Absent

I had a New Years Resolution to Blog once a week.

FAIL.

No one ever keeps those anyway...

Right?

I do have good reason as to why I have been absent tho.

I've been busy with the following tasks:

Inserting Catheters

Drawing blood

Dressing wounds

Administering medications

Performing physical assessments

Etc...Etc...Etc....

This Friday we are doing our video to pass off our medication administration skills.

Obviously, included in that would be everyones very favorite....

SHOTS!!!!!

Don't you worry, i've been practicing!

Yes, that is what you think it is...

A raw chicken breast.

Just like human flesh!

Perfect for practicing shots!

If you need a shot, I'm your girl!

Between this week and next there will be:

2 video skill check off: Medication Admin and Nasogatric tubes

Dosage Calculation Test (must pass with 90%)

ATI Test

Exam 2

And Lots and Lots of studying!

p.s....don't mind that I don't really get ready anymore.....I officially would rather sleep than impress anyone with my looks.

Yep, it's official....

I'm a nursing student!

First Test

I've officially had my first test as a nursing student.

I just about died.

okay, that might be a SLIGHT exagoration...

But I did get muscle spasms from all the stress.

Test numero uno consisted of 

28 chapters.

I'm going to let that marinade in your mind for a moment....

........

yes, you read that correctly. 28 chapters.

The info ranged from ethics to fluid and electrolytes to acid base balances.

I studied my little brain to the near point of explosion.

And honestly, I thought I was going to FAIL. 

Not just like 69% fail....but like 19% fail.

The form of these tests mirror the form of the state boards.

Which, anyone that has taken a state board will know that it is a totally different way of thinking than just normal every day tests.

They will put 1 wrong answer, and 3 correct answers.

They expect you to choose the MOST correct answer.

So i'm still learning to reason that way.

Good news tho, I passed! 

Phew! 

But don't you worry, We have 9 chapters to have read by Monday for Pharmacology.

No big deal.

P.S.....I'm the worlds best flash card maker 

Never fear, I'm still here.

First things first......

HHHHHOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLAAAAYYYYY!!!!

I think that about sums up my first 2 weeks of school.

Yep, pretty accurate.

So....Remember last week when I wrote this really upbeat/super happy/ lovin my life Kinda blog???

What? You don't? That's strange....

Oh ya, that's probably because I was pretty sure I was going to be put to death, by one of three ways...

1. Murdered by one of my crazy bi-polar roommates

2. Worsening hypertension leading to kidney failure due to the stress

3. My head would explode from the information overload I was receiving from my reading assignments.

Despite all those things....

I will survive!!!

Good news is, things really haven't been as bad as I made it sound.

Mostly because I have little to no interaction with my roommates....

What ever works, right?!?

School is freaking awesome. 

There is no doubt that it is A LOT of work, but it is a way good program.

We already are practicing and passing off skills, doing lots of reading, and quiz's.

This program would probably be unbelievably difficult if these things i'm learning, weren't completely amazing to me. The instructors are easy to relate to and have tons of experience to help us learn the difficult concepts that we are to know for our exams.

so wanna know what I have to say about nursing school???

BRING IT ON!

(From left to right....Taj, Ethan, Autumn, Meghan, Yours truly, and Chelsie)

Also, More good news...

Do you see that girl standing next to me? Ya, the blonde.

She is officially my bestest nursing buddy.

Her name is Chelsie. 

I guess you could say she's a pretty big deal.

Chelsie and I are lab partners, study buddies, and Zumba partners!

(I don't think either of us could be zumba instructors....just sayin...)

So, basically, we do everything together.

Yay for friends!

Honesty&patience

I'm going to be really honest here. I struggle with having the adequate amount of patience that each situation calls for. It is something I have been working on, but haven't gained tons of headway just yet. Well, tonight is one of the nights I am losing any signs of increased patience.

I officially moved into my apartment in Twin falls Yesterday. I have 5 roommates. Yes, five. It is a saving grace that we each have our own rooms, but....5 girls. Come on.

The girls I live with, a few are very nice. Some...not so nice. The common denominator you ask? They are all YOUNG! I realize that i'm not exactly Bob Barker over here. I'm young too. But these girls are 18. First time being away from their parents. So excited to be making their own rules. Don't have to listen to what anyone says. Young.

My number one complaint. It isn't their lack of respect for shared space. It isn't their refusal to clean up their own mess. It isn't that their Boyfriends are the 7th and 8th tenants in our apartment, yet don't pay rent.

It's the fact that they're SO. FREAKING. LOUD. Boisterous laughing. Resonant arguments. Powerful, swift movements throughout the apartment, leaving no door un-slammed.

Well, tonight as I sit in my room...(and as i've sat in my room since around noon) reading my 101 pages for my first day of classes tomorrow...I am about to go Brittney Spears crazy....

All my...stuff....

So I had a mandatory meeting yesterday for school. It was ridiculously overwhelming to say the least! They threw tons of info at us and still left us with many things unanswered. How Rude!

One of the things they told us at the meeting was some of the "additional" items we would need purchased for the first day of class. Most of the time "additional" items usually mean, an additional binder, or a special calculator. Oh, not so in this situation. we purchased almost $800 worth of "additional" items. One of the items we were to purchase was called a "lab kit." It was full of packaged tubing, syringes, gowns, masks, tracheotomy kits...etc...etc....etc. It also came with cool little vials filled with "practi-powder" for mixing for IV's. I'm pretty excited about those! The other "additional" item we had to purchase was an ATI testing book set. It contained like 9 books and a code to allow for testing throughout the semester. Both the ATI set and the lab kit.....were overly expensive.

I start school on the 17th. It's coming sooo fast! I'm sure I am constantly walking around looking like a Deer in the head lights. Stay tuned for my first day of school....shoot be humerus. Also, get ready for a picture of all my text books. You will like it.

Comments are allowed....Even if i don't know you

I want everyone that stumbles upon this blog to feel free to look around. I love having people reading all my posts. It kinda motivates me to write more. If you are a nursing student, leave a message! Maybe we could get an online study group going.Even if you're not a nursing student, come along for the ride! Should be entertaining! Welcome to all!  

Little bit about me

As with all good stories, you need a little background.

Growing up, I was raised by a potato farmer father, and a Registered nurse mother. My mother worked part time at a "Family Emergency Center" (this would be equivalent to a community care, urgent care, or insta care) for many for my childhood years. From my mothers example, I learned at a very young age that I wanted to be a nurse just like my mom.

Once I got to College, I was steps above other Freshmen there simply because I knew my major. It wasn't changing. I was certain. That was more than most students can say. I took some generals at BYU-Idaho, and applied to their nursing program as soon as I knew I had all the prereq's to apply. When I applied I had a 3.75 overall G.P.A. I wasn't even considered. At that point, I realized that I didn't want to just sit and wait at BYU-Idaho to have a place for me. I then transferred to a community college in Idaho Falls. There I finished all the general requirements to apply to several nursing schools in the western united states.

I applied to several schools, and was rejected by all of them. I was so confused as to why I was unable to get into school. I had good grades. I jumped through all the hoopes. I did everything I was supposed to. Still, I waited 4 years after graduating high school to finally be accepted into the nursing program at College of Southern Idaho.

It is very clear to me now as to why I couldn't get into school when I wanted. My father had been ill for many years with multiple illness's. The summer of 2011 my father spent 82 days in the intensive care unit. I spent as much of my time with him, and my family as I could. It was a long difficult road, but we had to do it. On October 2nd, 2011, by father passed away. This was extremely difficult for my whole family. It is very evident to me that there is no way I could have been in nursing school while trying to handle the illness and the death of my young father. I was meant to go to school in 2012.

So there you have it. My life is crazy and confusing...and it's about it get a lot crazier!