Sweet Dream or a Beautiful Nightmare...

While I sleep I am taken to another world. 8-12 hours (depending on the day) of crazy, wild, and imaginary dreamland. As you all know, I work nights so my sleep schedule is a little, well, off! So, I take a sleep supplement called Melatonin to fall asleep. Your body makes melatonin naturally, so I just take an over the counter supplement to help me fall asleep more quickly. It isn’t habit forming and my doctor suggested this instead of prescribing me any actual sleeping medications, which are harmful and addicting. So anyways, while I sleep I do believe I dream every minute that I am asleep! From the second I enter REM sleep to the second my alarm rings, I am off in dream world.

After I wake up, sometimes it is hard for me to remember most of what I dream, but when I do remember, I swear I have the most vivid, detailed, realistic dreams of anyone I know. I say realistic because they happen in places in my life and with actual people in my life. They are never fairy-tale-like. I tell my BFF Chelsea and she is so amused by my out-there dreams.  I’m glad I amuse her!

I’ll give you a synopsis of a few dreams I remember as best as I can so you get “the picture!”

Dream 1: I was spending the night at my friend Chelsea’s house (in real life, and in the dream), and a woman broke into her room and started stealing her clothes. Also, she went into her bathroom and took her shampoo, and rationed it off to us. After the woman left, I woke up (Only in the dream. I was still sleeping, and still dreaming.) and I went outside to leave. I got in my car, but I couldn’t drive anywhere because there were very, very large raccoons standing up on their back legs in the street blocking my way.

                 

Weird things about my dreams:

1. Although I can’t remember specifically other dreams now, all my dreams used to have animals in them. Lately, my dreams haven't had animals in them. 

2. I used to never dream about work. I told that statement to someone once, and since then, I’ve dreamed about work a few times.  (Not exciting!)

Dream 2: I was in my church parking lot and there was a sort of “sing-off” between Blake Shelton and some other unknown singer. Why in my church parking lot? I don’t know! But, Blake Shelton’s crowd was slim, so I was up close and he actually talked to me and said he remembered me from somewhere…not sure where. Then he sang me a song! AHHH, wouldn't that be great in real life!? I would love for him to actually know me and sing me a song!

As you can see they are unusual! Obviously the scenery in my mind is very detailed and I can’t describe that, but you get the oddness of my dreams!

Sometimes I wonder what my dreams mean. I would love to know what each element symbolizes. Are there dream analysts out there?

Don’t worry! I’ll definitely be posting more of my crazy dreams! 

P.S. Thanks Chelsea for the title of this post!

pay attention!

Back in November I attended a Trauma Symposium with multiple speakers who spoke on an array of topics all relating to trauma services.  One in particular was an ER doctor who specializes in Forensic medicine. The lecture was geared more towards nursing and pre-hospital treatment and less towards doctors. I know I was not just interested because of the speaker, because he was not at all engaging. I was, however, very interested in the topic of Forensic Nursing. This was the only topic I was interested in during the whole 2-day symposium!

So, after the weekend, I started researching forensic nursing. I looked into the kind of education needed to pursue this kind of career. I searched programs online to find out all of this information. I thought I would request information from one trusting program (the program I took my NCLEX prep course). After I filled out the form and submitted it, another, similar form popped up on the screen. I thought I did something wrong, so I filled it out {again}, and submitted. I did this somewhere between 5-10 times before I decided to read anything on the pages. When I finally DID read what I was submitting information to, I saw I was filling out forms to request information for other schools!!!  Those sneaky schools creepin in like that! How dare they!

The next morning the clock hadn’t even hit 0800 and I had already begun getting phone calls from out-of-state schools wanting to sell their nursing program to me! Luckily, I work nights, and I don’t hear my phone when I sleep all day. {And I do mean all day!} For two weeks, I woke up to, literally 12-15 missed calls AND voicemails! These people seem to never go home because they would call at dinnertime, and even late into the evening! I got emails too, but for some reason those are less annoying. {I guess no personal interaction.} The frequency trickled off, but I am still getting phone calls and emails two months later!

Just the other day, I accidentally answered one of the now known numbers. Yes, known. They called so much I knew the number to NOT answer! But I did answer, and this is what I said to the lady on the other end of the line, “I’ll be honest with you, I accidently filled out the form for information because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. I’ve been a nurse for 3 ½ years and was looking into Forensic nursing programs. I’m sorry.”  She was nice and understood. 

Lesson learned: PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT {I'M} YOU ARE DOING WHEN GIVING OUT CONTACT INFORMATION! 

I hope you don't make a similar mistake like I did!

seasonal depression & happy winter!

I am not a fan of winter and would love to move to year-round summer weather. Why I don't is a whole other post in itself. I am ready for winter to be over after our first snow. And this season, we have had well over the yearly allocation of snow. I think snow is pretty to look at, and fun to play in like once a year. So, it's time for the cold and grey skies to turn into sun and blue skies. It’s also time for the nasty salt on my car to go! I need sun, warmth, and blooming flowers! AND my skin needs some Vitamin D!  

As a nurse, I tend to "self-diagnose," as I'm sure most of us do! So with this blah attitude toward winter, every year, I diagnose myself with this disease: "Seasonal Depression." I think the technical term is "Seasonal Affective Disorder." (I thought I totally invented this disorder, but I guess some super smart Dr. claimed the title before me...sigh...)

My symptoms include:

A.) increased tiredness and sleeping

B.) lack of energy

C.) overeating, especially carbohydrates

D.) withdraw from social activities (less "going out" in my case.)

Treatments are:

A.) light therapy

B.) anti-depressants

C.) ionized air therapy.

My therapy would just be to go on an extended vacation! Cure all! Ahhhhhh.....just me dreaming. It would be nice if we could all just give up our jobs for a few months and move to the beach and not worry about our bills, and other responsibilities...oh, a girl can dream!

Well, until spring and happy weather & happier moods, OR a time of extended vacations & less responsibilities, happy winter!

theme song...

This weekend my friends and I saw Country Strong! We all LOVVVVVED the movie! Last night I downloaded the soundtrack. There are two: one by real country singers like Faith Hill, Sara Evans, Hank Williams Jr, etc. And there is one with just the songs sung by the actors in the movie! This is the one I wanted!!! The song Leighton Meester sings called Summer Gril is great! The lyrics are words are my theme song for the coming months! Here's the chorus:

'Cause I'm just a summer girl 
I wear my flip flops 
And when I let my hair down 
That's when the party starts 
And who needs a boyfriend 
I've got my girlfriends 
And when we get together 
The summer never ends 

stroke

This past Monday was the 4 year anniversary of when I had a stroke. I was 22 at the time and had just started my last semester of nursing school. I had a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale), a birth defect of the heart that was undetected and blood clot went through to my brain. I had a heart catheterization in which a cardiologist placed a device to permanently close the hole. I regained movement of my left side with in a couple days and was released from the hospital after only a 4 day stay. I was so blessed to be young at the time and have a young body and brain able to recover so quickly with no deficits. I just wanted to share some of the pictures from that hospital stay and the device in my heart that permanently closed the PFO.

My hospital room with so many pretty flowers:

The giraffe is from my friend Katharine who sat with my aunt and I in the hospital after her 12 hour clinical shift until my parents got there. It was like 2 a.m. I'm sure she was exhausted. {Side note: my parents were both out of town. Dad was in Colorado for a ski trip and had to fight delayed flights to get back. And mom was in Florida} The big pink bear is from the 2 kids I babysat for  >10years. So Sweet.

 From my parents:

 Amplatzer PFO Occluder

Please do not judge. I look like a corpse in that bed. But these are some of my nursing school friends who came to visit {2 are my cousins!}.

I learned what it was to be a patient that week. I hope I never forget that feeling so I will always treat my patients with compassion and help them in any way I can during such a compromising time in their life.

it is with my pleasure, i introduce to you, ME!

I figured a way to start this blog is to tell you all a little about me. Remember back in middle school all the chain e-mails with long lists of questions/fill ins you had to copy and paste to a new e-mail and answer about yourself then send back? Well, I'll imitate that in this post!

*College Attended? University of Kentucky

*Career: Nurse. I work in the Neurosurgical ICU at the University of Kentucky Hospital. Our patient population has any type of brain injury from brain tumors to aneurysms to trauma. I have learned so much {that is NOT taught in nursing school,} and I have a new outlook on life and how I would {not} want to live. I've seen so many sad, depressing cases, which gives me a an appreciation for the life I have and know I am so blessed. I also have learned it can be taken away in a blink of an eye.

*Siblings? One sister, Emily. She is four years younger than me and completely opposite of me. I think we have grown closer, and started getting along more when she went to college. We had a lot more in common at that point in our lives and could/can talk about stuff without creating an argument! She is so funny, smart, a great friend, and pretty much amazing. {That's for you Em, since you always ask if I tell people how amazing you are! So, I did!} This is us {a surprise gift taken for our parents this past Christmas by my cousin's husband (so he's now my cousin too!) www.nickkeyphotos.com}

*Favorite Color? Pink and Green. I wear more pink. And if you have been in my house you know I have a kitchen this color:

And I have a green couch!

*Right or Left handed? RIGHT! Bad signature though

*Favorite Music? I go from one end of the spectrum to the other. Country<--->Rap. 

*Favorite Movie? I don't think I have a favorite, but this might be. 

Kate Hudson is soo funny! I love her! I think she might be a little crazy in real life, but I still love watching her in movies! 

I also love a good intense thriller movie. Basically, I'll watch and enjoy anything EXCEPT weird Sci-Fi stuff.

*Political Affiliation? Very Conservative. 

*Coke or Pepsi: Neither. No carbonated beverages for this girl. I like sweet tea, water, juices.

*Religious Views? I have grown up in Church of Christ. I believe Jesus died for our sins and is coming back one day. I believe God has a plan for my/our lives and I have faith He is going to lead me in the direction He wants me. I have struggled lately with making myself get up and go to church on Sunday morning with my family. I work nights, so I use the excuses, "I can't get up early", or "I worked last night." I want stop making excuses!

*Pets? My child: Stella. She is a 5 1/2 lb. Toy Poodle and just turned 1 this past Halloween! You will definitely see more of her! Here's a few pics of the princess: 

*Favorite dessert/candy? Creme brule. MmmMmm. Chocolate covered strawberries. De-lish. 

*First Job? I wrapped Christmas presents in the mall! I don't mean to brag, but I have great paper creasing, wrapping skills.  My bow work needs a ton of work though!

*1st Boyfriend? I had a crush on a boy named Kyle in 7th grade. I liked him allllllllllll year. Finally, last day of school, he "asked me out." Oh, the days of middle school crushes!

*Favorite quality in myself? Honesty. I cannot tell a lie.

*Tattoos/Piercings: No tattoos. I had my nose pierced 2 separate times. {Just a small rhinestone stud} Once removed for parental demands, freshman year of college, and secondly for work. It isn't allowed to have piercings other than your ears, so I had to wear a "spacer." Mine fell out right before work and I didn't have time to purchase a new one :( By the next morning, it has already started to grow back. Ah, I loved it and would still have it today if I could!

*Blessed to have_____? Loving, supportive parents who are active in my life. They have instilled in me the principles to lead my life and I hope one day I can do the same for my children. 

There's so much more I could add, but this is just a start! I hope you all enjoy my blog and maybe find my boring and uneventful life in some way exciting to read about!

love, 

lauren

it's all so new...

I've wanted to blog for a few months now, and I need to learn a lot of things! I need a lot of help! I downloaded this free design from a website, but don't know how to get my twitter to link, or for that fact-anything else!
I am currently at work, using my 12 hours of patient care, to blog!
I would appreciate any and all help/suggestions!
love,
lauren