Adrenaline Rush

I'm in the middle of my third week of clinicals, which for this quarter is in adult rehab. This means we're working with a lot of elderly clients recovering from surgery or other health problems--they have been discharged from the hospital, but aren't quite ready to return home. Things have been pretty mellow in the "neighborhood." (That's what we call it. They do everything they can to keep it from feeling like a hospital). Mellow has been a good pace for learning the fundamentals, so I've really enjoyed it.

But today I was assigned a new client. She had some serious wounds and I got to observe the nurse doing dressing changes. Seriously fascinating stuff. And then unexpectedly, she had some complications related to other health issues, and things went from mellow to hopping pretty quickly. My "shift" passed in a flash. Now I cannot wait to get back tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to clinicals next quarter which will be in a more acute setting. As much as I've enjoyed school so far, this was the first time in school that I've experienced the rush of adrenaline that I used to feel when I volunteered in the ER many moons ago--the rush that initially attracted me to nursing.

And that little rush is going to make the 10 hours of "care-planning" I will be doing for the rest of today worth it.