Kumbayah

Kumbayah

Today I came home from my first sessions of camp. I will be returning in about a week. I remember being terrified about going out there. That I didn't know enough to help kids out there. What if there was an emergency? Could I handle it? What if I didn't know what to do? What if I didn't like the other nurse that I would be working with?

The first week I was at Camp Kanuga Saturday- Sunday. It was a good intro into what camp nursing was. Not too many things happened that needed at lot of attention. We did send one camper to the ER after his counselor stuck him with an epi-pen. He thought that he was stung by a bee but it turned out that he ate a peanut and he was allergic. So the camper, the camp director and I all headed up the area hospital. It was quite the experience. Other than that it was just a bunch of little things that kept Patti and I busy all week. The infirmary is pretty much new and it kept itself very cool without any a/c. It has 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 1 office, 1 living area and a kitchenet.

Then it was off to Camp Bob, Monday- Friday. The room smelt like mold and it was not a very fun infirmary to be at. The kids that come to this camp are from low SES families. They don't have a lot and they are sponsored to come to camp so that they can have a camp experience. The kids are super nice most of the time and they really want to be there most of the time. I was able to have a day off this week. But unfortunately it was the same week that I got sick. Just a head summer cold but towards the end of the week I was miserable. Saturday was another day off for me due to one camp being over and the next one not starting until Sunday. Patti wanted to set me up with her soon-to-be son-in-law Brandon. I started texting him and we had some very good but very long conversations. It was fun to get to know him a little bit at a time. He plays baseball at Lander University- he's their pitcher.

Week #3 was spent at the conference center, Sunday- Friday. I was there to help take care of Junior Youth People (JYP) and Senior Youth People (SYP) for Youth Week. The best way to describe what it was like would be EFY meets Youth Conference. This was grades 6- recent high school graduates. It was a very fun group of kids. I wish that I had had the opportunity to spend more time with the kids doing their activities but I wasn't able to. This was the week that I was going back and forth between Youth Week and Camp Bob again. There was a counselor or something that always helped me round up the kids from JYP that needed their meds. He was also the same person that asked me what I was doing down on the boys floor the first night of the conference. It was fun getting to know him a little during the week. This morning he asked if I would like to go out to lunch with him one day. I told him that would be great and gave him my number. We'll see if he actually carries it out. Brandon has stopped texting me at this point so really I didn't see any harm in giving Xen my number.

As busy as I was and as much as I probably complained in the last 3 weeks I have really enjoyed myself. I have had to step up and be the nurse that I've always wanted to be. I've had to make my own decisions and carry out what I thought was best. It has been a great start to my nursing career.

The people at Youth Week kept telling me all week that I had been the best nurse they've had in years and that they wanted me back next year. I'll have to see if there is any way that I could possibly swing doing that. They even went so far as telling Bethany, my boss, that I had done good work and that they really appreciated everything that I did for them.

I was also able to go the Hendersonville Ward for church every Sunday. They have some very interesting people in that ward. Testimony meeting is not the meeting to go to on your first Sunday anywhere because it is a definite that the weirdest people will step up and bear their testimonies.

Here's to looking forward to the next couple of weeks of camp.

I'm excited to have a week off though. I need to catch up on sleep and get over this cold finally.