Better late than never?

I was doing so well keeping up with my nursing school weeks! Then I missed a week and here we are a year later. So I thought I'd give an update of school and life. It's been an interesting roller coaster where somethings are worth remembering and some are not.

• I made it through all of my classes for 2nd semester! Health Alterations and Introduction to Clinical Care Management were completed in March and then I began Health Promotions and Clinical Care Across the Lifespan which concluded in May. Alterations was very interesting and I ended up doing quite well with a B! Remember that in every other program, that would've been an A! Gotta hate nursing grade scales! Alterations is a class that weeds out a lot of people from the program. I made it through. Yay! I also got through that lovely clinical. The one where the prof got so close to your face while grilling you and making you feel like an idiot that she spit on you. That clinical made me lose any and all confidence I had in my skills. It's been a work in progress getting it back. Promotions was all about OB/GYN, Peds and an introduction to Mental Health. Basically translated into BORING!!! Not my cup of tea. While the first half of the class I did quite well in, I struggled with the later but still managed to pull off a B- to pass the class. Thank God! In my Clinical I started out with the OB/GYN rotation at St. Mike's in Stevens Point. I was the one in my group who did not want to see a vaginal birth. I wanted to see a C-Section. Guess who was the only one who's laboring patient didn't kick her out of the room? Oh that's right! ME! I was able to bring another classmate in with me because this mom said "the more the merrier". It was on a cold April morning that I watched what some would call the miracle of life. I would call it disgusting. Seeing one vaginal birth is more than I ever would have wanted to and will be a very happy nurse if I would never see that ever again in my career.  On a side note, everyone else got to watch a C-Section while I got to look at a gooey crotch. Moving on....Clinical finished with a rotation at Children's Hospital in Marshfield.  It was a very interesting 7 day rotation.  My patients started with an 18 day old baby, then an 18 year old man. This was followed by a 13 year old boy who if I hadn't looked at his chart, would've thought he was 8. I was able to remove his NG tube which was the first one I did! Yay! The last two days ended with 2 and 3 year girls, and then an 8 year old Autistic Boy who screamed so loud I thought I was going deaf. I was never more grateful to be finished with the tiny humans. I have added OB/GYN and Peds to the "Not gonna be this type of nurse" list. I finished 2nd Semester and was eligible to take my Practical Nursing state Boards but decided not to waste the money. I had heard 2nd semester was the worst of the 4 and 3rd and 4th were smooth sailing. I heard wrong.
• I had made a really stupid decision as I entered my final summer break. That was to take online Mental Health and Community Concepts.  What in the world was I thinking!?!?! I remembered really quickly how much I truly despise online classes. It takes me forever to go through the lecture material and I hate having to motivate my self to do that. A few weeks in and I completely regretted my decision. I looked into withdrawing and then realized that a withdraw in the nursing program is the equivalent of a failed class. I then decided that I'd just stick with the class and find out all that it entails and then just retake it in the fall like I should've done in the first place. 
• Fall Semester! 3rd Semester! The semester that almost killed me! Not really, but now looking back at all of it, 3rd was my most difficult. If there was one I'd never have to go through again, it was 3rd.  I took once again Mental Health, in addition to Complex Health Alterations I and Advanced Skills. Skills was interesting where we learned how to transfuse blood, insert NG tubes, manage chest tubes, administer IV push medications, clean, flush & draw blood from all types of central lines and insert IV catheters. That was a lot of fun. Except the part where we got the opportunity to to try inserting IV's on each other. I opted to not sign that release form and didn't try because there is no way I was letting someone who's never done it before try an IV on me who's never had one before.  Skills came and went and I started my Intermediate Clinical on 7 North at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield.  Going into that clinical was interesting because I was still nervous about screwing up constantly from my horrific experience in my 2nd semester clinical.  I actually ended up doing really well and ended up with 100% in my clinical experience portion!  I'm VERY proud of myself :D I also got to attempt 2 IV inserts, but no such luck on getting them to work. I got to do 2 observation days for that clinical, one in the PACU and one in Hyperbaric Chamber and following the wound nurse.  In PACU I watched an anesthesiologist place an Epidural. After the first two failed attempts he started in on the third and I started seeing spots. It was really nasty. I had to step out of the curtain. I hate needles and that was no exception! Taking Mental Health again was really boring because I really don't like that class at all. I did better than the first time, but I still didn't like it any more. I ended up getting an 89% on my final which was awesome!! Especially since if I didn't pass that class, I'd be kicked out of the program.  Then there was CHA I, that was a HORRIBLE experience. There was a new instructor basically read a script. The material was interesting but very disorganized and the exams were 30 or 40 questions long. So if it was a 30 question quiz, you could only get up to 6 wrong. Any more and it was a fail. With the 40 question exams, it was up to 8 wrong.  That's a lot of pressure.  I struggled and I ended up with an 85% on the final and passed. THANK GOD!!! 
• Which brings me to now and 4th Semester! Right now I'm in three classes: Complex Health Alterations II, Nursing Management and Professional Concepts and Advanced Clinical Practice.  CHA II is really interesting, is taught very well and I'm doing really well in it. Management is kinda really boring and I'm passing so far but it's not the easiest class and just hope I can get through the final.  Advanced clinical is great! Due to our class being larger than normal, and the current 3rd Semester being very small due to a lot of people failing classes in 2nd, the St. Mike's clinical group has been dropped and the 7 North clinical has been moved up to 4th semester! So I sent an email requesting to withdraw my clinical requests since I had put I didn't want to drive, so they had been 1)Riverview 2)St. Mikes 2nd Floor 3)St. Joe's 3 North (Cardiac).  I had asked to make 7 North my first choice and was granted my request!! I had LOVED 7 North during 3rd Semester and am equally loving it in 4th. In management we took a quiz to see if we are right or left brained, and I lean toward left brain or more organized. Makes sense, I hate chaos and love symmetry.  So I noticed that when I'd be assigned a nurse who was more scatter brained, I'd feel lost and behind, but those who were more structured, I would have a much easier day and then even have "bored" moments because every thing was done! Finals came early for me, as we finish all these classes before we are eligible to start our preceptor. I decided at attend Regina Angelorum's 20th Reunion the weekend before finals, and I even studied on the plane and at the airport! I'm very proud of myself. I'm very happy with my decision to take an impromptu weekend trip to Ohio. The day before I left I did SIMS, which was the worst one I've ever done.  I was grouped with two ladies who I really didn't know, so it was a challenge to figure out how to work together. In the end we didn't put in a second IV, hang blood or do a dressing change. However, I got a 93% on it. Not a bad grade but I felt lost the whole time. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that SIMS was worth 5% of my final grade and at that point, I was like "I don't even care about this." Originally our exams were scheduled for me to take my Unit 7 Exam on Tuesday and the Final for both CHA II and Management on Wednesday. Well I doubly impressed myself and studied my butt off and took my Unit 7 exam after SIMS so I only had to take the finals after reunion.  I had originally planned on taking Management on Monday morning and CHA II on Wednesday morning. That changed when I got home from the airport on Sunday and fell asleep instead of finish studying.  I don't know what it is about eastern time, makes me jet lagged for days when I come back out of it! Anywho I ended up taking both exams on Wednesday, CHA II in the morning and Management in the afternoon. I felt so sick to my stomach taking the first one cuz I knew that doing poorly would mean I wouldn't graduate. The exam was comprehensive of 7 units, multiple choice and then short answer. After I finished I found one of my friends who said I looked pale. I felt like I was gonna puke! Then I took my management final. That was corrected right away and I PASSED!!!! That was a HUGE relief! I then went to log onto the computer to see if my CHA grade was posted and it was, and by the grace of God I rocked that final!!! I had just completed all my nursing courses! All that remained was preceptor and you pretty much pass unless you kill someone! Just kidding, but still.

I'll write about preceptor in a separate post but for now I'll sign off!