HAPPY NEW YEAR! Reflections continued...

Happy New Year to whoever may be reading this!  I hope that 2010 brings you plenty of love, joy, hope and enjoyment.

I started off the day on a good foot - the kids cooked me brekky!  I have been finding it really hard to sleep past 5am most mornings of late, because of my back/leg aching.  This morning I was blessed with waking at 6am!  Better than a 4am start, which is what I lived with yesterday!

So, here I am at 10:30am, completing my story that I started last night before I headed off to bed.

July and August saw me very very busy!  They went past in a whirl of activity - study, attending lectures at the uni, getting kids off to daycare, more study, 'work' at the hospital, celebrating mine and Mickey's birthdays, making sure the older kids had done their homework, study (again), keeping house (the older kids have their daily chores, but, lets face it.....they just dont do as good a job as me!), study (yep - more!), spending quality time on weekends with Pete and the kids (I kept Sunday as a 'sanity' day - where I would not pick up a book or go online for anything), etc, etc, etc.  Lots of late nights and early mornings, but all worth it in the end!

September was pretty much the same thing......just as busy!  I found myself slotting into a routine, though.  The kids were well and truly into their routine and things went smoothly!  They were aware of when I had to be at the uni and when I had to be at the hospital with the help of a timetable on the fridge.  Heaps of organisation has been happening here!  I spose you have to when you are busy, busy, busy!

October saw the end of my 2nd term of uni and the start of 2 weeks of exams (actually 4 exams over 4 days, but it was 2 weeks in the making).  The good thing was that I had the hardest one first and the easiest one last.  I am pleased to say that I passed all of my courses.  Not with flying colours, like I would like (I could have done a little better with Human Physiology if I had've studied a little better), but I passed all the same!  As a bonus, because they have changed the whole Bachelor of Nursing, I do not have to do anything over this term (uni is essentially 3 terms throughout the year - March to June, July to October and November to February - not much is offered in the 3rd term, because it is over Christmas and people tend to lose focus a little...wonder why?  hehe). 

My last day of prac turned out to be just 4 1/2 hours long (a total of 176 hours were to be completed).  I worked it so that I could have a little extra time to study for my exams.  This day proved to be a little busier than usual (for a Thursday) and I found that I did not leave as early as I intended!  It also proved, again, that I should listen to my instincts and talk up when I feel that something is going to go wrong!  In short, I had a patient faint on me.  Our notes told us that she was to be assisted by two people at all times when mobile, but the enrolled nurse that I was working with thought that she would be ok.  My instincts thought better, but I thought that, because the nurse I was working with had a little more experience than I, she would know better.  I ended up behind her, breaking her fall with my right leg under her bottom and preventing her from falling back onto the toilet, onto the toilet roll holder or wherever else she may have hurt herself in that tiny, tiny bathroom.  No time to run outside the bathroom and hit the 'Nurse Assist' button just outside the door and not much room to move to put her gently on the floor so that I could.  I was trapped and no one heard my calls or me hitting the walls.  It seemed like it took ages for someone to come back in!  By that time, the patient had woken, again, and we got her to the shower chair.  I felt fine after, but it wasnt until that night that I started to feel the affects that it had on my back!  I found myself going to the emergency room, once again, and being referred to the physiotherapy department for treatment.

So this is where November finds me - totally UNbusy, with the end of uni for the year, and having the boys at home an extra 2 days a week (I had to put them into care for 4 days while I was doing my courses) and attending physiotherapy.  I had the pleasure of being treated by a student who had almost completed his training.  I apparently gave him a new challenge!  He soon worked out that I am also having problems with my sacroiliac joint!  This also affects the sciatic nerve, causing the pain (and this time numbness in my outer 3 toes).  After a couple of sessions and doing the exercises that he gave me, I felt a little better - better enough to reclaim my elliptical cross trainer from my friend and get onto it every day for at least 20 mins at a time (once in the morning to get me moving - slow - and once at night to get my fitness up).  November is also when I found my crochet mojo again and I began whipping up Christmas presents by the dozen!  I planned on finding a job as well, but with my back/leg being the way that it is, I reneged until I feel better - just focus on getting my fitness up and then look at doing something like that.

December saw the completion of many projects that I started.  Things continued on as usual (unbusy usual).  Pete went away a few times for work, the kids completed their years at school (all quite well, I am proud to say) and Bubba Pete got excited about starting at Prep next year!  It saw us buying a new Christmas tree, decorations and presents.  December was great for the festive spirit and made us feel alive, again.  We spent Christmas day with my family at Boyne Island.  We drank, ate, drank some more and really relaxed!  A good time was had by all, but it was over WAY too quickly!

December made the last year, with all it's ups and downs, seem all worthwhile.  I am really proud of what we achieved together and individually this year!  I know that 2010 is going to be just as challenging and eventful!  Things are going to get a lot busier around here, but I just KNOW that we are going to get through things.  We will lose faith at times and things will seem too hard to do, but we will be together and we CAN work through the good times and hard times together and come out trumps in the end!

I hope that 2010 will be as exciting for you as I know it will be for us!