APHON Conference 2010

This past week/weekend was the 34th Annual APHON (Association of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Nurses) Conference.  This year the conference was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  This was my first time to visit to Minnesota!

I went with another nurse from the clinic, Eryn.  This is us at the Minnesota History Center.

Downtown Minneapolis…on our way to St. Paul, the Twin Cities!We had a little time before the conference started so we decided to visit the Mall of America!  It was huge!  This is us in front of the theme park that is in the center of the mall.  

Here is a better picture, not taken with my little point-and-shoot camera, so that you can get a better idea of what it looked like.  Picture found here.  During the day we were in sessions learning all kinds of wonderful stuff, but at night they had some fun stuff for us to do.  The night before we left, the local APHON chapter hosted a little entertainment for us at the Minnesota History Center.  

On the bus, headed to the museum

About to go into the History Center…getting a shot in front of the capital.The Minnesota History Center…The center was only open for us!  They had food, a string quartet, chocolate, and several of the exhibits open for us to enjoy!Eryn was in heaven with all the chocolate (it literally looked like heaven with clouds on the walls and a string quartet playing in the background, ha ha)!  It was so yummy! The first exhibit that we saw was called “Open House: If These Walls Could Talk.”  It was so interesting!  It went through the history of this single house in St. Paul and all of the families who lived in it!  From German immigrants, to Italians, to African Americans, to Hmongs!  It was pretty cool!We were so excited because they had an exhibit on Chocolate!!  I now know the entire history of chocolate, ha ha!  

The last exhibit was the MN150 – 150 things that transformed the state, country and world.  I even took a quiz at the end!

The trip was a lot of fun!  I of course learned so much and I feel rejuvenated as a nurse – that is always important in anything!  I am so thankful to get to meet other nurses from all over the world and to learn more about what I do every day!

“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life;

…everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment.

…he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated.

…everyone’s task is unique as his specific opportunity.”  - Viktor Frankl

I am so blessed to be a pediatric hematology/oncology nurse, I love my job!