Lucky me

I received notice from the public health department that a student had a lab confirmed case of pertussis the day before winter break starts. When we return from break, hopefully there won't be any new cases, or...everyone will be out with pertussis.  

It's winter break!! Barring another round of pneumonia or some other gross illness (not completely unlikely as I get ready to board a traveling germ factory next week, also known as a plane), I will be back next semester with more regular posting. 

The games kids enjoy

My 6th grade redhead diabetic is a bashful little guy, but I have him talking far more now than he did back in August. He is on an insulin pump, and his mom packs his lunch. He enters his blood sugar into his pump, the amount of carbohydrates in his packed lunch, and it pops out a bolus amount. I started estimating how much the bolus would be, and he clearly enjoyed it, hiding his pump for me while I tried to come up with an accurate insulin dose. Finally, yesterday, after a month or so of doing this on a daily basis, I guessed the bolus amount spot on. Mr. Redhead was so excited about this! I was too, thinking we could stop the game, but no...Today, he told me that I had to guess every day and once I got enough right in a row, then it wouldn't be fun for him anymore and we could stop. 

Whatever makes you happy, kiddo...

Setting up shop

At one of my new school sites, there's a confiscated Razor scooter sitting parked against the wall. Months ago, a student came in to see me and asked whose it was. "Mine," I replied. "I live here." She looked at me with awe and explained that the school has everything I need: a bed (the cot) in my office, the teacher's lounge has a microwave where I make my dinner, and I never shower. She must have gone back and told all of her friends that the new nurse lives at the office and rides a scooter, because now it seems every time a younger student comes in my office, he or she asks, "Is that scooter really yours?" 

Cheaters

I feel really smug about the fact that I caught someone cheating on their CPR test this week...Don't think you can pull a fast one on me! I teach Heartsaver CPR courses to staff on occasion, and was teaching a particularly difficult student this week. I thought we had a language barrier, but she sure did a lot (a lot) of talking for someone with a language barrier. She wasn't getting things, so when I went to grade her test, the first red flag I had was that she got several right answers. Then I continued on, she missed a couple, and then she missed numbers 5-15...She got the right pattern on the multiple choice answer sheet, but all off by one, and I recognized the pattern. I handed it off to the veteran instructor, told her I thought she cheated, and the lady admitted it. Needless to say, she did not get a CPR card. It's a little scary to think that people cheat on CPR tests. The point of the class isn't to pass the test (especially in this case, the lady was not taking it for a job requirement). It's to learn CPR.

It's December already.

I was going to write that I'm not really sure how this happened, but that's not the case. I know how it happened: I spent most of November getting sick, being sick, and then recovering from being sick. I was told, among other things, that I looked like "death warmed over" on the days that I did make it into work, which wasn't many. Anyway, I only have some sore ribs leftover now and it's back to the grind! At least for three more weeks until winter break. 

On the school front, the LVN that had been assisting me was reassigned, which means I am again on my own for an unrealistically challenging assignment. I can't be in four places at once, managing 5 diabetics takes up a large portion of my day, and my other schools suffer. C'est la vie, I suppose, as I'm not in charge of my assignment and can only do the best I can. Supposedly they are in the process of hiring another LVN so I can get the one that I poured the sweat into training back. 

On the other school front, I will be starting my credential program next year to become a full-fledged school nurse. When I received the welcome letter full of weekends I'd need to be on campus for and a list of textbooks I'd need to purchase, I wondered if I'd really gone off the deep end signing up to get credentialed in a specialty that is probably going extinct. Then I remembered that it will allow me to continue to do what I am doing right now, which is work with kids while being home at a fairly reasonable hour every day to spend time with my own. 

On the home front, with the exception of my daughter spiking her first ever fever last night, things are awesome. I could write a whole blog on motherhood, and join the ranks of mommy bloggers worldwide, but I'll try to restrain myself for now and keep this short. My daughter turns 8 months old Sunday, 2/3 of the way to 1 year. What? I don't know how that happened.