neat stuff

Makenna Francis, RN.

So as you may already know- I am a RN now!! yay! all that hard work really paid off! Wow, I have been blessed so much. So many great things are happening right now! I also have a fabulous job that I am going to love. I only know of 2 other student in my class of 40 that has a job. Nobody wants to train new grads right now, its too expensive. I am going to be working in the PICU which stands for pediatric intensive care unit. Its where the REALLY sick children go. It will be stressful at times and there is a lot to learn, but i am so excited! I didn't want anything other than an ICU so its perfect. The only downside is that i will be working night shift- 7pm-7am. But the upside of that is getting a 20%increase for that shift:)

Also, we bought a home (yay!) it was super cheap too (well compared to what it was going for a few years ago) !! and we LOVE it! its so nice. of course my camera had dead batteries when i went to take some pics of it :\ so i'll post some later.

friday night date night

So apparently the first friday of every month there is free admission to the children's museum of phoenix from 6pm-10pm...we went and it was soooooo fun!!! so much fun stuff for the kids. we stayed until they kicked us out:) we might make this a tradition. let me know if you wana go together!
http://www.childrensmuseumofphoenix.org/default.aspx

hangin out at nana's

ok this first pic is from an other day when dylan was sporting the shag hair. I love it!!!

yay december is finally here:)

it's been a while since my last post!! i guess i was just too busy enjoying having nothing to do!! ah, its been great. oh, by the way, I'm a nursing school graduate!!! woo hoo! i actually ended up doing really well on my final:) yay. now im doing my "internship" thingy- (preceptorship) I'm in the PICU at st joe's and its pretty cool. I've seen some seriously sick children but it's been good experience. my actual graduation date is next wednesday- the 9th. Then i just need to take my boards and i'll be on my way. I was offered a job where i work, at cardon's children's hospital in the picu:) we'll see if it actually goes through. oh and its night shift, so a little different than what im used to.



Dylan turns 2 on saturday!!! wow. he is so cute and big. lately, his favorite things are- trucks, tractors, trains, elephants, the movie cars, and the garbage man ("maih man"). 100% boy.



Gene finishes up his classes within a week too! yay! were definitely going to have a nice christmas this year!!



Let's see, what else?? oh, i ran in the turkey trot and almost beat the turkey!! i missed him by 1 minute! >:\ thats ok, maybe next year. my sister beat the turkey though:) good job tina! here are my results if you wana see...you can search other people through this link too...

http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=70865225&rsID=87521

i'm also running in the london's run on jan 30th....let me know if you wana join me!! We got our pics done to by a fabulous photographer who is just starting out. he did sooooo good. totally under-priced. this is his website if you want to check him out. i will post more of our pics as soon as we get them but heres a couple:)


http://grandviewphotographyaz.com/







to say the least, December has been a long awaited month:)

"Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."

-John Updike

kush 5k race day

some pics from the race- (sorry about the random half naked girl in the back)

our team was me, gene, big gene and karen my parents-in-law, hannah is there too, she ran for a family friend named amy something.... im not sure of her last name but shes 51 and came in a little after 26mins. our results are going to be posted at this website...

http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/Kush09.htm

it was a fun morning! my gene is a stud and ran with dylan in the stroller the whole time! he came in super fast considering he was pushing a massive 30 pound boy! dylan did perfect the whole time too- i was worried that he'd freak out half way through but we gave him some fruit snacks and he was good to go;) thanks for being good sports everyone and running! Big gene beat us all;) the race was actually his bday present from gene and i- happy bday!! see you at the turkey trot!

Instead of thinking this life is about having a physical body with spiritual experiences, i would prefer to look at life as having a spiritual body, with physical experiences.

-me

not for the faint of heart...

sorry if you've tried accessing my blog recently without any luck, it has been under construction...well that and i actually was super busy studying for my test at school. its over now and i passed;) when you get to this point in nursing school, for most of us who have lives out side of school, all you care about is passing, not A's. thats where im at at least! only 4 weeks to go....

clinicals have been so crazy. i have spent 6 days total in different areas in the ICU- Cardiac, Trauma, and Neuro. I have probably learned more in the last few weeks in those areas than i have in my entire program. my last 2 days there on monday and tuesday were so crazy. it was hard, both days i had patients that were extremely critical. on monday, i had a young guy, in his 20's. he was so sick that he had a DNR order (do not resuscitate). it was decided to take him off life support bc there literally was nothing else any doctor in the world could do for him, and he was only getting worse. He did end up passing on while i was there outside the room, watching his monitor. his whole family was in there with him. it was hard for me, to be honest. i guess something like that would be hard for anyone. the worst part was his mom- she was holding him and kept calling him her beautiful baby boy. i kept thinking... hey, i have one of those. it also was so sudden. he got an infection that spread faster than anyone could have predicted and within 2 days he was in the icu and within 4 days, dying. it had attacked everything in his body. i will never forget his tattoo on his arm that said 'don't count your days, make your days count'.

the next day on tuesday, i came in the morning to a women with a pelvic fracture that should normally be uncomplicated but bc of other health issues, her body could not stop bleeding internally. from school i know the seriousness of her condition so i was getting nervous seeing subtle changes in her vital signs of her going down hill. fortunately, i was with probably the best nurse that hospital has to offer (shes been there for 33 years). she had bled so much it got to the point that there was medically nothing left to do to help her. the doctors asked her daughter that day what she wanted them to do. she just cried.

i hope i havent disturbed anyone. My main reasons for posting this is because stuff like this happens all the time, without notice. i had a serious reality check over the past few weeks and i have contemplated many things that i have never thought to before. i am grateful for my family everyday. and i am starting to realize the importance of living close by. Gene and i have always wanted to move far away and do something new, and i was annoyed bc thats just not practical right now. but i have been coming to an understanding of only having one life to live, and the importance of the people in it- more so than places to see...the importance of being close, while you can.

"Don't count your days, make your days count"

-any of us

sweet emotion

i thought it was so funny that dylan was wearing his elephant hat while riding his horse after bath time, i had to get a pic...

of course he then wanted the camera...

and i said no, so off with the ugly hat and freak out time....

and then off the dumb horse and here it comes...

wo. hes over it now. put the cool hat back on, saddle up on the fun horse again, he has a more important agenda then trying to get that silly camera anyway....

i thought boys were supposed to be the ones with less emotion!!!
after he got over it he let me take more pics without interuption;)

anyway! school is madness! right now were doing neurological intensive care- and i actually should probably be studying right now so im going to keep this short. i just really wanted to get this pics of dylan up. gene's a mad man taking 3 classes and working full time right now. hes super smart so hes got it under control:)

all clear

block 4 is way more challenging than i anticipated! but i guess thats expected. we just had our 2nd intensive care test over cardiac- so if youre needing a open heart bypass surgery, valve replacement, long term antibiotics for endocarditis, pacemaker or internal defibulator, or, like in my case, needing to actually have unsynchornized cardioversion (because nursing school makes you go into ventricular fibrilation)-i can tell you all about it. i spent monday and tuesday in the CVICU (cardiovascular intensive care) for clinicals. i loved it! i know this whole time ive been saying i am going to work in peds, but i think im expanding my horizon slightly. the cvicu is where you get the fresh postops from open heart surgery- rad! they're all on breathing machines (ventilators) and have like 10 lines hooked up to them. ya i know thats not everyone's thing but it was soooo cool. this next week we will be in neuro ICU and then trauma ICU all at good sam. cool! trauma! hey, someones gotta like it.

besides crazy school, everything is going really great! genes busy with his online classes, and work. dylan is talking all the time! he tries really hard to make sense too.

Dylan's Blessing june 2008

I know these pics are from soooo long ago but im on my sister's computer and I dont have these ones! aw he was so little.

my blonde baby- dylan 21 months

aw i miss his long hair when i see pics like this!! :( he is almost 2!! i know hes not a baby anymore, but he'll always be my baby:)

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

For babies grow up, we've learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs

Dust, go to sleep

I'm rocking my baby,

and babies don't keep."

-Anon

here's to marriage!!

so this saturday is our 6 months anniversary! and its been a year since we met. we first started talking on the phone and from the very first time i heard his voice, i loved it. i loved everything about him from that point on. he really was like a dream come true. i even loved how shy he was! it was so cute. he got over the shy thing after a couple months haha. i truly have never been happier in my life and i am so grateful! there is nothing else in this life i can ask for at this point, having a family is the best.

"If I know what love is, it is because of you"
-Herman Hesse

the last six months of being married to gene have been the best 6 months of my entire life, forever doesn't seem long enough with gene. he is so supportive of everything i do or would like to do, whether its my education, running, playing volleyball, doing races...not only by just saying 'sounds fun, you should do it' but he encourages me and does whatever he can do possible to help me accomplish the things i want. when we first met, i really thought he was too good to be true, but its actually just how he is all the time, and he is too good, but still true;)
genie me gustaria decirte cuanto te quiero (es muchisimo;) , pero no puedo porque te quiero mas que te puedo decir! eres el jim mio;)

also, i never really posted any wedding pics, of gene and i- so whats a better time than 6 months later!haha. heres a couple...

switching gears here... so this morning i went to wake dylan up for church and he was completely naked, well actually he still had his lighting mcQueen shirt on, heaven forbid he takes that thing off. ew. who knows what hour of the night that went down. anytime at the store when i would see onsies for 24 month old kids i would think... ew, what kind of weird parents would make their 2 yr old wear a onsie!! and how goofy that kid would look! well im the weird parent and dylan is the goofy kid now. funny how those things back fire on you.


oh following up on an earlier post... i finally got placed for my preceptorship!! i got my first choice- st joe's pediatric intensive care unit!!! wow it was so neat to learn that. before we found out our instructor said that less than 1/3 the class got thier first choice. i was sure it wasnt me so i prepared myself to be bumed- but it worked! yay! im so excited! but at the same time scared out of my brain tissue i think i may be accumulating increased intracrainial pressure...that could be very serious, you know. jk but seriously, this is the best hospital in the state, and maybe top 20 this side of the Mississippi for critical care. it will be a really good experience tho... i have my final for block 4 Nov. 16th and everything is down hill after that;)




gene and i went to my cousins show the other night and it was awesome!! im a huge fan! not just bc he's my cuz either! (hes the one with the long hair) they have a song out that actually made it to a movie!

ps dont forget were going private! leave your email... ;)

going private!!!

so ive considered this for a while, especially hearing a few creepy stories recently, and by gene's request...i know its so convientient this way sorry! but i figured if you are really interested then it wont be a big deal to put in the extra step to read about our lives!! please leave your email address in the comment box!!! maybe in about 3 weeks?? thanks;)

i dont have any new pics yet, just old ones...

dr. garmin

9/1/2009



Total Distance-4.26 miles

Total Time- 36:22 minutes

Avg Pace- 8.46/mi

Avg Speed- 6.4 mph

Max Speed- 8.9 mph

Total Calories- 392

Total Ascent- 238 ft

Total Descent- 233 ft



this is the information that spits out of my Garmin that Gene dear got me;) pretty nifty. I am just figuring out how to use it and its the coolest. it helps me pace myself. and since im training and trying to get faster, i dont want to under eat, so it gives me a good idea of how many calories i need to add (which is never a prob;) so i dont exhaust myself throughout the day. It also gives me a detailed map of my route with a graph that shows my pace. i also have a heart monitor that i havent used yet-maybe i'll give it a shot next time tho. im training for half marathon in january, but theres also a 5k in October that Gene and i are doing with his mom and dad. its not a big race or anything, but i still want it to be faster than my last 5k which i think was around 23:45 or somethin. so i finally got up this morning at 5:15 and went running! finally! it was pretty hard and it definitely wasnt my fastest pace so i just focused on distance. i only had 40 mins to run bc gene had to leave for work...but i imagine if i make a habit out of it, it will get easier. i totally cheated and went back to bed until dylan woke up haha. im not that hard core apparently.

block 4 started and its going to be very challenging, to say the least. not only it the content intense (which makes sense since its critical care haha, sorry im done with the bad nurse jokes) but i am completely strapped. clinicals are 2 days a week and i am working part time at the hospital, and trying to be a mom and a sain wife. i dont even want to think about the madness, i'll just take it day by day, by day by day lol.

Gene is fabulous, as usual, just going to school (online) and working. hes pretty excited about football season starting...i already know im going to need to forewarn our new neighbors so they dont call the cops on us bc he freaks out at the game. the other night he was watching a game and i fell asleep on his chest and numerous times he actually jumped up and started yelling some gibberish at the tv, i was like excuse me! do you not see me trying to sleep here!? haha he was completely oblivious. i laughed about it the following morning, it wasnt as funny in the moment:) i guess you can say that he gets really into it. ;)

dylan is getting so BIG! and we had a major accomplishment this week!!! yay he did peepee in the potty!!! woo hoo! it only took 25 mins and 3 books but it happened! he of course got a cookie and went on his merry way. i wonder if he even tried or if he just sat there long enough he had to go?? either way we celebrated!

About this pic on top- he was completely covered in applesauce, i think he pretended it was shampoo. so i decided to just take him in the shower w me to hose him down. so i take him upstairs while trying to hold him away from me and try to go in our bedroom and its locked!! dylan locked us out of our room at some point. so i ask gene to come and try to open it. so all of us are in the hallway im trying to keep dylan from touching anything, gene had to remove the handle. we looked pretty silly.

"I have never been hurt by what I have not said."

~Calvin Coolidge