So, I've been diagnosed with Celiac disease, meaning I can't eat anything containing gluten (wheat, rye, or barley), because it causes an autoimmune reaction that damages the small intestine. The diagnosis has come after almost 6 weeks of constant nausea and a weight loss of 14 pounds. After only a few days of a gluten-free diet, I have almost no nausea and the debilitating fatigue I've been dealing with has improved significantly. It sucks, but I can deal with it.

I'm 14 days away from leaving for OBLC in San Antonio. I've got most of my stuff moved out of my place in Salisbury and I'm slowly getting more and more nervous. However, that is tempered with a hefty dose of excitement because I passed my Boards and am now a registered nurse in the state of Maryland.

So, once again I apologize for not updating and not keeping up with your journals, but life has been so crazy and hectic, I don't keep up with much.

So the graduation ceremony went off without a hitch.



It was only about 2.5hrs and it was really cool to finally get to walk across the stage with them announcing my Bachelor's degree in nursing.

That evening we went out to dinner with some friends at a crab house in Ocean City and we had a blast before everything went to hell. I was the only one of the group who actually ate crabs and on the way home from OC, I got hit by the worst bout of food poisoning I've ever had. My mom had to pull the car over so that I could get out and throw up. I wound up passing out, so my parents were forced to call 911. I spent 6 hours in the ER getting IV fluids and medications to stop the vomiting. Because of that, we had to cancel my graduation party on Saturday because I was nowhere near well enough to have the party. I was feeling better by Tuesday morning, but Tuesday evening while I was babysitting, I got hit by another round of severe nausea and vomiting. My mom had to come down and take me to the doctor's because I couldn't drive myself. The doctor thought that the food poisoning turned into a nasty case of gastroenteritis (an infection in the stomach and intestines), so they gave me antibiotics and more medicine for the nausea and vomiting. My mom had to give me IV fluids because I couldn't keep anything in my system.

I think things are finally improving and I am feeling better now, but I hate that all of this happened and ruined what should have been an awesome weekend following my graduation.

Essentially, all of this is why I haven't updated as promised, but I'm going to try to keep regular updates until I leave for OBC in July.

Once again, it's been awhile since I've updated, but life's still been crazy busy.

I finished up my community clinical at the middle school and now I'm on my internship. The selection process for internship involves a lottery. The lower your number, the sooner you get to pick from the list. Well, I got #29/34, so I got stuck with the ICU at a hospital that is 35 minutes from my house. I have to leave the house by 6:10 on Tuesday and Thursday morning in order to get there in time to get report from the night shift. It sucks. I will say that I am learning a lot and getting to do skills I've never done before, but I am still disappointed that I didn't get Labor and Delivery or the NICU. I really wanted those.

Spent 4 days in Florida over Spring Break visiting the kids and Danielle. It was a fun trip. I spent the days relaxing while the kids were at school, then picking them up at the end of their day. It was great to catch up with the kids since I haven't seen them in close to 2 years. They've grown sooo much.

On my last day there we went to the beach in New Smyrna. The water was a gorgeous 70 degrees and the sun was shining brightly. It was beautiful. Beth and I spent quite a bit of time searching for nice seashells and then the 4 of us took turns flying a kite. I truly miss being there.

I am such a bad LJ friend, but happy belated birtday to:

mariskatorri
moonstruck_022
sparkly_sparks
fallapartagain

And happy birthday to coexist_love today! May your day be filled with joy!

So I was looking at my journal and realized that I haven't updated since the middle of October! Yikes!

In my defense, I've been seriously busy, so I'll pick up from where I left off.

I spent the last week in October running back and forth between school and home (a lovely two hour drive each way) in order to go through the process of completing my application to the U.S. Army (a process involving a physical at Walter Reed and the filling out of enough paperwork to recreate an entire tree). The upshot of the entire process is that in the middle of December, I was sworn in as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps. I leave for OBC (officer basic course) on July 14th and I'm really excited. The sense of pride and accomplishment I had at my swearing in was indescribable!

After all of that came exams and winter break, where I spent a large amount of time babysitting to make some money for groceries and stuff. Also, my roommate from China left to return home, so I'm left in my place by myself (which happens to be fairly lonely).

Now I'm in my last semester of nursing school and am neck deep in clinicals, exams, and projects for Community Health Nursing and Senior Seminar (otherwise known as leadership). I spend Tuesdays and Thursdays at a middle school that's about 35min from my place, working in the nurse's office. We don't get a lot of excitement, but the nurse and the nurse practitioner are very friendly, and I enjoy my time there immensely.

At the end of April, my mom and I are flying out to Nebraska for a couple of days because my Uncle Mike is getting married. My dad is going to stay home and mind the dogs because traveling long distances is still difficult for him.

After that comes graduation from college! On May 21, 2009 I will officially graduate with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing! Then I have to pass the NCLEX-RN which is the national licensing exam.

So, I apologize for the long gap in updating and if I haven't been keeping up with your journals. I'll try to do better, but I can't make any promises! ;-)

Okay. I'm much calmer now and thinking logically about the situation. I realize that I need to heed my own advice and remember that you can't help persons who don't want it. The only thing to do is to be there if they need you and not try to fix the situation.

So, after much counting to 10 and muttering under my breath, I am opting to take the aforementioned mindset. Next time, I'll just stay out of it until help is or is not requested or sought.

ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH! I swear you try helping people and all they do is get pissed off right back in your face! While I realize that certain situations create an angry atmosphere, perhaps people should remember the old line, "Don't shoot the messenger." *yells, curses, fumes*

I can't believe I'm almost a month into my senior year of nursing school. It's gone by so fast! This semester has been far easier to deal with than either of the semesters last year. I've only got two classes, but there's a clinical attached to each one. I'm taking Maternity and Psychiatric nursing.

Maternity is pretty cool. The first clinical, we worked in the newborn nursery and I had so much fun! We did an assessment on a brand new baby as a group and then each of us got our own newborn to assess. Now, I'm on the postpartum unit, which is incredibly boring. There is nothing to do after completing a brief physical assessment on the mom. I've got three more clinicals on postpartum and then we head to the labor and delivery unit. I'm looking forward to that.

Psych is boring and that's all I have to say.

Dear Grandma,

I was reading a story today and it hit me once again just how much I miss you. I try not to think about it, but I hate the fact that I'll never hug you at the Omaha airport and get a rare bone-crushing one in return; never sit at the kitchen table and talk; never do the crossword together; never tell you I love you and hear “Yeah, you too;” never play softball in the vacant lot, barefoot, knowing that you're watching; or anything else like that again.

You'll never see me graduate from college, which is one of my most heart-felt wishes. I hope that you're proud of me, though. It's been over five years and I can't help but wonder what you'd think of everything that has happened since then.

Would you have learned to love Angela? Would you have been here with my parents and me when my dad had a stroke? Would you still be proud of me, even though I changed schools and majors? Would you have been here this past summer when my mom had her surgery? What would you think about Pat and Deb's divorce? Would you be proud of Shawn for turning his life around? Would watching Michaela grow up have brought you joy? Would you have smacked your daughter on the head when she told me how much of a pain in the ass it was to pick me up at the airport? How would you feel about Mike and Angela's upcoming wedding?

I miss you so much and I love you, Grandma.

Almost accurate. I have no social skills to speak of.

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Babysat yesterday afternoon/evening and it went pretty well. It was like 95 degrees out, so we played in one of those little collapsable pools for awhile. After that, we stayed inside and Mark played with his toys until his dad came home.

When I got home, I took Brisco for his walk and we wound up hanging out a friend's house for the rest of the night. My friend and I ordered sushi and watched V for Vendetta. All in all, a pleasant way to spend the evening.

Here's a recent picture of Brisco:

You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out. :)


1. First name: Erin
2. Age: 22
3. Location: Maryland, US
4. Occupation: Nursing student
5. Partner: None
6. Kids: My baby boy, Brisco. (my dog)
7. Brothers/Sisters: Half-brother I've never met named Chris
8. Pets: Brisco (my dog) and Zak and Missy (my parent's dogs)
9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life: Working. Getting the house clean and ready for when Lin gets here. Relaxing this summer before my senior year of nursing school.

My Family: Mom, Dad, Zak, Missy, Brisco, and me. Dad and I are a lot closer than we used to be!
Friends: Love me as I am. We're all a little to the left of normal.
School: Stressful, but good. Summer right now, so it's even better!
My computer: My addiction and my lifeline. HP laptop with a swivel screen that turns into a tablet.

10. Parents: Mom's a nurse and works a lot; wonderful, kind, loving, outgoing. Dad's a house-hubby; smart, sarcastic, stubborn (we tend to butt heads). Great parents. Dogs are crazy. Zak's got ADHD for dogs and Missy's three fries short of a happy meal. Brisco is friendly and loving.
11. Who are some of your closest friends? Definitely Nat (treetopafi13) and Heather. Don't see them as much as I used to, but definitely still my BFF's.

Okay, so it's my day off from babysitting and I'm planning to sleep in, lounge around, and play with Brisco. Sounds like a good plan?

Not so much.

8:00 in the *freaking* morning, there are people up on my roof tearing up the shingles so that they can replace them.

Needless to say, they woke me and Brisco up and the noise is scaring him. He's shaking and glued to me. I know there's not much I can do about Brisco, but they couldn't have waited until 9 to start? *whines* I like my sleep.

1. Leave me a comment about anything you wish...or just tell me you want to play.
2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

( Are you curious yet? )

Your Personality Type: The Dreamy Idealist

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