Let me begin by explaining why I have taken sooooo long to post. Do you see the title of this post? That's right... I completely blame nursing. :) Don't get me wrong, I love nursing and am pumped to be a real one this year! However, it has taken over my life... once again! As I have mentioned I am currently doing my final med-surg placement: Cardiology. Lub-dub (that is the sound our heart makes... well at least a healthy heart and I have heard heaps of unhealthy ones lately).
Yesterday I watched a mitral valve replacement which is open heart surgery! It took about 5 hours and for nearly half of it they let me stand at the head of the bed with the anesthesist to get a good view! it was really cool, but man! what an intense procedure to have done! I kept having to look down and see the patient's head to remind myself I was actually looking at a person! This patient, an 18 year old with Rheumatic heart disease, has been on the ward the whole time I have been so it was quite an experience to follow him through his procedure.
So after the surgery I walked back to Grafton Hall (5 minute walk), ate some lunch, took a 3 hour nap, showered, ate dinner, walked back to the hospital and began my 12 hour night shift (7pm- 7:30am). My clinical lecturer here said she wants us to do at least one night shift and one weekend shift... i've actually done quite a few weekend shifts because I am following my preceptors schedule... but thankfully last night was my one and only night shift. Having to stay awake all night really throws me and I hope I can find a job next year that let's me work day shifts! fingers crossed. but i know that I am low on the totem pole as a new grad nurse so that is highly unlikely. Anyways... as you can see I have been quite busy with my clinical placement and all the assignments that go along with it. But I am learning lots and am thankful for this experience. Here is a couple of photos of the hospital I am working at: Auckland City Hospital.
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| The hospital is in the lower left corner of this picture. Took this on my way to clinical one morning. I often wake up with the sun to get to clinical by 7am. Rise and shine Auckland! |
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| The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1 |
While I have been spending most of my time in the cardiology ward of that building, I have also had the chance to explore Auckland City! First and most important in this city right now:
rugby.
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| A building I walked by the other day. These are rugby guys doing the Haka in this picture. The haka is a traditional Maori war dance from New Zealand that is performed by the All Blacks at every local and international match since 1906. It's awesome. |
New Zealand is getting pretty hyped to be hosting the Rugby World Cup 2011. Starting August 20, the city has been lighting the Skytower (can be seen from everywhere) to welcome the 20 countries/ teams that will be coming to compete in the World Cup. So each night, its a different color and has been really cool to watch! First night welcomed Namibia with green stem and a blue and red top:
Next New Zealand welcomed the great United States of America!!!!!
Did anyone know that we had a rugby team? jk. :)
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| Took this picture from the top floor of Grafton Hall Tower. There is a study room up there and a sick view! |
Here are some more cool pictures of the city from the past couple of weeks...
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| Skytower repping Italy |
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| Skytower reflection |
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| This is a view from the walk home from church on Sunday. I love the sky here its so big and beautiful. |
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| Light blue skytower for Fiji's rugby team. |
I also went to my first rugby game! It was not a professional one, but it was a club team championship that some of my friends who also live in Grafton were playing in! It was awesome to learn about this amazing sport and cheer on my friends: Dylan, Wolfie, James, and Vickus. It is wayyyyy intense. So many crazy rules and I was confused but thankfully people were willing to explain some to me.
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| This is how they do throw-ins. The literally throw their tallest player in the air to catch it! |
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| That is Wolfie about to punt the ball! |
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| The scrum. |
Also, the other day Melanie and I explored the Harbor area of Auckland. We walked all the way to the Fish Market. For those who know me well, I am kinda freaked out by fish... but it was pretty cool. It was a beautiful day, we walked around by the waterfront, climbed to the top of a viewing deck, took pictures of the fish, settled at a coffee shop to do work on our assignment for clinical (where I had the greatest mochaccino of my life), then got sushi for dinner. YUM! I ordered edamame and tuna/avacado sushi. We got to ask for whatever we wanted and watched them make the sushi fresh!
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| The city of sails |
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| You can see Auckland Bridge in the background... my future bungy location! |
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| SUSHI! and the soy sauce came in tiny little fish shaped bottles :) |
To wrap this post up, New Zealand is quite excited for the World Cup so it is way fun to be here right now! It is especially awesome because the day after my last shift for this rotation is opening night and is going to be a city-wide party! That is September 9th and I can't wait. It is supposed to be a big cultural opening ceremony and will have the biggest fireworks show New Zealand has ever had. I love fireworks! And a few days after that, I will begin my 22 day backpacking adventure around the SOUTH ISLAND, which is my "spring break" between my cardiology and mental health placement. I cannot wait. It will be really interesting to pack in just my backpack, but I think it will be a really good experience for me sine I am a notoriously heavy packer. Oh and I will be researching internet access in the country as part of a public health research project I am working on while I am here too.
Oh and just in case you need proof that I actually ran a half marathon here is picture :)
Hope everyone back in the States had a great summer and welcome back to school (sounds weird to me since I have been in class since early July). love and miss you all heaps!
