National Nutrition Month Booth

For all of those who wonder what I do everyday, here is one example. This is the booth we made for National Nutrition Month (the theme is shopping on a budget). This is Jamie (another intern) and me at Geisinger. It may not look like much but a lot of work went into this. On Sunday alone, I spent 15 hours at Geisinger working on it. The Penny Pinchin Produce was my brain child. It's a game participants could play to win a prize (trust me the prizes were a little cheesy). Even though our prices were a bit outdated, I tried to send the message that you can get in 5 fruits and vegetables for less than you might think. Enjoy the photos; I put some pics of spud just for fun.

Readers Beware! Contains Graphic Content

This week I have seen some pretty crazy stuff. I spent sometime with the Wound oand Ostomy nurses (one career I would never want to get into). First there a women with an open abdominal wall. She had gastric bypass surgery and the surgen could not close her back up so they left her abdomen open. It was crazy, I saw her intestines moving around and everything (it kind of looked like the sea creatures we saw in Oregon). Another women I say had an ileostomy which is a surgical opening made by bringing the end or loop of small intestine out onto the surface of the skin and then a pouch is stuck to the skin surrounding the intestine and waste products (poop) are excreted into the pouch (it is as gross as it sounds). Not only do these nurses have to see gross thing, they also have to smell gross things. I think the smell was definitely more disqusting than they looked and the worst part was that I kept smelling it all day. The last intern fainted. Don't worry, I survived it without any problems.

If that was not bad enough, I went to endoscopy and watched colonoscopies. Luckily most patients had a good bowel prep before going (all you over 50 people should know what I'm talking about) and no turds were to be seen.

This past 2 weeks has really been interesting. From what the other interns said about this rotation, I was really dreading it but I have to say this might have been one of the best rotations yet. I have been able to see a wide variety of patients and really been able to build my skills and learn a ton of new stuff about the GI tract, surgery, the nutrition care process and nutrition support, all of which probably sounds pretty lame to you but it has been very interesting to me.

12 week remaining!!!

Have I mentioned yet how cold it has been here. Up until 2 days ago it has been in the 30s and below! YIKES! I never thought I would say this but I miss the Logan winters. It is supposed to warm up this weekend and I hope it stays warm. It's starting the get a little depressing.

One more thing, March is National Nutrition Month so eat right and be healthy!