Happi2016

I wish people would refrain from making comments about other people's eating or body sizes in general. Often people are quick to say the obese need to eat less and move more without realizing that some obese people have serious eating disorders! In fact I do wonder if all obese and ultra thin people have disordered eating. And why is it that if someone is diabetic or gets cancer we have so much sympathy and understanding for them, but somehow many people view eating disorders or disordered eating as being a choice? How come it is considered ok to fat shame or make fun of a thin person? Would anyone choose the pain of being so thin their bones hurt and they can't stay warm or of being so fat they can't find a mate, adopt a child, etc.? Obviously something is really wrong either in a mental or actual physiological way. I personally believe it is all related to brain chemistry and propensity towards addiction. Highly processed foods cause our body to release feel good chemicals. Some people become addicted that way. Other people get a high by not eating or by eating and purging, etc. Not sure what the solution is but empathy and understanding could go a long way. Glad to see it all discussed here in this forum. Thanks to the brave souls who shared their stories and hearts.

Sometimes you can find through a church an elderly person who would like to have someone live in the house with them. You can live for almost free that way in exchange for keeping them company. Just be sure to spell out the details in writing so there are no misunderstandings. In my agreement I prepared a simple dinner for the woman each night and spent about 2 hours per night talking with her. I also did the grocery shopping (she paid for the gas and food) and shoveled the snow when needed. I slept in her home every night and went to school during the days. Another thing I found really helpful was to work as a home health aide on the weekends. If you can find the right situation it can be wonderful work, the key is to be careful who you accept as a client. The lady I work for allows me to study when she is sleeping. I also study when I am preparing meals for her, etc. If you have an "easy" patient then this is far easier work than working as a PCT or CNA/NA. Don't give up your dream! Keep trying.

I just took the Kaplan. Don't buy the review book, it is a waste of time because although the book says it is for the Kaplan exam the book actually covers other nursing exams which have material that is NOT on the Kaplan. Agree with the writer on another site who said getting a SAT reading test review book is useful. The math was mainly fractions, decimals, ratios, percents, word problems. The Science portion seemed fairly random to me so do a general science review like those found in the other HESI nursing exam prep books. The writing section was difficult because the essays presented in the test were terrible examples of writing and the questions sometimes asked me to place a new sentence "correctly" into the existing text! There were also a few questions about finding wrongly spelled words or grammar faults within the poorly written essays. Again the SAT review books would be more helpful for this section for practice. Watch your time on the questions because there is no penalty for guessing. I ran out of time pondering a math question and by the time I realized I was out of time too late to make a guess! Was glad I took ear plugs to the testing site as it helped me focus.

1. Don't drink a big coffee or big gulp of diet soda right before the start of shift! 2. Have clean scrubs waiting in your locker just in case. 3. Have another clean pair of scrubs in your car because maybe you already used your locker ones! 4. Protein bars are a nasty but useful quick lunch/dinner/breakfast 5. Hold on to your sense of humor because you will need it.

Thank goodness I made it through another day and look my white uniform is still white!

I hope I don't find a patient who wants to talk endlessly about the weather while I have 6 other patients who need meds, etc. Oh please let there be a volunteer around to keep the patient company because as much as I want to do it, my schedule is too crazy right now.