Annoying Day

2 weeks ago this coming Thursday I burnt the back of my hand on the oven door. It didn't hurt when it happened and it only turned brown for a few days. But then it started to blister and scab over and overall looks pretty gross. It hasn't been a problem until today. I was signing in at the hospital when some girl looked at my hand and said you can't scrub in. And I was just like oh yeah thinking she was just like oh that has to hurt to scrub in. She said no you can't scrub in and I said well I've been scrubbing in for a week. She then plays the power card. "Well they shouldn't let you. You have an open wound. I'm the manager and I say you can't scrub in." Great. So I go to the OR and wait for my preceptor who I tell apparently I'm not allowed to scrub in. He says yeah right you're scrubbing in. So I scrubbed in on the first two cases and apparently while we were talking to the next patient this "manager" came into the OR and found out that I have been scrubbing in and told the circulating nurse that I'm not allowed to scrub in. So when we get back to the OR the circulating nurse tells my preceptor that I'm not allowed to scrub in. So he then goes to talk to this "manager" and comes back saying, "I can't fight for you anymore". He came back really annoyed about the whole situation. His argument is that if he hurts his hand in any way then he's technically on disability if he can't scrub in- since it's his job! Plus when I scrubbed in today I put a piece of medical tape over it and my gown goes up to my knuckles with my gloves over that so it's really not a big deal. The scrub nurse told me that she has had doctors scrub in that have had stitches in their hands. To make matters worse the circulating nurse comes up to me in the middle of the next case and I can tell she's trying to make things ok until she says "Well maybe if you wouldn't have been scrubbing in for a week it would have healed quicker". Do you really think that's helping the situation? This is just one example of problems I have had with people thinking that I'm too young to be graduating in May. Ok- maybe that's not directly related to this situation but it's hard to separate the two when you get a lot of attitude at times. So at the end of the day my preceptor told me to try putting makeup over it otherwise I have to observe tomorrow. Ugh. Of course I had to burn my hand before my surgery rotation. Any other rotation it wouldn't be a big deal. We'll see how tomorrow goes!!

P.S. Do you think I used the words scrub, scrubbed, and scrubbing enough??

Saying Goodbye Is Hard To Do

Well, Christina is currently on her way to Georgia. She graduated this month and is moving back home. Christina and I were roommates with Laura freshman year and we had a blast. We were also roommates Sophomore year which most of these pictures are from. I have a lot more incriminating pictures, but I thought these would do. We're already planning her trip to visit Michelle and I in Wisconsin! And of course, I'm planning a trip to Georgia sometime after I graduate in May! Can't wait!

Christina, Michelle, and I went to a Colts game with our unit Sophomore year. We went to Meijer the night before and bought matching shirts to wear. We were precious. :-)

This is the more classic Christina that I know!! I'm going to miss her!!

The last two nights we hung out together and it consisted of a lot of reminiscing. Everybody is slowly moving away and getting their own lives. I'm not enjoying it. :-(

See you soon Christina!

Justified Nerves

Well now that my first day is over and the embarrassment has passed I think I can now blog about it. So I got to St. Vincent and was shuffled around from person to person until finally I was taken to the right OR and just waited for my preceptor to show up. I finally went up to this guy that looked liked my preceptor from a picture I saw and it was in fact him. I introduced myself to him saying I'm Hannah a PA student from Butler. He goes, "Nobody told me I had a student!". Ugh. This is exactly why I hate first days. So I scrubed in and was all ready for the first surgery. It was a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Basically cutting out the gallbladder through 4 tiny little holes in the abdomen. VERY little blood is lost and you watch everything through a monitor. Everything was going very well and then...well there's a little bit of time that I don't remember. Yep, I passed out. But I didn't fall to the ground. Instead I froze in place. They kind of had to tip me back into a chair and they put a cold washcloth on my neck. I was fine again within 5 minutes, but it was all very strange. I've scrubbed in on and watched surgeries before and have never had a problem. Anyway, my preceptor is awesome and was just laughing about it. The story has now become that I was intubated and CPR was done for 15 minutes. During the second surgery I was doing fine until about half way through I started feeling really weird and told them I think I needed to sit down. The good thing about actually passing out once is that whenever you say you don't feel good everybody will always believe you from now on. So once I said that everybody rushed to me and I was totally fine. I just didn't want to pass out again cause who knows if my preceptor would ever let me scrub in again if I'm not able to tell him when I'm going to faint. It's definitely something to remember years later! And I've made it through 9 surgeries since then with no problems! Although anytime I move my preceptor asks me if I'm ok. He told me that I make him nervous when I move like I'm going to pass out again or something. But I do appreciate that he is concerned!

Well that was my first day! I also figured out my schedule for the holidays and it turns out I'm going to get the 23rd through the 27th off and then the 30th through the 3rd. Woohoo! Can't wait!

New Rotation

I always hate starting a new rotation. It's like starting a new job every 6 weeks. You don't know what they expect of you or what you're supposed to do or where you're supposed to go. Ugh. Today I called to find out what time and where I'm supposed to be tomorrow and all she said was St. Vincent, Pavillion B, 8 am.

Questions going through my head: 1) Where is Pavillion B? I tried to ask her this but she told me to go through the front entrance and turn left. As far as I know if you turn left going into the main entrance you are going outside. 2) Am I supposed to already be in scrubs when I get there? 3) Am I supposed to just scrub in right away when I get there?

I know I worry too much. This is an obvious statement. It's just so nerve-racking! I thought I was going to find out a lot more about my schedule when I called today, but this woman just wanted to get me off the phone. Hopefully I'll know more about my schedule after tomorrow.

This weekend was filled with the usual end-of-rotation-trying-to-get-things-done. I did a ton of errands and finished my Christmas shopping except for one person. Heather Braun. I've already told my mom to be on the look-out/listening for any hints from Heather once she's home. Heather-what do you want???

Old Pictures, New Phone

Last night I was going through some old pictures and found the following sequence of Heather and I. We were at a Brewer's game a couple of summers ago in the highest section of seats, but still had fun. I think it may have been the first summer Ryan Braun was playing for the Brewers. We both decided we should take kinship to him to get better seats :-). Anyway, I love these pictures. They make me smile.

Everyone always says we look so much alike. Which I agree we do. But we have very different tongues.

In other news I have a new phone! [Insert "charge" note tones] AN iPHONE! At first I didn't want it. My other phone broke and it was right when I got back to Indy from Thanksgiving and crunch time for studying for the rotation test. I went to AT&T and they told me they couldn't fix my phone. I still needed a smartphone for a medical program I use daily, which the guy at the store told me that for any smartphone I have to buy the data plan. At which point he told me that the iPhone was the best way to go. I then asked the guy if a hard or soft case would be better and he then said "Both!" I should have never asked that question...He showed me this case that was very bulky and told me that he had a guy come in saying that he ran over the phone in this case with his truck and it didn't break. I've never really had any problems with phones. Never dropped them in water, or dropped them too many times they've broke, or ran over them, or stepped on them. So this was not even a thought going through my head, but having a very nice sleek phone made me almost consider this case. Until he told me it was $80. Yeah right. I do not need a case that can withstand me running over it with my car. I'm loving the phone more and more everyday.

Update (Finally!)

I am done with my 5th rotation!!! We had our test on Thursday and then a practice board exam on Friday and I'm done!! Woohoo!!! My next rotation is Surgery which I think will be a really good one. I've talked to someone in my class that had the same rotation and they really liked it! And Christmas is 2 weeks away which is even better!

I had my vacation at the beginning of this vacation. I went to Phoenix and Minnesota. Phoenix was so much fun visiting Holly and Tony. The weather was amazing! Holly and I went on 2 hikes while I was there. We were very proud of ourselves for actually doing some exercise while we were there!

This picture is Holly and I at Holly and Tony's house! It's such a cute house with a GREAT backyard! Unfortunately there wasn't any swimming done while I was there (although I did take my swimming suit). The water was just too cold.

Now onto my trip up to Minnesota with Paige to visit Laura!! Paige took the bus to Milwaukee and got to know a very interesting guy on the bus named Rodney. I told her the bus is something everybody should experience at some point in their life! Then on Friday we drove up to Minnesota. It was so good to see Laura and her little life in the big city! She has a VERY cute apartment which she has decorated to be very "Laura". On Saturday we walked around the city for a while. Laura took us to this park with all these sculptures etc and we found the famous spoon with a cherry on top. I like this picture cause it has the city in the background! And of course it's of Paige and I! :-)

We also took a trip to Ikea which definitely is an adventure. It just made me want a bed! For those that don't know, I've been sleeping on an air mattress. It is actually quite comfortable but I really can't wait to have a bed that's off the ground. Saturday night we were planning on going out but it turned into going over to Laura's boyfriend's apartment and just talking until about 1:30 am. It was very fun. It also included Laura screwing up Paige's phone and never figuring out how to change it back. Laura has a problem with messing with people's phones.

Sunday then was the big event! A viking game! I got to see Brett Favre play! They played the Lions so it wasn't a very exciting game, but it was great for me! I wore my Favre Packer jersey and only got one comment! I was waiting for them though!

Laura got a picture of Brett and me in the same picture. You can't really see him, but I know he's there! :-)

And that's a summary of the last month or so. I promise to be better about updating my blog from now on.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

In honor of my dad's birthday (yesterday) here are two pictures from last summer! The one above is from the WELS convention before one of the concerts. It was such a fun week and this picture is one of my favorites. The one below is at the rehearsal dinner for my cousin Shelly's wedding. Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!

More blogging will happen next week about my trips to Phoenix and Minnesota during my vacation, but I don't have the pictures uploaded to my computer. I got home today for Thanksgiving and don't have the cord for my camera.

Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving!