"Come now, and let us reason together,"
Check out the picture on the left...who knew the Winnie the Pooh ride was so intense??
Here's the 3 kids talking about how much they love learning together!
Here we are, 2 months into the summer break at Biola University and as I reflect on the past semester it feels like a year ago already! I write with rejoicing in my heart for God's faithfulness through provisions and affirmations during this semester and as I look back upon the things I have learned this semester, I praise the Lord for the each of the days that He has provided for me to learn to serve in His kingdom as a nurse! May He use this training for His glory in the future!
The overwhelming theme of this semester was oncology, or the study of cancer. It is amazing how God is at the helm of our lives, it became very clear at the start of this semester that I was not going to just learn about cancer out of a textbook. My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer just about the same time the semester began, so the introduction to oncology became personal right away.
During the semester my hospital rotations (clinicals) were in various departments at the City of Hope, Beckman Research Hospital in Duarte, California. We served for 5 weeks in each area of medical/surgical oncology, hematology, on a shorter stay/overflow oncology unit. I had the opportunity to meet, talk with, pray with, and simply serve a variety of patients at a variety of stages of their cancer experience. I had an opportunity to witness several blood transfusions, as well as several stem cell transplants. I also witnessed extreme pain, hurt, loneliness, and several other aspects of cancer nursing that I will not soon forget.
Each shift I tried to ask my assigned nurse what advice that they would give me as I go on into nursing. My favorite selections were: to remember that nurses are serving patients who are real people (made in the image of God), not lab values or diagnoses, not room numbers or simply just part of my job. The other favorite was to recognize and be grateful for the fact that Biola student nurses have excellent faculty.
This nurse had no Biola affiliation or history whatsoever and she spoke plainly of having over the years observed the faculty from Biola teach in the clinical setting in such a way that doesn't scare, bully, or trap the student in mistakes, rather they seek to provide a learning environment that is safe for both the patient and student, that allows the student to learn along side of RN's and that challenges the student to make the most of their student clinical opportunities. Many of my teachers have clinical experience with the material/concepts they teach or have had firsthand experience with the pathophysiologies (illnesses) that they are teaching about. This makes the teaching so much more valuable and I, along with the aforementioned nurse both have observed that God has provided great instructors for Biola. I am not sure how many of my instructors will ever read this, but I praise God for them, and recognize that it is no coincidence that they are where they are today, but for God's work and hand in their own lives, they serve Him, and in doing so, minister to and encourage student's and other RN's in the process.
As a follow up, my dad just got his first blood test results back, and thus far, they indicate that his first cancer treatment was successful! Praise the Lord with us!
I am looking forward to the coming semester! I am working on completing some Bible classes by correspondence from Moody Bible Institute, and in the coming semester, I join my class as a Level 2 nursing student! We will be covering theory and clinical sessions of: Advanced Medical/Surgical nursing (trauma stuff), Mental Health Nursing, and Nursing of the Older Adult.
Thanks for your prayers! We are making a family prayer update letter soon, and will post some pictures of our latest adventures!
Geoff, for the family.
