I spent all last night tearing down every stop light and stop sign in this town

Hey eyrbody, sorry it's been awhile since we've last written, we've just been soooo busy with all our friends and all the parties we go to... who am I kidding, I have no excuses.  But for realsies I'm sorry it's been awhile, the past week has been pretty crazy for me. Carolyn and I did our clinicals at Hopkins Care Center and it was amazing... I just wrote Ellen a letter about everything that has happened this week so I am going to copy and paste part of it here so I don't have to write it all over again. I love computers. Here we go:

Emily Holm

11/7/08

ADEV 1100-21

Dear Ellen,

            Don’t worry, I’m not sending you one of my school assignments. I am in class right now and we aren’t doing anything so I decided to take this opportunity to write you a wonderful letter. But if my teacher decides to mosey by, I want it to look like I’m working on an assignment. Sneaky, right? Jizz jizz jizz.

Oops, not that part.... here:

The first day I was so nervous but everything went well. I ended up working up on the Alzheimer’s/Dementia Unit for most of my clinical hours and I met so many amazing people. The patients there are all so sweet and vulnerable… the way the staff treats them sometimes really upsets me. A lot of the workers have little patience and seem burnt out. They are rough and have no empathy for the resident’s condition. I hope that when I get employed I’ll be able to make at least a little bit of a difference in both the patient’s well-being and the way the other staff members treat them. I sat down with an old man who had Alzheimer’s the other day and talked with him for awhile. His name is John and he was so appreciative of me helping him and taking the time to talk to him, it made me feel really good about the choices I’m making. We had the same conversation about 5 times because he has basically no short term memory, but when I got up to do some work he grabbed my hand and hugged me and told me he loved me. I said I loved him too and hugged him back. I think he was just really lonely… most of the other Alzheimer’s patients are in the later stages and aren’t much for conversation.

            Although they are often confused and upset because they don’t know where they are or who we are, they are A LOT of fun. I was proposed to 3 days in a row by Del, a patient who spends his days motoring around the floor in his wheelchair and trying to plot ways to get “home”. He always asked me if I was married or had a boyfriend, and when I said no he’d say “Well I’d marry ya in a second!” I would say “Ok, Del, let’s get married! But what would your wife say?” And he’d say “Well, you ladies could talk and work things out.” Haha, he was a big flirt and a lot of fun to talk to. Another woman carries around a baby doll who she thinks is her real child so she is very protective of it (she is living about 50 years in the past) and the woman at the opposite table would spend her time trying to touch the baby as the woman walked by. Another woman constantly asks “Are we still in Minnesota?” and tries to punch the aides with her tiny fists as they walk by.

            I think the way you deal with these people depends a lot on your attitude. Many would probably find the things I just described really sad, but if you don’t have a sense of humor about it you’re not going to be happy working with them. They need people who are happy to help them.

Yesterday I was so proud of myself because they paired us up with another student and had us get residents ready for the day by ourselves. It’s the first time we flew solo without a registered Nursing Assistant supervising. My sister and I gave an older man who couldn’t move (he was mentally fine) a partial bed bath, and I changed his Depends and cleaned up his perineal area. Then another student and I went into a room next door and there was a younger man (about 55) there who couldn’t move due to back problems. He was totally with it mentally and was cracking jokes as we cleaned him up and got his ready for breakfast. Anyways, about that wicked sweet party I went to last weekend.... Sorry Mom, letter ends here.

So that's that, I really really enjoyed clinicals and I have no doubts about my future career now... I am going to be a nurse! 

Other than that not much has been up, KK and I saw "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" on Friday night, and then again on Saturday night with Will. I went over to school today for campus bible study, and that was a lot of fun. I'm going again on Thursday. I've really missed having that spiritual connection with other people since I graduated from Sr. High youth group at my church, and it felt great to get back into it. We spent an hour today studying Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul's Prayer for the Ephesians:
 14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
 20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

Please do me a huge favor and pray this week for students at MCTC (there was a bomb threat on Friday and two students were caught with firearms), for Carolyn's direction, and for Alfie's torn ACL :(. 

I'm going to go watch The Office with Eric now and eat my weight in popcorn. 

LOVE, EmEm

This is my favorite song right now!

Matt Nathanson, Come on Get Higher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flAvh1o-s5E