Finding My Footing with the Flu

Nursing school has been very hard, harder than I had imagined. I never thought it would be a walk in the park. I never thought it would be easy. I also never thought that I would want to quit, but I did, more than once.

It's hard to be a wife, a mother, and a student. I had managed this very well until this semester. I guess I had idealized Nursing school, I just knew this was were I was supposed to be. But, as I have gone through school this semester, I had begun to question it all. I wasn't making the grades I was used to, the material was harder, I wasn't a natural at it. All of this scared me. More than once I tried to figure out what major I could change to with all the classes I had taken, that wouldn't put in school for another year. *sigh*

The past two weeks have been better and I have been finding my way through all this. I have made it over the hump by finishing some very hard practicals (i.e. putting in a catheter and nasogastric tube). Things have been looking up, but not as much as they did today.

Today I had flu shot clinic, I was really nervous before I got there. Once I was there, I was excited and nauseated. I was worried about sticking people and happy that I was going to stick people. It was confusing.

My group was assigned to the morning shift which started at 7:30 am. We opened the doors to the clinic at 8 am, I was literally shaking. We had all our supplies lined up, I had my questions to ask my patients. My first patient set the tone for the day, here is our conversation:
(he was a 75 year old gentleman)
M: "Hello sir, how are you feeling today?'
H: "I'm perfect, thank you."
M: "Have you had a flu shot before?"
H: "Yes, I get one every year."
M: "Have you had any problems? Any aversions?"
H: "No, am I supposed to?" laughing
M: laughing "No, you aren't. Do you have an allergies to latex, eggs, anything?"
H: "Nope."
M: "And are you currently pregnant?"
H: Laughing hysterically "Yeah, pregnant with twins, can't you tell!"
M: "You look fantastic! What's your secret?"
and I stick him while he is still laughing
H: "It's all those old people pills I'm on, they keep the babies small. Hey, are you done all ready? I didn't feel a thing!"

And that's how it went for the rest of the day. I ask all my patients, young, old, male, female, if they were pregnant. It kept them laughing and made it so easy for me. I had such a good time and I knew that I was meant to do this.