Life post Grenada

Well, after a crazy/busy/enlightening/fulfilling/chaotic/hot/bug-bitten 10 days on the lovely island of Grenada, I return to Regis College and pick up right where I left off except for one big difference....

I graduate in 7 weeks!

Today I am on campus for 2 classes, and then am done for the week, though I normally have clinical on Fridays I don't this week. Things are pretty status quo on the school front: case studies to write, clinical hours to do. But as each day goes by, I can't help but feel an immense sense of pride in all that I have accomplished here! As my time at Regis starts winding down, it really starts to hit you how much you have learned, how much you have changed, and how much you have grown! As undergraduate nursing majors walk into Health Services while I'm precepting, and they tell me of the trials and tribulations of 6am clinicals and crazy exams, I reflect on my own early mornings, walking in the snow to the bus stop to catch the bus to Mt. Auburn to be there by 7 to review my patients to start vitals.......... and so on!

Or the nights I was so tired I'd find myself waking up to a page stuck to my face, ink imprinted on my cheek.
Or the days I had no time to eat so I'd make myself a gourmet mishmash of pop tart ala cheeto. I highly recommend it :)
When I speak at information sessions, I see the excitement and fire in Regis's future nurse practitioner students, who ask me what advice I have for their success. "Should I work? How do you pay for it? What is a week in the life like?" It seems like just yesterday I was the one posing such questions!

Grenada only emphasized for me how much I have learned, and more, how much I truly take for granted. From seeing a hospital there, I will never again take for granted a shiny clean hospital floor, a disposible speculum or a pair of gloves that fit. Along our journeys in Grenada, we repeatedly were told how much our work and help meant to the people there. Yet the funny thing was, I felt as though I did not much at all! Here in the US, if we find a breast mass, we refer the patient for a mammogram. In Grenada, if we found a breast lump, we could only refer the woman to her doctor, who would then determine what to do next. No screening mammograms. A huge lack of many major medications. A huge amount of people without jobs, accessible health care, or even a roof over their head. Yet they are so grateful! It really is those moments when you remember what nursing is about: making the most of nothing. Giving from the heart, not always the wallet.

Well folks, it's off to class I go! Tonight we are learning about strokes, anticoagulation therapy and atrial fibrillation. :)