Coach Rebe :)

I like the sound of this! I got into nursing because of my interest in health promotion. As a future nurse practitioner I want to get my patients healthy enough that they don't need to see me aside from yearly checkups and the occasional cold. The BEST way to do this is through living healthfully through diet and exercise. A few months ago I got introduced to Beachbody by a friend. I have never worked out beyond high school sports. I rarely even had the desire or motivation to exercise because as long as I ate healthy I looked healthy. After Amanda was born I realized my body didn't feel fit. My back hurt ALL THE TIME and I felt sluggish. I could blame it on the sleep deprivation, but she is a good night time sleeper.

So I got MOTIVATED! I saw my friends great results with her Beachbody program, Insanity, and decided I could do anything for 60 days. After just 30 days my back barely hurt and I could see my abs. Quite the motivation! Seeing a workout that I could do at home, while she napped or when I could squeeze it in, avoiding the cost of a gym membership, the time it would take to go to a gym, and the discomfort I used to get feeling observed while working out in public. I LOVED Insanity. Shawn T. is a fantastic motivator and didn't annoy me with commentary. He talked to give tips and encouragement, and sweated along with me. I felt good in 30 days and FANTASTIC in 60. I knew that if I enjoyed this workout and saw results right away just imagine what someone heavier could do! Results are what motivate everyone to keep going!

My awesome experience supported my nursing philosophy that everyone has the capacity to live healthier and ENJOY IT. I knew being a Beachbody coach would help me get the word out that exercising does not have to be torture. And when you feel better about yourself it carries over into every other part of your life. REALLY. Better mood, more energy....I would start quoting research but I know not everyone gets excited by that type of thing. It really helped that Beachbody has a HUGE online support network through their website and innumerable Facebook groups.

If you are thinking about living a healthier life and want extra encouragement I'd love to be your coach. Be it examples of people like you who have succeeded in changing their lives through exercise, or maybe you like research articles :) I'd love to help you and be your coach!

This is the link to my Beachbody coach website
https://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/control/pagePreview?distSiteUrl=https://beachbodycoach.com/RebecaMK/

Nursing school round two!

Today was my first day of clinical to become a family nurse practitioner (FNP). This is like residency for nurses going for their masters. But we choose our specialty from the get-go and training is not as intense.

Compared to nursing school round one I am SoOoo much more relaxed. My nerves were on edge the night before but once there I feel like I know what I am dioing and talking about. While I don't have the assessment skills yet I do know lots of medications and typical problem presentations from working inpatient at the hospital.

I think clinicals will be particularly exciting because the FNP I work with does the health and physicals of inpatient committed psych patients. My best friend Jade is a psych nurse practitioner and hooked me up ;)

One thing I learned today, which I partially expected, was that the assessment portion is not as indepth because most patients do not have the tracking capacity to follow the detailed questions.  This site should lead to great stories and really prepare me for any psych patients I may come across in primary practice.

Being Judgmental

As a nurse I strive to be aware of when I am being judgmental. I just found this old post from nursing school....

So Mary* was in the hospital because she had bilateral abscesses from muscling (injecting into the buttocks when no more veins are available) black tar heroin. In the US there are two main types of heroin: China White and Black Tar. Black tar is from Mexico and is in general crappier and slightly cheaper. It is seen mainly on the West coast. It is black/brown colored because it is mixed with any black/brown substance (this includes: brown sugar, and poop! seriously). It makes sense that Black is dirtier because its mixers are.

We are talking deep holes, like fit two of those giant erasers into. I cannot imagine ever wearing a swim suit again with that significant of a portion of my buttocks missing. She had gotten skin grafts and was in a special (and expensive bed to keep pressure off of them). She had a central line because she didn't have many veins left.

She was pleasant and a bit whiny. But she had been in the hospital for weeks. She wasn't homeless but did hate her group living facility. Unfortunately she was from a different area and couldn't work with social work to fix her living situation.

 

I recognized how I had checked my main judgements at her door when my nursing advisor commented on how she was probably citing more pain than she actually had because she was an IVDU (intravenous drug user). Now her chart said she quit using heroin 15 years ago, and I hadn't seen any new track marks during the examination, and she was on methadone. I was taken aback that my well educated and usually respectful nursing advisor would imply that she had not quit using and was using excess pain meds. Although I agree that IVDUs are more likely to abuse pain meds in the hospital this pt had reestablished a good relationship with her son and mother, which takes a lot because IVDUs really abuse their family (stealing, lying, abusing). While I do not think that methadone is the answer it had kept Mary off of heroin to the extent that her son and mother were back in her life, visiting her at the hospital and helping to arrange her out of hospital care.

Knowing why she ended up with skin grafts to her buttocks made my mind go in judgmental directions. But recognizing this I try to put aside the "you did this to yourself and now the state/citizens/us/me are paying for it" thoughts. Everyone judges people instantly whether they admit it or not, so I am at the least trying to be aware.

Is there a 6 pack in my future?

***Hold the press***

This girl started working out about 50 days ago.

I know, I have never stuck with a real workout. They are sooo boring and don't even make me sweat. But with my tummy skin not feeling firm, my low back hurting a lot even a year after babykins was born, plus our Hawaii trip and me turning 30 shortly I had extra motivation.

A friend on Facebook had posted her before and after pictures after doing a Beach Body workout called Insanity. It is exactly how it sounds. I sweat my ass off and it burns. And I love it!

I am pretty damn proud of myself :)

Here we are on vacation two weeks ago. Look I have abs! Now to convince my dear hubby....

Life moves on

I had pretty much given up on bothering to blog because it is clear that I do not keep up well. The year plus long gap, well, I did log in, but nothing thrilling enough jumped into my brain. Life is as exciting as always with a toddler, especially because summer started a week ago. The garden has comes alive and Amanda spends most of the day in a state of semi-nakedness on the porch. It is awesome :) Sun makes my mood soo much better. No this following photo isn't of our northwestern weather. We vacationed in Hawaii!

In not so awesome news I "start" my clinicals to be a family nurse practitioner (FNP). In quotes because I have yet to find preceptors. I start in 1.75 months and therefore am completely freaking out as any control freak nurse/nursing student would be. We do not like uncertainty, especially when courses are only offered once a year. I really don't want to wait a whole year to start! I am nervous to the point of paying a ridiculous (non refundable) sum of money to have a company help me locate preceptors. Seriously. In my mind this is the only downside to completing my degree online. Online FNP schools do not arrange your clinicals because they cannot possibly have contacts in every state.

(sigh)

While the preceptorship drama unfolds I also need to take Amanda to Honduras to visit the family there..... Not to make it sound like a chore. It is just one more thing on my plate.

Where to go, what to do

I have no blogged in ages. No good excuses why other than being busy with Babykins. And starting work. And having the death flu.

But really what's stopping me is too many ideas, and not knowing what to focus on.

I'm a new mama and I breastfeed and cloth diaper. But I'm also a nurse which leads to interesting stories. And being married to a Latino brings in the international aspect as well.

So where to go and what to do.... still thinking on this one