Nothing has really changed for me over the last few weeks, I continue to go to placement, work, and try to shop. The only difference is no NASCAR, slot car racing or Micropubs for a few months. I don’t feel anything different, the days don’t feel any different, I just can’t get a delivery in the next few weeks, I will stay away from the major large supermarkets, shop at local or on the way home from work. I am thankful that I can continue to pay my bills.
I hope everyone is staying safe, too many people are treating this as a holiday. Oh the sun is out therefore I must go out!!
As it currently stands I am still on placement in Neuro Theaters and loving it. I can cancel the placement if I want to but the uni doesn’t know yet how/when I’ll be able to make up the missed hours & assessments. As I also work as a HCA within the trust I don’t see me cancelling unless I HAVE to. Some placements are contacting the uni to cancel, in neuro theatres, we will continue to have emergency & cancer surgeries but there is talk, like with most trust, about turning recovery into extra ICU beds. ALL electives will be cancelled from 15th April and that just happens to be my last week there.
All uni classes have been cancelled (due back in May) and we only have 1 exam while I can see being online.
There is talk of having nursing student being HCA’s within the hospitals and being paid, that’s a good thing for those not already employed, but I already work a permanent role as well as on the bank. I can see many not wanting to do it, especially those that don’t need to the money. Now if we get the governments £1000 per month ‘wage’ then I’ll be quids in!
Food shopping isn’t as crazy as the media make it out to be but I am avoiding the large supermarkets and going local. Two of my delivery came with half my order missing! I was only trying to do my normal monthly shop. The local micropubs are slowly shutting or reducing to take out only 🙁
I will continue to work through all this and hope everyone stays save during this time
I have officially registered onto my final year of nursing, this means I’m a soon to qualify nurse! I can now start applying for roles.
Some people may say it’s too early to be doing this but I know of people who have received job offers in October with a start date of the following September. I see it as more opportunities to land that role, especially if you want to work in a certain area.
I’ve applied to 3 or 4 in Worthing/Chichester, 1 in Brighton, and even one in Portsmouth. I’m just hoping that a job I want comes up, I really don’t see myself in elderly care.
I can’t be that picky though and I will accept pretty much any job. It’s best to have multiple offers rather than none at all.
Not sure if anyone in my cohort has started applying yet. I know some won’t for a while. To think that by March I could have my first role as a NQN!
You’ll find most healthy eating or lifestyle bloggers eating low fat this low fat that. Sharing pictures of their acai or smoothy bowls and saying vegan is the way to go. I’m most definitely not one of them.
I don’t eat much fruit, for one it’s expensive and I’m not much of a fan of most of it.
I am looking to be more healthy but for me, some people are only joining the latest ‘trend’ and have no clue about food. I don’t pretend to know anything either, I just know what I like, don’t like and don’t want to be thinking ‘oh let me check the ingredients before eating that’.
I’m not a batch cook person, I’ll make my dinners on the night, I think I’m too lazy for this to be honest.
Trendy things I don’t like:
acai bowls
smoothies/smoothie bowls
juices
nuts
seeds
yoghurts
fruit – all cooked & tinned, most fresh fruit
almond milk
soya milk
protein powders
granola – can’t stand raisins or sultanas
protein bars – most
Things I do like:
veggies/salads – a select few
fish
meats
dairy
ready meals – shock!
fruit – apples (only granny smiths), lemons, lime, berries & cherries, bananas
guacamole + toast + 2 eggs
Spinach + bean salad + mushroom + orange pepper
Spinach + mexican beans + teriyaki mackeral
So I am trying to be healthy.I don’t do dressings on the side or only eat half a chicken breast. I try and make my meals high protein. Oh and I usually don’t have breakfast, I start to eat anytime after 10am, it isn’t the most important meal of the day.
I am aiming to make a sensible choice as all meals but if I want dairy or red meat I’ll have it.
Working day
10am – boiled egg + cereal bar 14pm – salad + chicken or fish + lots of dressing 22pm – ready meal
Uni day
7am – protein bar 12pm – salad + chicken or fish + cheese 18pm – dinner + lots of veg
Day off
10am – egg + spinach + mushroom 13pm – salad + veg or cheese on toast 18pm – dinner + lots of veg or ready meal if OH is working late
I have days where I go over my calories, days where I don’t get much protein in. I track my calories & macos with MFP and think it is a great tool get people starting to understand the food they eat.
My anxiety has been a cloud all around me these past few weeks. I’m able to get out of the house but if it’s something I don’t want to do, like going to work, I want to hide from the world. I need to know exactly what is going on & what is going to happen. If it’s something new to me, I want to freak out and I don’t know what to do.
I’ve cancelled a ‘few’ shifts with one job this year and now I’m only able to book 24hrs ahead. I went into Brighton last Saturday ready to throw myself into a shift on a ward I’d never worked at before but before I’d even gotten off the bus I had decided not to go. Strangely I wasn’t freaking out about doing the shift or the fact that I had just blown it off. I decided to cancel my next 2 shifts due to a cold/flu basically spending all my time in bed over the weekend. It was on Monday when I was enquiring about shifts for this Friday that I got an email with an attached letter, dated 6th January, stating that I had had all my shifts cancelled and I was only to book 24hrs before! If I had actually gone in for that Saturday shift I would have been turned away anyway.
Since then I have booked a shift for tonight and waiting on confirmation of a shift for tomorrow night. I have also been approved and started at the agency I recently joined. I have a shift Saturday night and then earlies all next week. The pay isn’t as good as the hospital for nights & weekends but it is for days and it’s more local. I am going to give this a try if I don’t like the care home I just won’t go back.
I am still waiting on a date to go for my induction at the private hospital. They asked for my availability in Feb, so I gave them that and also said I’m free the rest of January. Haven’t heard back just yet.
To top things off, I have gone into my OD which I can’t afford to get out of. My food order was meant to be paid on PayPal credit (yes I know bad me) but in fact, it came out of my bank account and I have no money other than like £12 cash for the rest of the month. Thankfully My jobs are weekly paid so I’ll have money next Friday & I get my student loan start of Feb.
So I had a meltdown as at Christmas event on Sunday. I don’t know what really went on I don’t remember much of it. One min I’m having a great time the next I’m in tears and feeling all alone. I can’t face seeing the people I was with that day (other than OH) or going to that pub for a long time. In fact, I don’t even want to leave the house. I called in sick for my placement yesterday and cancel my bank shift for today. Now I need to make up those hours and that pay.
Speaking of pay, I have no idea how I am going to pay the bills in January or the CCJ if I get one. One thing going my way (I think) is that I might be able to push the ccj back to January by saying I can’t do the mediation on 12th December. I can’t see I’d get a court date for December. Also, Moriarty never show up to court so it goes against them.
I’m feeling very down at the moment, not saying much at all and looking distant.
One good piece of news. I got my final uni marks yesterday and I got 88% on one of the components!!! I’ve never had anything like that before. Due to having 2 very poor marks, my overall grade will be sitting on the border of 2:2/2:1 but I’m happy with that. On;y the OSCE to come back but no-one ever fails that.
