status: pass
PASS!!!
I am now officially a neonatal intensive care Registered Nurse.
I actually burst out crying when I saw status:pass underneath my name. That's not really my style, but apparently the momentous occasion called for an unusual emotional outburst. It was this kind of interesting, very short-lived, heaving sobs type of thing. Nursing school catharsis.
30 June 2008
28 June 2008
Advice For Myself
Don't go to Home Depot on a Saturday morning before 9am if you are 1) a woman 2) alone and 3) wearing anything other than a turtleneck, baggy pants, and maybe a head scarf. I do not think any girl deserves the kind of lechering, grinning and mental pawing that I encountered while trying to pick up packing tape this morning. Girls, please remember - Sunday afternoons at Home Depot are packed with families and therefore safe. Saturday mornings are for contractors who forgot to stop and refocus after getting trashed ogling girls at the Admiral on Lawrence. Avoid these people at all costs.
Never say to your husband, "Don't worry honey, I will have the apartment all packed up when you return". Because, HA! You will drink too much the night before (and fall down the stairs, WTF) and you will not want to pack all day. And your cats will frolic in the open boxes like it is the kitty Wisconsin Dells (slide, pam, slide!) and shed all over your pots and pans which were previously the only items in the house which had not seen the underbelly of a feline.
Do not check the NCLEX website every 5 minutes to see if your results are posted. THEY ARE NOT. Every message board and piece of official literature tells you they will not be available for 48 hours. So relax. Your fate as a RN is in someone else's hands and just because you are a highstrung nursing student (and possibly, a nurse, but how would you know?)those 48 hours aren't going by any faster.
Do not think of combining drinking and packing. Especially before noon.
Wait until at least 12:30pm.
Never say to your husband, "Don't worry honey, I will have the apartment all packed up when you return". Because, HA! You will drink too much the night before (and fall down the stairs, WTF) and you will not want to pack all day. And your cats will frolic in the open boxes like it is the kitty Wisconsin Dells (slide, pam, slide!) and shed all over your pots and pans which were previously the only items in the house which had not seen the underbelly of a feline.
Do not check the NCLEX website every 5 minutes to see if your results are posted. THEY ARE NOT. Every message board and piece of official literature tells you they will not be available for 48 hours. So relax. Your fate as a RN is in someone else's hands and just because you are a highstrung nursing student (and possibly, a nurse, but how would you know?)those 48 hours aren't going by any faster.
Do not think of combining drinking and packing. Especially before noon.
Wait until at least 12:30pm.
27 June 2008
Fin
My exam is over.
75 questions.
One hour.
Not as horrible as I expected.
Not as good as I hoped.
15 select all that apply.
2 med calcs.
2 correct the order.
Many many priority.
Infection control.
2 questions on fosamax of all drugs?!
Never heard of tumor lysis syndrome.
Never heard of most the meds.
I really hate select all that apply.
75 questions.
15 of which are trial and don't count.
So in 60 questions I either demonstrated my competence or not.
And I will find out in 2 business days.
75 questions.
One hour.
Not as horrible as I expected.
Not as good as I hoped.
15 select all that apply.
2 med calcs.
2 correct the order.
Many many priority.
Infection control.
2 questions on fosamax of all drugs?!
Never heard of tumor lysis syndrome.
Never heard of most the meds.
I really hate select all that apply.
75 questions.
15 of which are trial and don't count.
So in 60 questions I either demonstrated my competence or not.
And I will find out in 2 business days.
20 June 2008
One week from today, I will be on the el headed downtown to take my nursing boards. I have been studying constantly and I am beginning to think in multiple choice questions. In so many ways, it feels I have been holding my breath for two years, and until i see the words PASS on a computer screen, I will not be able to let it out. Nursing school was a compressed, intense, overwhelming experience that doesn't end at graduation, no matter how excited you are to see your diploma (mine came in the mail this week) or how soon your student loans bills are coming (november, along with my impending heart attack). Nursing school ends somewhere between the minute your test shuts off, the next 48 hours of anxiety (and heavy drinking) and the moment you see P-A-S-S with your name next to it.
This morning at 5:30am, through random circumstances involving Joshua's increasingly crazy job, I saw one of my favorite professors and his wife, who are both nurses. Standing with them was a woman who just passed her NCLEX on Wednesday. I don't believe in luck, but I believe God comforts us in mysterious ways...and so I was really relieved to have met that woman and have seen my professor again (a small-ish man who was wearing biking spandex and those strange clomping bike shoes; let's be serious, this situation was actually hilarious. In addition, Joshua will be traveling in a van that follows my professor and other bikers for 230 miles, driven by the woman who recently became a registered nurse. If I have anything to do with it, he WILL shake her down for all the info).
This apartment is getting packed up...and messy...and dirty...and my nursing books and CDs and paints chips for colors we are thinking of in the new place are everywhere and although I did just talk about feeling comforted, the physical space around me sucks right now. I need to get off the computer and organize something.
That is a phrase I do NOT use often.
This morning at 5:30am, through random circumstances involving Joshua's increasingly crazy job, I saw one of my favorite professors and his wife, who are both nurses. Standing with them was a woman who just passed her NCLEX on Wednesday. I don't believe in luck, but I believe God comforts us in mysterious ways...and so I was really relieved to have met that woman and have seen my professor again (a small-ish man who was wearing biking spandex and those strange clomping bike shoes; let's be serious, this situation was actually hilarious. In addition, Joshua will be traveling in a van that follows my professor and other bikers for 230 miles, driven by the woman who recently became a registered nurse. If I have anything to do with it, he WILL shake her down for all the info).
This apartment is getting packed up...and messy...and dirty...and my nursing books and CDs and paints chips for colors we are thinking of in the new place are everywhere and although I did just talk about feeling comforted, the physical space around me sucks right now. I need to get off the computer and organize something.
That is a phrase I do NOT use often.
17 June 2008
Random Thoughts
I am a sucker for catchy songs, I can't get them out of my head for days and I can become sort of obsessed with playing them over and over. Pop-y, summer-y songs usually stick with me the longest, and I would like to complain about the lyrics of my current keep-on-repeat:
I kissed a girl and I liked it is not exactly doing wonders for my marriage. Joshua is less than thrilled with me humming under my breath, "it felt so wrong, it felt so right"...and etc. But the song is like crack, I cannot stop hearing it in my head.
Speaking of crack, I have not been drinking coffee lately. At all. I had iced coffee before church 2 weeks ago, and only really drank about half of it, and that was the very last time a drop has passed my lips. I've had iced tea since then, but the coffee has been dead to me. I don't miss it, I don't crave it. I think at some point over the fall, probably when I start working the night shift, coffee and I will reconcile. But for now, it's kind of nice to go through the day feeling like I am not being propelled from behind by a venti cup.
More thoughts...Amy and I ran a 5k on Sunday. Without any training (except for some fatigued half-mile runs in 100% humidity). I was happy with how well we did, crossing the finish line around 36 minutes. We ran all but about 1/4 mile of the course, including a cobblestone bridge which was basically a pool of standing water from the fierce thunderstorm we had that morning, and a hill. (A hill! I run at the lake and in the neighborhoods in one of the flattest cities in this country, so no, I did not run up that big fat hill during the race. I wouldn't know how). It was so fun, and really encouraging to me because I was not half as tired as I thought I would be at the finish line. Two new goals: 1) finish another 5k this summer and 2)do it in under 30 minutes, no walking at all.
I have now been sick for over a week with a nasty summer cold. I can't get rid of it and it's driving me crazy. Every morning I wake up and the symptoms are just slightly different - one day more in my nose, the next in my throat, and so on. It's all just so interesting and unpredictable. My cats make these horrified faces when I blow my nose, which makes it fun.
During my "illness", I discovered Gyminee, a nicely done website that helps you track your weight loss, food choices, and workouts. I am not by nature a calorie-counter or a very disciplined exerciser, so it's kind of fun to see exactly what I am putting in my body and how that translates to the amount of fat, carbs, and proteins I should be eating. Left to my own bread-craving devices I think I eat about 60% carbs, 30% fat and 10% protein. So this has been helping me realize what I'm actually putting in my mouth all day long, and I've already started to change my eating habits (waaaaay more protein! waaaaaay less carbs!). Plus, the food-finder feature is super helpful. For instance, for lunch I tossed pesto with cannellini (as opposed to my typical capellini!) and the food-finder has nutrition facts on the exact brands of both the beans and the pesto I used. Of course I will not be able to do this every day, but it's a good eye-opened none the less.
Lastly, I am packing up our apartment and studying for NCLEX every day and hopefully (fingers crossed, practice questions in hand) next Friday I will officially become a Registered Nurse. Then a week later we move to our new place and our happy, financially solvent life as DINKS - Dual Income No Kids - can begin.
OH! And I have a secret. A happy secret. (I am NOT pregnant, there is NO baby, CALM DOWN. Like I could keep that quiet). A very exciting future development secret.
(I love the summertime!!!)
I kissed a girl and I liked it is not exactly doing wonders for my marriage. Joshua is less than thrilled with me humming under my breath, "it felt so wrong, it felt so right"...and etc. But the song is like crack, I cannot stop hearing it in my head.
Speaking of crack, I have not been drinking coffee lately. At all. I had iced coffee before church 2 weeks ago, and only really drank about half of it, and that was the very last time a drop has passed my lips. I've had iced tea since then, but the coffee has been dead to me. I don't miss it, I don't crave it. I think at some point over the fall, probably when I start working the night shift, coffee and I will reconcile. But for now, it's kind of nice to go through the day feeling like I am not being propelled from behind by a venti cup.
More thoughts...Amy and I ran a 5k on Sunday. Without any training (except for some fatigued half-mile runs in 100% humidity). I was happy with how well we did, crossing the finish line around 36 minutes. We ran all but about 1/4 mile of the course, including a cobblestone bridge which was basically a pool of standing water from the fierce thunderstorm we had that morning, and a hill. (A hill! I run at the lake and in the neighborhoods in one of the flattest cities in this country, so no, I did not run up that big fat hill during the race. I wouldn't know how). It was so fun, and really encouraging to me because I was not half as tired as I thought I would be at the finish line. Two new goals: 1) finish another 5k this summer and 2)do it in under 30 minutes, no walking at all.
I have now been sick for over a week with a nasty summer cold. I can't get rid of it and it's driving me crazy. Every morning I wake up and the symptoms are just slightly different - one day more in my nose, the next in my throat, and so on. It's all just so interesting and unpredictable. My cats make these horrified faces when I blow my nose, which makes it fun.
During my "illness", I discovered Gyminee, a nicely done website that helps you track your weight loss, food choices, and workouts. I am not by nature a calorie-counter or a very disciplined exerciser, so it's kind of fun to see exactly what I am putting in my body and how that translates to the amount of fat, carbs, and proteins I should be eating. Left to my own bread-craving devices I think I eat about 60% carbs, 30% fat and 10% protein. So this has been helping me realize what I'm actually putting in my mouth all day long, and I've already started to change my eating habits (waaaaay more protein! waaaaaay less carbs!). Plus, the food-finder feature is super helpful. For instance, for lunch I tossed pesto with cannellini (as opposed to my typical capellini!) and the food-finder has nutrition facts on the exact brands of both the beans and the pesto I used. Of course I will not be able to do this every day, but it's a good eye-opened none the less.
Lastly, I am packing up our apartment and studying for NCLEX every day and hopefully (fingers crossed, practice questions in hand) next Friday I will officially become a Registered Nurse. Then a week later we move to our new place and our happy, financially solvent life as DINKS - Dual Income No Kids - can begin.
OH! And I have a secret. A happy secret. (I am NOT pregnant, there is NO baby, CALM DOWN. Like I could keep that quiet). A very exciting future development secret.
(I love the summertime!!!)
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