You Threw Off My Groove!

Another successful week of Nursing School is in the grade books. So far I have found a great difference from week 2 of 1st Semester to this 2nd week of 2nd Semester. That great difference is that last semester I was a fresh student, not having taken a class in 2 years. I was rested and eager for knowledge, I had a motivation I've never had in college before. I did well. This time around, I'm tired, I have no motivation and I'm down right lazy. As exciting as 2nd Semester is, my butt has got to be whipped into shape, but it's still not wanting to get moving. The week in review:

•  I have to make a correction from last weeks post. I had said I was taking Clinical Care Across the Lifespan right now. That is indeed a false statement. I will be in that class in the 2nd 8 weeks of the semester. I am actually currently in Introduction to Clinical Care Management. I regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. 
• Monday was a class day and we finished discussing Post-Operative Care and started learning about Alterations in the Respiratory System. Call me a nerd, but it was very interesting, especially since I have Asthma. It was great learning more about the disease process and what to do if there is an attack, how to avoid them and what triggers them.
• After class, I went to the 2nd Semester Tips for Success Seminar (kinda like the one last semester). I mainly went for the pizza and extra credit but walked away with a few tips that I'm going to have to implement. One of them being that when you get your exam, before you read the question, cover up the answers. Answer the question without choices, then uncover the answers to see if your answer is there. This way you aren't being persuaded by the other answers. It's a good idea. We also got to watch the clip from Happy Gilmore of Happy practicing at the mini golf course. Great clip!
• Tuesday was day 1 of clinical which they had titled "Boot Camp". I was a bit nervous cuz Boot Camp is supposed to be hellish. It was quite the opposite, very informative and actually not as bad as I had anticipated. We also got flash cards for the pharmacology exam. They will come in handy!
• Wednesday was my first day at the clinical site which for me is St. Micheal's Hospital.  We did orientation and took a tour. Did a scavenger hunt and practiced charting. The charting system is identical to Riverview's except that instead of choices, you have a lot of free text. This means I really have to think. Oh great, just what I need to do...
• Thursday was nice because I had no school and no work. So I spent a good 4 hours studying for my Monday exam. I feel like I barely got anywhere with my studying. I did however, study at the CCD building and really liked it. It was quiet, I had a copy machine, it was warm, I didn't have to buy food to sit there & study and there were no kids screaming and running around like at the library! All in all a win-win and I think I'll be studying there more often!
• Friday was a class day and we finished up the Respiratory System. I 'studied' some, but got lazy again.
• Saturday and Sunday I worked. Short-staffed. Again. Fortunately it was a very quiet weekend which was strange cuz Saturday was a full moon. Usually something crazy happens like a fall or illness or death when I'm on my short-staffed weekend. It was a nice surprise. I did like not working for 2 weeks better though...
• Because I worked, I got panicky about not having any time to study/do homework and started regretting my laziness and tried to motivate myself to study. For whatever reason I could not concentrate! I FINALLY got into a groove and kicked butt at studying on Sunday. I guess I'm like the Emperor and had my groove thrown off, I think it's back now! Thank God! 

Well, kids! There you have it! Week 2 in all it's glory. My first exam is in the morning and it's snowing. A snow day tomorrow would be nice, I could use another study day! Yea right!

2 weeks and 1 semester down, 15 weeks and 2 semesters to go!

Back in the Game: 2nd Semester

I could have blogged last week, but there wasn't much to say about going to an hours long open lab followed by a trip to my favorite place at Mid-State: The Bookstore!!! (note the sarcasm dripping from that ;). So I chose to just include it in my first official blog posting as a Second Semester Nursing Student!!! (applause and cheers all around!)  So without further ado (is that even spelled right?) my first week back in the game!!

• Or I'll back up a bit. I have just come off of my winter break, which was more like winter work camp.  I counted (excluding Christmas Eve & New Years Day) and I had a total of 6 days off. Yup. That's it. I was told that I'd only get maybe 2-3 days a week at work but it ended up being more like 5 or 6. As much as it sucked and I bitched and moaned about it, I suppose the semester's tuition worth of money I made kinda made up for it. Currently I'm in the middle of a 2 week break from work! Hallelujah!
• Nothing exciting happened over break. I was sleep deprived thanks to work, so that was nothing new. I became a "jack-of-all trades" or so to speak at work due to being short staffed and working multiple shifts at the same time. Which sucked. It was cold, which sucked. I would become paranoid at random times thinking that I forgot to do homework or study, which sucked. I totally slacked on my exercise plan meaning I didn't at all, which sucked. So all in all break sucked.
• Okay, I'll admit there were some positives to break. No school!!!! No homework!!! No studying!!! I received socks for Christmas (yay! Cuz I was in need of them). I had a few shopping sprees (wahoo for clearance racks!). I received my textbook for Christmas! I got new penlights for Christmas! I completed my One Tree Hill DVD collection!!! I cleaned about 1/3 of my room, which is more than I thought I would. And I got to hang out with my cousin Megan and watch One Tree Hill before she moved away to France (which I'd love to go to during Spring Break. Come on flights! Go down!)
• So then it was last week and my semester unofficially began. I went in for an hours worth of open lab to practice for skills fair.  To my surprise there were only 5 skills to learn and they were all fairly easy. The best part: No Trach Cares!!! It was cool getting to see people from last semester and find out that everyone from my lab (minus the girl that dropped out) made it to 2nd Semester! Go us!
• Then my trip to the Bookstore. I wanted to just get the syllabi for my first 8 weeks but then I started being harassed by the bookstore lady. First cuz I was wearing my backpack. Uh excuse me but it doesn't say anywhere that they are forbidden. Then because I was picking out my own books and not letting her do it for me. I think I know how to shop and I just have a HUGE pet peeve about being harassed at a store. I like to browse. If I can't find something I'm looking for I'll come to you. They just drive me crazy. I can get pretty snarky with them too when they don't get the hint that I'm not here to socialize, just get my shit and get out, *end rant*. So I ended up getting all 4 of my syllabi just so I could avoid another trip there until next semester.
• Monday began my first day of classes. I have Health Alterations and Clinical Care across the lifespan for my first 8 weeks of the semester. 2 classes. Yes. It's awesome. But then again, I have to learn an entire class in 8 weeks. No. Not awesome! The second 8 weeks I have Health Promotions and another Clinical class that I don't want to do at all. OB and Peds. Sick, I have no interest in working with kids, babies or vaginas. Nein Danke!
• So I had Health Alterations. It's 2 days a week for 3 hours each class. It's crazy long, and packed full of stuff we have to learn. The plus side is that the profs voice is one that I can listen to for hours on end. She doesn't make me want to poke my tempanic membranes out with icepicks. We learned about pre, intra and post operative nursing this week. It's very interesting. There's so much to learn though so I need to be studying my brains out for this!!
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my Clinical days. This week we did not have clinical due to skills fair, so I had 2 days off this week, yay! Next week it starts with Boot Camp. I guess it's gonna be Hell!
• That leaves me with Thursday! Skills Fair Day! It started at 0945. We had to complete 5 skills. Each was worth 10 points. 10 and 9 points are passing. 8 or less points is failing and you need to go to remediation. So to start I was told to go to room A160: Blood Glucose Testing! On an infant. So I pretty much did the skill flawlessly, except that without thinking I threw the lancet in the trash not sharps. So I lost a point. Dumbass me. Oh well, I still passed it then moved on to the next skill: Catheters! I did fine except my wrist touched the edge of the tray. So I said that I touched the tray with my wrist and then got docked a point. So I got a 9 on that one. Then I administered a med through an NG tube. I had my old clinical prof Lori for that one. I forgot to do an assessment on the stomach until she prompted me but I ended up with a 10 and a comment of "Good Job. Well Prepared." Apparently she gave everyone 10's. I then administered an IV Piggyback med. I was most nervous for that one but I got a 10!!! Finally I waited and waited and did injections.  I got a 9 because I was too high when I pointed out my landmark for the dorsal gluteal injection. Apparently most people did that too. Apparently we all were taught wrong? So I ended up with 47 out of a possible 50 points or a 94%. Works for me cuz I survived and passed Skills Fair!
• Finally we had to take a Math Test to finish out the Skills Fair day. It was at 1400. We needed to pass with a low score of 90% just like last semester. I made 2 really dumb errors, however I still got a 90% and passed. Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!! I have made it through 2 of the 4 math tests of the Nursing Program. Half way there!

I'm still not in my disciplined lets study all the time routine yet but I'll be this week cuz I already have my first exam a week from Monday. I hope that I can actually make it through this semester cuz it's gonna be a tough one.

1 week and 1 semester down, 16 weeks and 2 semesters to go!!

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!

1st Semester Clinical...Check!

From the title you can see that I have checked my 1st Semester Clinical off of my list! Today I had my last clinical day. The last clinical day where I only have one patient. My last clinical day at Riverview (at least until possibly March). My last Clinical day with this group of women. My last Clinical day with 3 different instructors (or I hope to God it is!) The day I got to do my first real Saline Lock! The day I actually knew all the meds I was administering and what they did (minus one) when I was asked about them! The day I didn't want to be at clinical but I was glad I went cuz I need all the Clinical hours I can get! The Semester is winding down and with that my work load (thank God!)

• Skills Lab is over! That actually makes me really sad. I love skills lab. I'm gonna miss my skills classmates, we were like the perfect group together. I'm gonna miss my instructor, cuz she was awesome! I learned so much in there as well as had many scary moments, especially when I had to test out on stuff. 
• On my last day of skills lab I tested out of my last two skills. Those were IV Piggyback Meds (crazy name, right?) and regulating an IV Pump. I passed with flying colors! I also took my last Skills quiz and it was harder than hell. I got an 87%, whew!! I thought I bombed that one!
• Even though class is over for Skills Lab, I still have my Physical Assessment. I'm taking my little brother Cory with me and I get to assess him. I'm hoping I do alright on that. It would be nice to put one last good grade in my gradebook for that class. I do that on Wednesday, practice, practice, practice!
• If you couldn't tell, Clinical is over!! However, I still have to do Simulations or Sims for short where there is a practice dummy that talks and has a heart beat, breathes, throws up, etc. I am given a scenario and I have to go in there and act like I'm his nurse and in essence make him better. I'm nervous as hell! 15 minutes of sweating and heart pounding fun, that's on Thursday. I also have to take a Pharmacology ATI test Thursday morning. That will suck major balls!!
• Speaking of ATI, I took the Fundamentals exam on Wednesday and all my practice ones were really good, then I take the real one. I felt like a dumbass, cuz it was harder than hell. I passed it but just barely with an 82%.  Which is awesome cuz otherwise I'd have to retake it until I pass it.
• I also took another pharmacology exam in Clinical and our instructor gave us a review which she said if we knew the information she presented in the reveiw, we'd be golden for our exam.  And then I got the test and yea, I felt really ill prepared. I don't know how I did it, but I managed a 95%, one wrong. I guessed right on about 6 or so questions. Glad that one's over.
• I got my graded care plan back and like a dumbass, never attached my bibliography. So I lost 3 points on that, and with the other couple of errors, I got a 93% on it. Oh well, when I did that thing at 3:30am, I was just glad to have it over.
• Oh and I got my 23 page Physical Assessment paper back. I knew it was graded and I could've looked at my grade online but I didn't want to on account of my brain coming up with 2 nightmares while I slept that I bombed that thing. So I just waited until I got the actual paper back. I got (drum roll please.............................) 98%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! I almost crapped my pants! I WIN!!!!!
• Last weekend I was lazy lazy lazy. Kassandra and I also went to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. It was awesome cuz what I wanted to happen in the book actually happened! Everyone started fighting and most of them died!!! Of course it was just one of Alice's visions, but it was like YES!!! Something is actually happening!! The movie was a nice break and got my mind off of school. This weekend I will be busting my ass off learning my physical assessment stuff, sims and pharm practice. It will be a fun time. NOT!!

I now have, my friends, 15 weeks completed. I have 2 weeks (well actually 5 actual class days) and 3 Semesters to go!!

Thanksgiving!!!

Whoever was the ass that decided to extend the semester past thanksgiving is an ass. With that said, I did enjoy my short week of classes!

• Thanksgiving is early this year. It is screwing with me. I feel like I have either no time left in the semester or Thanksgiving wasn't supposed to happen yet. Well it's happened and made me really lazy with school especially since I had off of work this weekend.
• I had to take a pharmacology quiz on Friday, that was fun. Not! haha, no it was fine I just hate quizzes. I was supposed to take a fundamentals one too, but something screwed up when the prof posted it, so I get to take it late!
• I only had 2 days of classes, and no clinical. It was a nice break!
• I finished testing out of trach stuff this week and we started IV's, I can take out IV's and spike/regulate them. I took a quiz too but I don't remember what I got on it. Oh well.
• Not much to report this week, since it was short. Sorry!

14 weeks down. 3 weeks and 3 semesters to go!!!!!!!!

There's a Light at the End of This Tunnel...

As you can tell the end is near. I can't believe I've made it this far. I'm very close but the pressure of the 1st Semester is starting to move in with all the crap that I still have to do!

• Clinical was kinda mellow this week. I did however get to administer insulin! I did it right this time!!! I WIN!!! Friday was the first day I did not give an injection at clinical. Oh well, my patient left right after 10am so I had the rest of the morning to accumulate my information for my big paper.
• Oh Lord, the BIG PAPER! Which I totally slacked on, pulled an almost all nighter on. It ended up being 23 pages long. I don't think it was longer than my exegesis I did for PBS II, but it ranked among the top. I have no idea what my grade will be but I'm hoping at least an 85%. That concluded my papers for the semester! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
• I had another quiz in skills lab. An 80% for me. Either I'm getting stupider or they're getting harder. I think they are getting harder. I tested out flushing nasogastric tubes and giving meds in them. I also tested out on tracheotomy suctioning and replacing the dressing on them. Those were supposed to be scary skills but they weren't that bad.
• That's all I have to say about that.

13 weeks down! 4 weeks and 3 semesters to go!!