It's been a while

But ... I'm still here and I have finished the first year of my degree.

My results are:
Person Centred Care - Communications Skills - A+
Learning and Teaching - A+
Professional Nursing - An Introduction - A+
Bioscience for Health Professionals I - A
Skills for Nursing: The Fundamentals - A-
The Nursing Context I: Society and Health A+
Bioscience for Health Professionals II - A+
Clinical Practice - Passed

I'm happy with this.

Now I need to use the break between the first and second year to read up on a few things, do a bit more research and get myself ready for the next lot of courses. Lots of reading over Christmas.

Hopefully this coming year I can give more frequent updates. During this past year I have felt that I needed to dedicate my time exclusively to my course work. We'll see how we go next year.

The Christchurch earthquake

You will have heard that there was a major earthquake in New Zealand on the 3rd of September.

We were lucky to have felt it only as a mild tremor. Jenny was at home in Masterton and I was camping alongside the Huka river near Taupo. Both of us woke up shortly before the quake hit. I woke because I heard the rumble and thought it was a big truck driving past. Then we both felt the quake.

What an amazing thing that there were no fatalities in Christchurch, particularly when you see the massive damage to property. Something that is really mind bending are all of the aftershocks. I couldn't quite comprehend the effect of those until I say this animated map;

http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

Mal Gibson bought my car!

Yes, REALLY! Well actually he bought it for his stepdaughter but he's been driving it because he likes it.

The car I've sold is the Nissan Terrano/Pathfinder 4WD for reasons of economy. The people who dream up new ways of frustrating the population in New Zealand (I think they're called policy analysts) have come up with a scheme to make driving a diesel car uneconomic in the extreme. What they have done is taxed diesel cars the same as diesel trucks because in their minds all diesel cars (like perhaps a Peugeot 106 diesel) cause the same amount of wear and tear on the roads as 20-30 tonne trucks do. So that made it unattractive to own a diesel car any longer and this really solidified our resolve to try and sell the car and buy a pick-up truck (called a 'ute' in NZ and Aus.) instead.

I put a "for sale" sign in the window of the car and Mal, who also comes to the Sunday market we go to, saw it and told me he was interested. I told him that we were only selling because we wanted to buy a ute and he told me he had a ute he wanted to sell. The result was that we put our heads together over a period of two weeks and hammered out a deal we were both happy with. In the end we swapped cars with me giving Mal a couple of old cellphones and car kits as well as a couple of old fax machines.

Now we are the proud owners of our own "beaut ute" and, more importantly, we are out of the diesel trap. The beaut ute is a Ford Courier, 2.2 litre, XL single cab, 2WD (we would have preferred 4WD). The good things about it are that it is 5 years newer than the Nissan and will cost a lot less to run while giving us all the space we need to carry our wares.

And Mal? Well, he really is Mal Gibson but his speech is rather more refined that the Mal you're thinking of. And this Mal lives just a few kilometres down the road from me.

Reflections on the first three weeks

It seems almost impossible that I'm nearly half way through my practical placement at the private hospital but, none the less, time has marched on quickly. The speed with which time is passing is a measurement of how interesting and engaging it is to actually be out nursing people.

There have been many learning opportunities ranging from the simple things like making a bed with a patient in it to, at the other extreme end, dealing with the death of a patient. In between those extremes were counselling and comforting family members of a recently admitted patient, admitting and assessing a patient, simple wound dressings, taking vital signs, managing elimination for colostomy patients, writing a nursing assessment of a patient which is to be used by another agency to determine what level of support this person will receive, working with patients with permanent physical disabilities, as well as patients with mental disabilities, and more besides. I've also helped fix televisions, electric chairs and beds for patients, something that I get called to do because I just happen to be handy with that sort of thing.

Last night I worked with a patient who had a couple of TIAs (transient ischeamic attack) in quick succession and who needed oxygen therapy for a while to help raise the blood/oxygen levels to a more normal level. The Registered Nurse (RN) who supervises me was called to another incident so I ended up looking after this person myself. Aside from consulting with my supervisor on the flow rate of oxygen required I carried out the procedure unaided. I measured blood pressure and oxygen saturations several times over a period of time and once the patient had stabilised I stopped the oxygen. The patient had a peaceful and settled night after this.

It feels really good that my supervisor trusts my abilities enough to let me manage this sort of thing on my own but, by the same token, right at the beginning of my placement I learnt very quickly just how little I actually know and, consequently, I ask lots of questions to make sure that I do the right things.

All in all things are going well and I expect to come out of my placement with a wealth of practical experiences that will help me to put my theoretical learning into proper perspective and help guide my future learning. And, last but by no means least, this is a very enjoyable time right now, helped, in no small measure, by the friendly support and encouragement I am getting from my RN supervisors and the manager of the hospital I am placed at.

Nurse in the making

Since starting my Bachelor of Nursing in January I've had my head down in my books and my hands full trying to keep up with things to do on the farm.

I'm happy to tell you that at least one of those is going well. To date the worst result I've had back from my exams has been an A and the best an A+. As far as the farm goes, I'm just about able to keep up with the critical things but could do with help with the firewood and a few other little things.

At the moment I'm out on placement in a private hospital and am working mostly with people in palliative care but also with people with both physical and mental disabilities.

As you can see when I'm in my uniform I almost look like I know what I'm doing. That aside there are two and a half more years to go before I can graduate. When that happens I still need to sit one last exam set by the Nursing Council of New Zealand and when I have passed that I'll become a NZ Registered Nurse.

I still won't be quite out of the woods yet because I then have to do a six month "transition to practice" before I can consider my employment options and start repaying my student loan. Of course that will also be the time to decide if I want to go on with my studies and go for a Master's degree and perhaps specialise in a particular discipline.

For now I am concentrating on my studies toward my Bachelor degree. And it is now also time for me to go to the hospital and begin my afternoon shift.

NZCh Keeswey Mighty Carlo R.I.P.

This morning Carlo started showing the first signs of suffering. When he tried to walk he would fall over and standing was obviously a huge effort for him. He had up to this point quietly and stoically endured his sickness but this morning he looked like he was ready to go. During the night he had started whimpering from time to time and this became more frequent this morning. Obviously he was in some discomfort so we had to do something for him.

With heavy hearts, but enormously thankful for the years he was with us, we decided that the best thing we could do for him was to take him to the vet.

He slipped away peacefully in our arms and is now buried on the hill overlooking the farm right next to where, years ago, we buried Lara. Together they are watching over us.

NZCh Keeswey Mighty Carlo was well named because he had a mighty character, was mighty loving , had mighty energy (especially when it came to food), and was just so full of the joy of life. He just loved living on the farm and we're certain that of the three homes he lived in this was his favourite home. It is fitting that he's here to stay, forever keeping vigil on the hill. A fitting place for a watchdog.

Our boy is about to leave us

Our lovely Carlo is slowly but surely slipping away from us. The tumour in his mouth is making it almost impossible for him to eat and he doesn't really want to eat any more.

Carlo is 12 years old and has been a loyal and loving companion to Jenny and I. We will both miss him when he finally goes.

I am hoping and praying that he gets to live out the full allotment of his days without us having to step in to relieve his suffering. At the moment he's not in pain but you can tell that he's so very tired now.

Over the last week or so I've slept on the floor with him because he so loves to have company during the night. I know that last night he didn't sleep very well and today he has spent most of the day laying in the one spot with his eyes open. As far as I can tell he hasn't slept today and I think that perhaps when he does go to sleep tonight that he won't wake up.

Donald arrives on Elwinfarm

Today (while we weren't looking) Donald arrived here on Elwinfarm. Donald is the new son of Millie, the older of our two female alpacas.

Without further ado here are the pictures;