Thankful Thursday | #1 for 2025!

Happy New Year, dear readers! 

This week, I am thankful:

for a fresh new glasses prescription

I had an eye checkup and it confirmed what I thought; that my current prescription wasn’t quite right for me anymore.

I’m not delighted my eyesight got worse (!), but I am happy at the prospect of seeing better!

I am also grateful that my up-close vision hasn’t deteriorated enough to call for bifocals or progressive lenses. 

that next year I probably will have vision insurance

I’m insurance-less on the eye front this year, but I’m guessing I can get vision coverage once I am on the hospital insurance plans.

So, next year’s eye appointment should be cheaper! 

that I didn’t have to pay for a dry-eye treatment

You know that Meibomian gland problem that I have? Where they get clogged up and then can’t secrete the lubricating fluid that keeps my eyes from drying out?

eyes from Lisey’s Cooking Monster tree!

Well, this year when I went in for my eye checkup, he said mine weren’t clogged! Yay!

That means I didn’t have to pay for the $150+ heat treatment that unclogs them. 

I’ve been using my heated eye mask and also this spray that my doctor recommended. And obviously, it’s working.

I’m thrilled!

And I’m motivated to keep on using my mask and my eyelid spray.

for good health

Working at the hospital really makes me so appreciative of the gift of general good health.

I see people with circulation issues, breathing difficulties, skin problems, mobility challenges, digestive malfunctions and much more, and it makes me appreciate what I’ve got.

This picture is from the archives, back when we were still using cloth masks

My heart works! My lungs work! My digestive tract works from start to finish. I don’t have edema. I have no areas of skin breakdown. My blood circulation is sufficient all over my body.

Amazing!

I’m grateful my job gives me the gift of extra appreciation for how my body works. 

for everyone being gracious about the glitches yesterday

I figured something would go wonky with the Patreon, and it did. Ha. Someone more professional than me would have figured this out before publishing it, but here we are. 😉 

I am also grateful for a lovely and responsive web hosting company because I am positive that once they open back up for business today, they will help me figure out what the problem is and get it fixed. 

for the refreshing break from nursing school

I do have a big ol’ pile of assigned reading/med cards to get done before school starts in a few weeks, but I decided to not think about that too hard over the holidays. 

(Me: “Prework? What pre-work? I SEE NOTHING.”)

I do feel the burnout subsiding, so I think in another week or so I will be ready to dive in and tackle the pre-work.

And I’m hoping that the restful feeling from winter break will carry me at least a little ways through the semester. 

that it’s (hopefully) my last semester doing competency and math testing

As long as all goes to plan, this is my last semester of having to face the “hell week”, as they call it, at the start of the semester.

We have orientation, lectures, competency testing (to test all your clinical skills), and the do-or-die math exam all in the first four days.

Sooooo, I’ll start practicing my head to toe exam and all my other skills over the next few weeks, and I’ll do some math practice as well.

If they try to get me with one of those teaspoon questions again, I’m gonna be ready!

(Last semester, I totally missed that they wanted one answer converted to teaspoons, so I gave the correct mLs but got it wrong because it wasn’t in teaspoons. And the terrible part is that I am actually very good at converting from mLs to teaspoons. Ha.)

What are you thankful for this week?