us being sick. The strangest part has been how many sniffles, colds, coughs, fevers, ear aches, headaches, throwing up, sore throats, oh yes, I better not forget pneumonia, we've had in the spring and summer of 2011.
It used to be the month of February that I dreaded the most. In previous years, our family essentially shut down for that month, due to sickness. I remember one awful February, several years back, when dear friends from far away were driving through our city, and planned to come for an overnight visit. We were living with a particularly bad viral strain, I remember telling them, "Keep driving, and make sure your car windows are closed tight, so that we don't infect you."
Well, this summer is turning into another viral nightmare. Dear husband is battling a chest cold for almost two weeks now, youngest child is getting over pneumonia but the cough is relapsing, so we are trying to determine if it is round two of pneumonia, or asthma, our son has some gastro thing going, and so far, middle child and I are OK.
Sorry for the complaining. I know as a nurse I will be working around sick people, but also as a nurse, I want to leave the sickness behind at work, and come home to my healthy family.
Especially in the summer, when we should be enjoying and making the most of our short Canadian summer!!!
Time to repeat my parenting mantra, "This too shall pass..."
This has been, I believe, a record bad year for us being sick. The strangest part has been how many sniffles, colds, coughs, fevers, ear aches, headaches, throwing up, sore throats, oh yes, I better not forget pneumonia, we've had in the spring and summer of 2011.
It used to be the month of February that I dreaded the most. In previous years, our family essentially shut down for that month, due to sickness. I remember one awful February, several years back, when dear friends from far away were driving through our city, and planned to come for an overnight visit. We were living with a particularly bad viral strain, I remember telling them, "Keep driving, and make sure your car windows are closed tight, so that we don't infect you."
Well, this summer is turning into another viral nightmare. Dear husband is battling a chest cold for almost two weeks now, youngest child is getting over pneumonia but the cough is relapsing, so we are trying to determine if it is round two of pneumonia, or asthma, our son has some gastro thing going, and so far, middle child and I are OK.
Sorry for the complaining. I know as a nurse I will be working around sick people, but also as a nurse, I want to leave the sickness behind at work, and come home to my healthy family.
Especially in the summer, when we should be enjoying and making the most of our short Canadian summer!!!
Time to repeat my parenting mantra, "This too shall pass..."
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