HHHMMM....Im too young to be THIS stressed!!!!

Hello my fellow readers,

Its been a little while since I've written to you all and let me tell you life has been STRESSFUL. I have been going through a lot for the last couple of weeks that unfortunately took me away from keeping you all updating on my life. Sorry guys.... The lastest of my news, and the message I will drill to anyone who will listen, is to BUY A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR...IT SAVES LIVES..well at least it saved mine :-)....Yes I had high levels of carbon monoxide in my house that were detected by my CO monitor and it all happened at 12-1:00 am Sunday which was the morning before my Anatomy test. Firefighters throughout my house for 5.5 hours and 20 minutes of sleep resulted in a bad test score :-( A smart person would have requested to take it at a later date ( SU is really good about that if you have a valid reason), however, I hate being the person to be made accommodations for so I took it and hhhmmm BAD NEWS BEARS :-(...Anyway it just made me want to do so much better on the next one so its actually accelerated my studying more than it upset me as much as it could have :-) Hooray for me finally learning how to turn negatives into positives...My mama always told me an optimistic person can always find the good in everything....Seriously Mom everyone can't be as wonderful as you unfortunately!

So back to school, this semester started out pretty nice and steadily with all the snow days, delays, spring break and our Spring Gala extravaganza that we are preparing for this weekend, it QUICKLY got out of hand. A lot of people are stressing out like times 100 and Im trying to keep up the morale with laughters, post prayers and just let everyone know that things will be okay and we will all get through this.....I know its so much easier to be in my position only for the simple fact that I kind of prepared myself mentally for the stresses of both Spring and Summer semesters. That doesn't mean that I will get like straight A's on everything on anything like that, but I am more relaxed than my peers. It's funny because I remember when I was at the other end of that stress coupled with family stuff going on and now I'm so blessed to have a different perspective on things :-)......Now that does not mean for a second that I'm not stressed out because believe me when I tell you Im def stressed; it just means that I am able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know that its all temporary :-)...Refreshing feeling!!!

Anyway, Our class is so excited about our Spring Gala this year. We are already having such an awesome response. We starting out thinking how are we going to sell tickets and now our problem is are we going to sell too many tickets?? The other is definitely the better problem to have :-)...Our theme is Starry Night and we have so many cool things to auction off and raffle off this year. It ranges from time shares in Antigua and pearl necklaces to Themed things like Louisiana Bayou Basket that contains Louisiana Beer, Gumbo, and Jambalya mixes. It should be an awesome time and I hope we raise a lot of money for Evan's Children Home, Laurel's Center for Abused Woman, our annual trip to Nicaragua, and of course our Graduation :-)

So as much as I wish I had ample time to share all the good and bad things happening right now, I must get back to the 5 exams I must study for over the next 3 weeks...UGH...Seriously when is this semester going to be over???....

Side Note: At least Spring break was great in Myrtle beach with some of my classmates and some of my bestfriends from undergrad. Maybe it was too wonderful cause every since I've come back I have been performing poorly on everything thus far lol...the lesson here is that when PA school says break, that means rest for one day and study for the other days for sure :-) :-)...Okay readers I must get back to work...nice talking to you...Check out Josh's latest blog the mood is a little lighter than mine :-)

Until next time,

The little PA student who could :-)

Taneisha

Tune in next time!

Blizzard 2010 and Clinical Rotations

Caption: Me and my puppy in the Blizzard of 2010 (I got a few days off of rotations because of bad weather, so we played in the snow)

Myself and a few good looking girls from my class and my dog again.

Caption: Me, Jen and Dan in NYC just after finishing the didactic year!

The last time I wrote in my blog was right at the end of the didactic year. This is my catch up! I have just been too busy. Just ask Tony (our Director) he has been yelling at me for weeks.

Well, Christmas vacation has come and gone and so has my first (almost my second) clinical rotation. Let me say that if you are thinking about applying to physician assistant school (especially here at Shenandoah University) - do not second guess yourself! The hours of studying and course work become totally validated when you get on to clinical rotations. While we have all had our ups and downs, the SUPA program does one thing very well – it prepares you for the world of clinical rotations. On my first rotation in the emergency department, I got to see everything from babies with sniffles and RSV to patients with congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, respiratory failure among other things. I took part in running codes, gave CPR, injections, sutured, put on splints, interpreted EKGs and X-rays, assisted with lumbar punctures, inserting central lines and much much more. I have found that most of the doctors who I have had the opportunity to work with were glad to have the help of a PA student, and all of the nurses and staff were happy to show me the way around a very busy ED. The ED was a very enriching and humbling experience to say the least. After sitting in the classroom for 16 months learning about things like administering t-PA in an acute ischemic stroke, I was very happy to actually watch the process of evaluating a patient for its use and watching their diminishing vision and motor function return to practically normal.

Throughout my second rotation in internal medicine, I have gotten to work with patients who have more chronic conditions. Lots of diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, but mixed in there I have seen dementia, gout, cellulitis, multiple sclerosis, depression, COPD, and lots of other disease states. My preceptor does a lot of her own dermatology work instead of referring out, so I have gotten to do more suturing and superficial skin biopsies than I expected to on this rotation. During the third week, she and I were about to remove a skin lesion for biopsy and after we had numbed the patient and set up our sterile field, she says, “okay, grab the scalpel and remove the lesion.” It is very exciting. However, the best part of every rotation is when the patients ask if they can see you next time instead of the doctor or the person that they currently see, or they tell you how nice you were to them. All the book work pays off and it all leads back to working with and helping people, which is what we all wanted to do in the first place.

Lastly, lest we forget, the clinical year is just as much for learning as the didactic year, but it is such a different style. You get to hear what your classmates and colleagues have seen and you share what you’ve seen and your knowledge base becomes just that, a base. You are more than prepared by the SUPA program by the time you start working with professionals on rotations, so fear-not. We have all enjoyed clinical rotations so far, and I cannot wait to be out there in the work force!

As soon as I find my camera cord there will be pictures from my most recent trip to visit a classmate in Tennessee while she was on rotation there in emergency medicine.