Stressed. Out. Already.

WARNING: This post is a rant with a recipe thrown in at the end. If you're looking for my usual upbeat, more positive ramblings I suggest you come back tomorrow. I'm going to get this off my chest then go give myself a get-over-it pep talk. But for now....

I don't think I've ever been this stressed out during any of the 21 years I've been a student, especially after only having one class so far.

I know that no one person is to blame and I don't like complaining but after the number of confusions and problems I (and the other 499 nursing students) have encountered...well, this year better be smooth sailing from now on.

First:

My school messed up almost everyone's clinical placements. One woman (or so it seems) was in charge of relaying placement information to the students. Unfortunately there was an unexpected death in her family and she had to leave the country. Understandable. I've had to reschedule 2 exams because of unexpected deaths so I do not in any way harbour hard feelings towards this woman. What I don't get is why one woman was given this huge responsibility. She must have been working alone because once she left, Ryerson was left fumbling to get placement information out to the students.

The vast majority of us only learned of our placements this past week. I found out Friday night around 5 pm. Source of stress number one. It was only amplified when I kept getting timed-out of the website where my placement information was posted. Thank goodness one of my friends logged in for me on her computer and gave me the good news. She's a stress life-saver.

Second:

I emailed my preceptor and s/he is on vacation until the 25th of this month. I get it, we're all entitled to holidays and I'll be the first one to advocate for well deserved time off. But I'm going to go ahead and assume that my learning was not just SURPRISE! sprung upon this nurse. I assume they asked or were notified of this opportunity. So...I've got another 2 weeks off before I can go into the hospital. I did register for an orientation training on the 23rd so I probably wouldn't have been able to go onto the unit for a shift before then anyway. Finding the positives.

Third:

My schedule has my conference time with my faculty advisor (FA) on Mondays from 4-6. We were not assigned to FAs until our placements had been sorted out. I only found out who my FA is about twenty minutes ago. After 4 pm. I emailed various lead teachers trying to make sure I hadn't missed some important email because my name had been spelled wrong or because I had completely overlooked an obvious post on our school's intranet site. If you know me (or my mother, or grandmother, or probably any female from the Woods/McIntyre gene pool) I don't like to be late. To the point where it causes me anxiety. So to not know where I needed to be going until after the scheduled time....I was medicating with potato chips.

Finding the positives: I have contacted my FA and she seems wonderful. There is no meeting this week and information for next week's meeting will be sent out in plenty of time.

Fourth:

I registered for an online history course so that I could avoid having to go in to school. Not because I'm lazy (only partially) but mostly because I need time to work and save money. I registered for the course because it was the same professor I had for the espionage course I took last semester and I really enjoyed posting online every week and discussing the concepts. After not being able to access the online content until this afternoon (stress source 4a) I learned that this course is not a 14 week course but a 7 week course (stress source 4b). That means 2 weeks of material crammed into each week. First assignment due at the end of next week, essay due by week 5 or 6 and the final exam at the end of October/early November.

Oh F*#k.

What have I done?

Finding the positives: I'll be free to focus on practice and theory all of November and December. There's no postings to be done, just readings and 2 assignments to submit. I enjoy reading....um, grasping for straws here, need more positives....I've taken numerous WWII era history courses before...?

That's it for now.

I'm going to watch True Blood and try and lower my blood pressure.

But first I promised a recipe!

Comfort Soup

(for the Stressed Soul)

(recipe from allrecipes.com here)

• Place 4 peeled and quartered russet potatoes in a large pot and cover with salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain.
• Meanwhile, heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and stir in 4 links of hot Italian sausage (casings removed). Break up the sausage and cook, stirring until the sausage is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Remove the sausage to drain on a paper towel-lined plate.
• Stir 1 large onion (diced) into the sausage drippings; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 bunch kale (chopped), and cook and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in 6 cups chicken stock, then stir in the sausage and potatoes, and return to a simmer. Stir in 1/4 cup hot sauce just before serving.