Last day of hands-on practice before our final test tomorrow

Today we were to arrive at 8 am to start intensive practicing of the hands-on exercises. This is before McDonalds opens so I had no breakfast (my hotel's breakfast costs 13 Euros and I refuse to pay that much money when there's no bacon or sausage *lol*). I'm on a keto diet, I don't eat bread, so I have little options but to strip the muffin from my McMuffin every day (which is actually just as tasty, just order it with the cheese between the meat and the egg, so it doesn't stick to the bread that you throw away).

Your mind starts to go into a self-defense zone as you walk through the busy Dortmund streets. You cannot think about anything else except the materials you've studied. You're mentally exhausted every day. It feels good, but the test tomorrow is terrifying.

This gentleman I'd never met today caught me in the kitchen and said, "How do you feel?" I said, "It's hard to keep sheer panic from overriding everything you've learned, and also erases your muscle memory of the tasks you've learned. Some of us seem so relaxed and in control, but I feel the stress."

He said, "I'll press my thumbs." (German for cross fingers.) I said, "Thank you, and your prayers."

My partner is good. We went through all of the 12 exercises today systematically, every time he said, "And what now?" I'd say, "ALL of them, one by one."

My CPR SUCKED! UGH. It's been a year. I cannot think through the stress of the teacher's and class's peering down on me, and simply the stress of the situation. (Ironically, in real life, CPR is never as stressful as in the classroom!)

My dear Marcel said, "Lytha! Have you not practiced CPR!" I said, "One year ago." He said, OK then.

Today Martin, my most favorite teacher of all, said, "You seem to be uncertain, you keep pausing and thinking. You cannot do that."

I said, "Martin, this is why I'm here. To practice. It's been a long time, this is my 2nd attempt."

On the 2nd try he said, "I want to be your partner" and I think I was the only student that he got down on the floor with. I teased him when he slipped up. "You were going to open the rescue backpack." He grinned, "I couldn't find the zipper." Ha, he can laugh about it, but it's uber serious for little Linus and me tomorrow. I went to Linus later, "Let's always have the zippers facing up, that cuts down a few important seconds!" He agreed.

***

I do not expect to pass the test tomorrow.

I failed last year, and I know how easy it is to make a tiny mistake that is critical, and fail in that moment. There are a lot of mistakes you can make which won't fail you, but one little slip in the direction of injuring a patient, you're out. *sigh*

Little Linus and I practiced all day long, and he actually got pissed off at me when I went to get a drink, cuz there is a lot of pressure to stay in the line to practice each and every task, and he was expecting me. I did not leave his side the rest of the day, even to ask to go potty.

***

Not interesting to the realm of this blog, but it's mine, so here is the list of exercises we must complete to pass this Rettungs Sanitaeter class (medicB, I think, in English?) We are expected to perform all three forms of CPR (baby, single, and with helper), and then we roll a dice to pick one of the following.........so,...we have to learn them all cuz we don't know which we'll roll. SO!

Blood sugar
Blood pressure
Seitenlage (how exactly to lay an unconscious but breathing person safely on their side)
Injection of meds prep
Prep of IV and the zugang (the entry (!?) to your vein for meds (my gosh I have no idea in English)
Helmet removal and application of StiffNeck(Lord help me!!!!! - I had that twice so far on my test and it would be the ultimate coincidence if my third test also called for this!)
"Thing" for  spine-injury patients with and then transport to a vacuum mattress with suction
Amputation care
Immobilization Arm, then Leg
Freeing of the airways, airway management with suction and Guedel Tubus
Assisting an Emergency Doctor (??) with intubation
EKG 3 channel and 12 (Oh boy)
Total body check
CPR 2 person
CPR 1 person
Baby CPR

That's it, that's all I have to know for tomorrow *lol*

And the entire textbook content and all we sat there and listened to.

J said, "Don't study anymore tonight, it's not gonna help." He's a teacher, so I won't (except quick glances at my index cards.)

We're supposed to sleep well tonight.

How can we?

Below is a photo from yesterday. The boys are looking to the rest of the class for feedback on their performance. I must say, my exercise was easy, I only had the "airway management" and when the teacher, Martin, quizzed me on the whys and hows, I knew a little something: ) Not to be cocky, my task was simple.


It's hard for me to take photos when I'm learning/stressed, but I'll try tomorrow. My water bottel is the blue one on the left. And yah, it's 27C in the room again, my sweat was dripping down onto the CPR puppet/dummy.

It's so early but I'm gonna lie down and try to  relax on my last night in Dortmund.