County Hospital Here We Go

This week was the beginning of my six week rotation at the county hospital.

Much different from the hospital I was at during my clinical rotation last semester. For one, this place is MASSIVE!! I am so glad to be following the dietitians through my weeks because with my directionally challenged self I easily get turned around. There are several windy hallways, lots of stairs and three buildings all connected. The dietitians are keen on using stairs instead of elevators (which I am completely ok with) but they change floors and buildings several times throughout the day, so I'm hoping to have one killer lower body by the end of this rotation. The dietitian I worked with used a pedometer during one of her shifts and said she walked about 2 miles in a day! That's approximately 4000 steps a day, the average individual takes only about 1000 steps a day.

Since we are on our feet so much I purchased some shoe inserts to provide more cushion to my feet. (I feel like such an old lady...) The flats I wear do not have a lot of padding and after day 1 my feet weren't too happy with me. Hopefully these will help with all the walking on hard floors, mastering the stairs and walking from building to building.

My first week was basically an introduction. The first two days I followed my dietitian around, listened while she did assessments, watched as she went through the patients' charts to gather information and we attended a couple of clinical meetings with other health care staff. On the third day with her she gave me the freedom to view the patients' charts, talk with the patients and write our clinical notes while she observed me. It surprised me after only being out of clinical for a few months, how much I felt that I had forgotten, but after a couple of days in the hospital, I felt more comfortable and confident. Everybody keeps saying how fast your clinical knowledge goes if you're not using it and I will completely agree with that statement! I'm afraid now of not working in a hospital because I don't want to lose that information.

During one of my assessments I was discussing food preferences with one of the patients and he mentioned that he wanted a ham sandwich. I was laughing on the inside because it made me think of the Duck Dynasty episode I had just recently watched. Thanks to my father in law for getting us started on that show, it is quite funny I must admit.

Next week I'm with the dietitian who is assigned the floor with the inmates. Being the county hospital, if an inmate requires hospitalization, my site is where they go. I'm nervous about visiting that floor, but curious as well, hopefully I have developed thick enough skin to handle anything they may throw my way. Obviously this is completely different from the previous hospital I was working at.

Which brings me to a quick wrap up of my spring break! Both weekends included weddings, the first weekend we were in Houston for Erika and Joseph's wedding. We had such a blast! The wedding was beautiful and everyone was there to celebrate at the reception. They sat us at the perfect table, directly in front of the bar :) (You two know us so well!) Probably dangerous spot, but we had so much fun!

Congratulations newlyweds!

On our way back to Fort Worth we took a couple of pit stops, first by the massive Sam Houston statue (67 feet tall, plus 10 foot base) and then a trip to the Texas Prison Museum. The museum was really neat and I'm glad Andy and I had the flexibility to spend a couple of extra hours on our way home to visit. We saw "Ol Sparky" the electric chair used during executions and I got to hang out in a prison cell.

I'm in prison!

 Our second weekend was spent in Pasadena, California. We went out a couple days early to visit some of our friends who have moved out there since our TCU days. It was great to be able to visit some of the local places they showed us. The weather was gorgeous out there! Nice and cool in the morning and warmed up slightly in the afternoon, but never too hot. It was bright and sunny too.

There are quite a few gastropubs located throughout the city and one of the neatest was Congregation Ale House. It was set with a church theme, the tips jars were offertory boxes, the staff wore the black shirts with the white under the collar (sorry not sure of the technical name) and the water station was labeled "Holy Water". It was really unique and I know Andy really enjoyed being able to taste some of the local beers that we don't get in Texas.

We had planned to meet up with my incredible friend from forever Laura, but unfortunately she was sick during her spring break. I hate being sick during vacation/time off, such terrible timing. However, I am thrilled to say that her and her boyfriend Jon recently got engaged! Congrats you two!



Congratulations!

~Brittani


"Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:7



Wedding Survey Fun

As Andy and I are celebrating 2 years of marriage, in the spirit of weddings I came across this wedding survey and thought it would be fun, even though I have already walked that aisle!

How long did you date before you got engaged?
We dated for 2 years before getting engaged.

Did you get the ring you wanted?
Better than what I wanted! I had originally picked out a solitaire, but Andy surprised me with a 3 stone engagement ring.

Was the proposal a complete surprise?
It was a surprise! I was expecting a few months later than when it actually occurred.

Did you cry when he proposed?
I might have shed a tear or two...

Was the proposal romantic or creative?
Romantic

Where do you want to go for your honeymoon?
We looked at going to St. Lucia or Antigua, but we went to the Bahamas and had an amazing time!

Are you buying his wedding band for him?

Yes, through the jeweler in Midland where he purchased my ring

Is your wedding band simple or elaborate?
I would say simple, but it does have some sparkle.

Have you gone over your original wedding budget?
With my mother as our planner, we did great staying within budget!

What day of the year will your wedding be?
It was March 12, 2011

What kind of weather?
In Texas you never know how the weather is, but it ended up being about 78 degrees and sunny. A little warm for my taste, but it could have been snowing.

Inside or outside?
Inside, Texas weather is weird and extremely unpredictable

Time of day?
Early evening

Any kind of theme?
No

Will you serve dinner? Plated or buffet?
Buffet dinner, and it was delicious. My favorite was the mashed potatoes!

What are your wedding day colors?
Purple and silver/gray and white

How many bridesmaids? How do you know them?
5 bridesmaids: My sister (MOH) 3 high school friends and 1 TCU friend

What kind of cake/what will it look like?
Traditional white cake with white icing and swirly decorations.

What kind of dress will you have/color/material?
I fell in love with my dress before even trying it on. The designer: Caymen by Blue by Enzoani, white chiffon material.
A side note: my veil was the veil my mother wore on her wedding day

What kind of flowers in your bouquet?
White roses

Will you wear your hair up or down?
I wore it up so it would look good all night long, especially while dancing the night away. My sister's friend did my hair and it stayed in place the entire evening!

Is the reception big or small?
There were about 250 people, so I would say pretty big!

How long is your honeymoon?
We had 6 days for our honeymoon

What will you do?
We just relaxed from all the wedding stress/craziness. Laid out by the pool, beach, attempted to get a tan (I do not tan), and drank fun island drinks.

What is the age difference between you and your groom?
I am one year and 20 days older than Andy.

Have you hired a wedding planner?
We did not have a wedding planner, my mother was the best wedding planner we could have had! She was awesome, super organized and I think if she wanted to go into it professionally she would be extremely successful.

"'Haven't you read,' he replied, 'that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.'" ~Matthew 19:4-6

Spring Break is Here!

Spring Break is upon us and I am very  much looking forward to the break from school. Though I will be working for most of it, it will be nice to not have studying or projects to worry about. Some funny pics I came across that might entertain you (they gave me quite a laugh):

This also marks the end of our community rotation and when we return from break we will begin our culiminating rotations in which I will be at the county hospital for more clinical and the rest of the crew will be at various locations throughout the metroplex. One of the girls will be at WIC working with the breastfeeding counselor, a couple will be a children's hospitals, one will be managing a hospital foodservice, another one will be working with a dietitian who specializes in bariatric surgery, and various other places. I'm excited to hear about everyone's site that they have chosen.

As our community rotations wrapped up my group had a health booth at the TCU Campus Gym, filmed a short video on low sodium and presented a nutrition education session to faculty and staff at TCU. These were the two information handouts I created.

Our Tuesday night nutrition/cooking class came to an end this week. I will definitely miss our group of awesome women, but I am also glad to get my Tuesday nights back and not have 12+ hour days. Our last night with them we had them complete an "Iron Chef" challenge with foods that we provided. They were split up into 3 teams of 3 and of course everyone won, but it was fun watching them come up with dishes.

Group 1: Salmon on Crackers, Bean Dip and Fruit Salad

Group 2: Pasta with Vegetables and Ground Turkey

Group 3: Pasta Salad, Black Beans and Veggie Tray (Can you see the carrot/pepper tree?! So creative!)

Two of the partcipants were so sweet and brought dessert to share with the whole class! Yummy!

On the left is a sweet cornbread and the right is a jelly roll cake topped with coconut. You can bet I had some of each!

Our food delivery rotation will continue throughout the semester, but we will only return twice before the end of the semester. The last day with them before spring break wasn't a bad one. We discussed one of the assignments with the dietitian and it was interesting hearing her comments and why she felt the assignment was beneficial to us. We had to create a 7 day meal plan (based on an individual's health issues) one meal plan was from a typical grocery store with a variety of options and another meal plan was to be created in a "food desert" such as a convenience store because that is what some individuals only have access to. Definitely fewer and more expensive options at the convenience store and our client needed to limit his sodium and there aren't many low sodium options at a 7-Eleven.

I hope all of my fellow classmates have safe and fun spring breaks (I know this is their last one before graduation!!!) And I can't wait to hear about them. Andy and I will be attending a wedding both weekends of spring break and working in between. Wedding season has officially begun!

On a side note, I came across this site that sells fun registered dietitian clothing/accessories and am planning to purchase this sweatshirt once I pass my exam to reward myself.

You can find it and additional clothing/accessory items here. 

~Brittani


"Consider it pure joy, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." ~James 1:2

An Off Week

This past week was a rough one getting to the end. I think it was all the meteors flying around Earth.

My last day at WIC consisted of me basically working as a nutritionist, I did nutrition assessments on the clients and also taught nutrition classes to the participants. Thursday morning I was ready with my game face to take the lead, however I was just having a lot of difficulty speaking and spelling. During some of the assessments with clients I kept jumbling my words making it sound as though I was speaking gibberish, this sort of jumbling talk continued with my classes. Not only was I have a hard time articulating, but during class when I was to write key points on the board for the participants, somehow I could not spell. I'm sure the participants were thinking "That TCU education is really paying off..."

An update to my one site I've been skeptical about... Well, after this week, we are back to square one. I thought things were looking up after having the chance to go out with the dietitians to visit with clients, but this week we made client phone calls and I felt I did my best communicating with the individuals, however the dietitian thought otherwise. She left some not so settling comments about our work and journals we submit each week....

And before we left, we had our usual round table discussion in which she discussed professionalism at our internship rotations. (I guess we weren't professional enough that day) To me it kind of came as a threat because she said employers call them all the time for references on students and is felt as though we'd better make our phone calls or they're going to talk bad about you to future employers.

Awesome motivation to really make me excited about this site for the rest of the semester!

Now we are working with TCU Campus Life and working on a health booth and video. Our booth will feature healthy eating tips during travel, because it will take place shortly before spring break and our video will be about low sodium. Which I know TONS of college kids are super worried about their sodium intake... We will just have to be creative on that one!

We also had the opportunity to recipe test for our preceptor appreciation luncheon taking place in May, and the menu is a hit! Everyone that had the opportunity to try our food loved it. So my group and I are looking very much forward to that.

Spring Break is shortly around the corner and I am ready for it!

~Brittani

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." ~1 Peter 5:7