I am...

I am the sister who takes no prisoners and the deputy sister who calls it as it is.
I am the nurse who stopped me from walking out and the one who would have let me go.
I am the patient who is walking out smiling...
And the empty bed with a crying family.
I am the test I couldn't pass and the party when I finally did.
I am breakfast at McDonald's after the night shift and start of the shift coffee.
I am those who have taught me and those I have taught.
I am my reflections on practice and the war stories we trade in placement.
I am sim man and the real patients who let me practice on them.
I am the medbloggers who let me see their daily lives online.
I am the placements that have gone before.
But more importantly the final placement and all the staff who work there.
I am who I am because of everything.

(I am an idea entirely taken from this series of Orange ads)

Edit: This was based on my *other* final placement. I may have to rewrite it in light of my *real* final placement. - WB 27/04/2009

Another Meme But...

... I was coerced into it!

You have now entered into a legally binding contract http://tinyurl.com/8ohuop hope you don't mind ;)

Have I mentioned before how much I love these things? Anyway tagged by Mark Hawker. I now have the dubious pleasure of finding another 7 things what you guys don't know about me.

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

We have been down this road before my friends.... First check out the meme posts that have gone before. Back when I passed the 1,000 visitor mark I handed out 100 things about me and granted I padded a few of them out because I started losing the will to live at about the 40 mark.

Some how I've started to think there are not enough things about me to fill another meme. I will try to explain a few things...

1. Back in high school I chose subjects to allow me to go on and do architecture - art, physics, maths and graphic communication. I really don't know where this idea came from. When it came down to accepting an offer from universities I rejected architecture and took physics, planning to become a physics teacher. I had a fantastic physics teacher back in high school which slightly explains this choice. I dropped out of the physics course and bummed about for a bit, during this time I applied for midwifery, although I finally got a place on an adult nursing course.

2. During all this bumming about I did go to camp and I went horse riding in PJs. That is one of my 3 favourite pictures from camp. And now I'm just teasing you all because I won't post it. It was there where I first came out of the closet too and people wonder why I want to go back there... it was the best time of my life so far.

3. I've been a gamer since I was little, well 5. That is not unusual now but was back then and certainly for girls. We had this stupid little hand held game, Mini Munchman, a bit like Pac Man and my brother held the high score till I asked him what HHH meant. The score counter only had 3 digits and after 999 there was only one way to go, HHH. At 5 I had gotten the highest score ever on that little thing. I still have it. (Mine has less scratches though.)

4. I currently have 4 as yet unfinished short stories. 2 Voyager fan fictions (1 is over 13,000 words) , a Doctor Who fan fiction, a romance (ish) short story and an apocalypse (esque) short story (which may turn into a novel length). I do love writing but I am cack at it, and a rarely finish what I start. Much like my art work.

5. I really love nursing and corny as it sounds I feel I've found the right job this time.

6. I keep a journal on top of the blog...

7. I HAVE NO MORE INTERESTING FACTS!

3 Day Week

Tomorrow I have Immediate Life Support (ILS) training. I've not read the book yet... well I've read bits of it like airway support. And it's a study day on Friday so it's a THREE DAY WEEK!
So what will I do with all this free time? Well finish this damn essay I'm supposed to have finished for Friday.
Hmmm I've only 1,800 words left to go. It cannot be that hard surely? I've already spent a whole day getting the sum total of no where. I will have something written for Friday but what I don't know. Might just splice in a little bit of my Star Trek Voyager fan fiction and see if they notice the difference. I mean how many of them actually have the time to read whole essays when there are 150 of them still to be marked? Wonder if I would get away with that... it's not plagiarism because I wrote them myself but of course to has feck all to do with the subject of nursing. Oh except the bit I set in Sickbay... I complain that I can't write anything at all but then I have a 13,000 word fan fic sitting on my hard drive. It's not finished though and the battle scene needs a lot of work.

I Wanna Be A Staff Nurse

What is better than listening to Nickelback's Rockstar?


Changing the words to meet your own ends!!!!!

I'm through with studyin’ for tests that we’ll never pass
It's like the bottom of the vial and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be

(Tell me watchya want)

I want a brand new job or an episode of House
And a bathroom that I can relax in
With a king size tub big enough for wine plus me

(Tell me watchya need)

I'll need a credit card that's got no limit
And a big handsome doc or an experienced nurse
Gonna get an STD at thirty-seven thousand feet

(Been there, done that)

I want a new dressing kit full of sterile swabs
My own fob watch and a locker key
Somewhere there must be a job
with money and benefits for me

(So how you gonna do it)

I'm gonna trade this life for bedpans and pain
I'd even cut my nails and change my name

'Cause we all just wanna be big staff nurses
And live in terraced houses driving clapped out cars
The docs come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we have no time to eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest wards
In the ICU with the management
Every good consultant’s gonna wind up there
Every screaming patient with their allergies and well
Hey hey I wanna be a staff nurse
Hey hey I wanna be a staff nurse

I wanna be great like Florence but without the dresses
With no body guards to beat up the assholes
Run a couple IVs so I can eat my meals guilt free

(I'll have the quesadilla, haha)

I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the surgical department
Gonna date a consultant that loves to
Earn some money for me

(So how you gonna do it)

I'm gonna trade this life for bedpans and pain
I'd even cut my nails and change my name

'Cause we all just wanna be big staff nurses
And live in terraced houses driving clapped out cars
The docs come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we have no time to eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest wards
In the ICU with the management
Every good consultant’s gonna wind up there
Every screaming patient with their allergies
And we'll hide out in the treatment rooms
With the latest Nursing standard and today's NT
They'll get you a pay cut with that evil smile
Everybody's got a Pharmacist on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a staff nurse

I'm gonna take ma place on the register
Gonna pop their pills from a pez dispenser

I'll get tired out students writing all my notes
Check ‘em every night so they don't get 'em wrong

'Cause we all just wanna be big staff nurses
And live in terraced houses driving clapped out cars
The docs come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny 'cause we have no time to eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest wards
In the ICU with the management
Every good consultant’s gonna wind up there
Every screaming patient with their allergies
And we'll hide out in the treatment rooms
With the latest Nursing standard and today's NT
They'll get you a pay cut with that evil smile
Everybody's got a Pharmacist on speed dial
Hey hey I wanna be a staff nurse
Hey hey I wanna be a staff nurse

P.S. The changes to the words are mine but the song and original lyrics are not!

Twas The Week Before Christmas

Twas the week before Christmas,
When all through the college,
Not a lecturer was there,
Not even Sim Man,

The tree had been decorated,
While no one could see it,
With eight feet of green pine,
And so many lights,

The students had gone this way and that,
Results sprinkled with care,
Over the internet were passed,
Both good, bad and indifferent,

For some Christmas would be merry,
While others would face trauma,
The endless rewrites of essays,
Of corrections and mistakes,

Their fingers all calloused,
Worn down to the bone,
Suffering the stress,
And avoiding dry turkey,

The greatest present of all,
Santa could leave under the tree,
Would be an essay of quality,
Earning an A from all teachers,

So Christmas came to pass,
They were heard to proclaim,
“Merry Christmas? Bah Humbug!”
From all nursing students.

Trapped Inside / Nightshift

Trapped Inside
Help me escape from the never ending pain,
Take me away to a world without care,
Let me leave this caged existance,
Free me to be who I once was.

Nightshift
She hurries onwards through the night,
Never stopping, always moving,
Her list of tasks never shortening,
The endless night, the endless work.

Hold Me

Hold me in your arms and tell me you love me,
Hold me in your arms and tell me that you care,
Hold me in your arms and tell me the truth,
Hold me in your arms and lie to me if the truth will hurt,
Hold me in your arms and whisper worthless nothings,
Hold me in your arms and shield me from this pain,
Hold me in your arms and share your strength with me,
Hold me.