1st Semester: CHECK!

Well I'm not sure if I'll be blogging in the next few weeks, because my friends, I am done! I have finished my 1st Semester. I have done it! I have finished the race! Oh there is still so much more to go but I need to bask in the glow of the fact that I have actually made it through one quarter of the nursing program!!! Many times there were doubts that I could do it. I've cried, laughed, screamed, wanted to quit, felt like I could actually do it, felt that it was impossible and had every other emotion imaginable up to this point. Until January 10th I'll be enjoying my laziness. Watching TV, sleeping, reading novels and not textbooks, regularly exercising, working, and anything else my heart desires. I can now enjoy Christmas and New Years. There's not much to say about the week but here it goes:

• Monday was my Birthday! It ended up being a really great Birthday. I took my Pharmacology Final and ended up with a 90%! Not my best score but it meant I still got my A for the semester!!
• I also found out on my Birthday that I got switched from clinical group ABC to group DEF which is now just group DF and I'm in the D section. One entire section of clinical was dropped cuz that many people have dropped/failed. That really sucks. I'm so thankful I'm actually getting to go to 2nd Semester. I will now have clinical at St. Micheal's Hospital and I won't have to go to St. Joseph's until the Middle of April. HUZZAH!!! I get to save some gas for the most part this semester!! The best part? No driving to Marshfield in January!!!
• I have been stressing and freaking out about my final final which was Fundamentals. The bane of my 1st Semester Existence. I was hovering at an 82.5% exam average and you need that solid 80.00% to pass, 79.99% is not good enough. That's failing. Well I was basically shaking all the way up to it this afternoon and I knew that this was the make it or break it part of my semester. Pass this one and I move on, fail and I stay behind. Hearing things about it from it being easy to being difficult I began taking it. It wasn't so bad. After going through the 80 questions I had 11 left blank. I filled them in and stared at 2 questions and finally decided and went to hand it in. I had to ask my prof what the answer to that one was and she told me. Damn, that one was wrong. Now time to sweat. Grades were to be posted by 6pm.  One of my classmates texted me around 4:30 saying that grades were posted. I was shaking, my heart was pounding, I was literally crying cuz I knew my fate was posted on a simple computer screen. I looked at my final grade: B-. Okay, but what's my exam average? OH. MY. GOD! I got an 89% on the Final. I not only passed that beast, but I did better on it than all my quizzes and my midterm. I had shown tremendous growth in that class. I have absolutely no idea how I did it but I passed that test. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!!!!!

17 Weeks (but it sounds better as 1 Semester) down! 3 Semesters to go!!!!

Almost Done!

The end of this week brought to a close 2 of my classes. Skills Lab and Clinical. By the grace of God, countless prayers and an unknown mystery of how I got this far have allowed me to accomplish this feat. It is huge, but I still have so much more to go.

• I had one last thing to do in Skills Lab. That was my final physical assessment. I brought in my little brother Cory and assessed him. I ended up with a 99%. I had lost two 1/2 points. One half point was cuz I didn't have my hands positioned correctly while doing a Thyroid Assessment and the other half was another position error, while percussing the Patellar Reflex. All in all I was very happy with my score. It ensured my A for the semester in that class. YAY! My prof was so impressed by my exam that she said she wished she could've taped it for future semesters cuz it was so well done. Not to gloat, but I was proud. Take that Dr. Divis!!
• I finished out Clinical with a blue paper of death. On Thursday I took my Pharmacology ATI test and all but 2 people walked out of it with the blue paper of death. Which means:  YOU FAILED!!! I got a 58%. Whoops! It was so frickin hard! To fix the problem I had to practice at home then retake it. I did that right away on Thursday and finished it.
• To finish off Clinical about an hour and a half after receiving the blue slip of death I had Simulations! Sims is the greatest way to make you crap your pants. In 1st Semester you actually get your scenarios and can practice. Not so in the other semesters. Well I had Mrs. Sugar who couldn't breathe and needed insulin. I kinda flubbed up a bit when I was drawing up my insulin and contaminated my needle, but threw it out and got a new one. Then I totally forgot to do some education. I ended up losing 4 points with a 90%. My reaction when I was told: "Works for me." I ended Clinical with an A- for a final grade. Not too shabby!
• Pharmacology gave me my last quiz. 98%. I also submitted my final worksheet. Of course there is one messed up question where you can't get it right and it ticks me off. Oh well. Just a final left in that class and I'm done.
• Fundamentals will make or break my semester. I have an 82.5% test average, which means if I don't get at least an 80% on my Final, I'll most likely fail the class. If I fail, I will have to retake it, not move on to 2nd Semester and not be guaranteed to get into 2nd Semester next fall. Pray for me. It would suck to get this far and fail. I've got a lot of studying to do.

I have 2 days of classes left. 2 days of taking 2 finals. I need to do this. Otherwise I'll be a FAILURE!!
Oh and Happy Birthday to me! I'm really old now!

It decided to snow yesterday. Yuck!

16 Weeks Completed! 2 Days & 3 Semesters to go!