Nose to the grindstone

23 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

My blog has been sadly neglected over the last few weeks.

All of my efforts lately have been concentrated on my Return to nurse practice course. I have done 4 shifts so far on the unit and it all seems to be going well, if not a little exhausting. But thankfully I’m not as fatigued as I feared I would be.

At the moment I’m working on my reflective assignment, I’m sat surrounded by articles on my chosen subjects and I’m desperate for a break. So I have decided to add to my posts for a bit of light relief.

Before I felt able enough to return to nursing I started reading about creative writing. So it’s been difficult trying to get out of the habit of writing creatively and subjectively, and start writing in an analytical style again. The last time I wrote a University level essay was about 9 years ago and I’m very rusty.

The submission date is looming and I’m conscious that I’m running out of time, but I know that I work better under pressure. When I was studying with the Open University I was up very late still writing an assignment the night before I was due to go to New York. I posted it, a day before the due date, at Heathrow Airport just before checking in.

I’ve tried so hard over the years to be more disciplined in my studies but without success. But as the old adage goes,  ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’, every assignment I’ve written has achieved a pass mark in varying numbers.  So I’m not losing too much sleep over it………yet!

The only way is down

19 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

I had a very pleasing weigh-in at fat club this week.

I have lost another 3 and a half pounds…… yippie!! That means a total weight so far of 15 and a half pounds, (7 kilos).

Last week I gained 1 pound and didn’t really want to share that news online as I was not feeling too chuffed about it.

Now I’ve achieved my 1 stone target, I’m on to my 10% target and that’s only another 2 and a half pounds now.

I am desperate to buy some new clothes but I need to wait until I’ve reached my target weight. It’ll be more satisfying then I think.

Where were you when……(No 2)

11 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

On this day in 2001 the Twin Towers in Manhattan were struck by airplanes hijacked by terrorists.

When it happened I was in the middle of a run of night shifts. I would normally have still been in the land of nod at the time that the first airplane ploughed into the North Tower, but for some reason I can’t explain, I got up early from my slumber and turned on the TV just as the second airplane crashed into the South Tower.

My first thought was I was watching an afternoon ‘made for TV’ movie, it wasn’t until the monitor switched to a news reader did I realise that the images were real.

At that time I had already booked a holiday to visit New York for myself, my sons and my mum for March the following year. My oldest son, Scott, was very apprehensive about flying there after what had happened on 9/11 and he needed a lot of support and persuasion to go ahead with the holiday.

We had a fantastic time in the Big Apple and saw all the sights. But what struck me about Ground Zero was how dusty it still was after 7 months, it was like a blanket over buildings and streets. The site was still devastated with buildings half standing and rubble everywhere.

A year later when I returned with some friends, Ground Zero looked completely different. The dust was gone, the rubble cleared and some of the buildings were rebuilt. There was an exhibition showing the plans for the new tower and a huge wall covered with memorials and messages that were so moving.

Conspiracy theories aside, I will never understand how humans can plot and carry out this kind of terrorism and murder thousands of innocent people. Let’s hope and pray that we don’t have to witness the like of it ever again.

The week that was

08 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

I have survived my week of induction and I have come through it very well. I expected to feel like I’d been run over by a bus this morning but apart from needing a short nap this afternoon, I’ve felt ok all day.

Most of the week was interesting, I met a lovely bunch of people and it felt fantastic to be part of an organisation again. I really loved having a purpose to my life again, I’ve even enjoyed catching the bus and people watching on the way.

But the best part of the week was finding out that my CRB clearance had arrived. So at last after months of waiting I can finally start my nurse practice hours for my return to nurse practice course. I am working a late shift tomorrow and I can’t wait to get stuck in.

I am now feeling very optimistic that I will complete the minimum hours by November and I will get my assignment written by next month.

After the last few months of waiting and stressing about being able to complete the course, I can now see an end in sight. I am getting closer to getting Hasan over here so that we can be together.

 

 

All good so far

05 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

Today I finished my 3rd day of an induction week for my honorary contract and my new job at South Bristol Community Hospital.

As you would probably expect the day’s programmes have been quite hard going and full on. Some of the sessions have been mind-numbingly boring, but that has been a small minority. On the whole it hasn’t been a complete waste of energy and I have found myself engaged for the majority of the time.

The highlight of the week so far has been the Violence and Aggression session this morning. It’s hard to get excited about a session that will run into a 3 hour duration, so I must admit I thought it would be a hard slog and a struggle to stay awake.

But the trainer was excellent, he was a cross between Chris Rock and Lenny Henry and was extremely funny. He managed to get all the information across while keeping us entertained for the whole 3 hours.

So far this week, although I have felt very tired, I haven’t felt fatigued or ill. This is very encouraging, this hopefully means I will cope reasonably well with work when I start.

Back on track

03 Sep 2012 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , ,

This week I went back to Weight Watchers after a week off for the bank holiday.

I’ve lost another 2 pounds, which totals 13 pounds so far. I wish I’d lost 1 more pound then I’d have reached my 1 stone target.

I also worked out my body mass index, (BMI) since I’ve started at fat club it’s gone from 29 to 26.9, which is really good so far.

When I’ve lost 5 more pounds I’d have lost 10% of my starting body weight, then I can set my goal weight that’s between BMI 20 and 25.

I must say I’ve started noticing a difference now in my clothes and my body shape. My love handles, muffin top and bingo wings are all disappearing  nicely and it’s really encouraging.

Also well done to my friend Deb who lost another 2 pounds.