Almost Done!

Let's see here... hmmm...

Oh yeah. I'm almost done with nursing this semester! Yay! Today I passed my IV checkoff. The only thing I messed up on was forgetting to close the clamp before I spiked the bag. But I realized I did it before it was too late and verbalized it. So she didn't count that against me. My infusion to give was 1000 ml of D5 1/2NS to be given at 140 ml/hr. My drop factor was 15 so that came out to be an even 35 gtt/min (I like NEVER end up with an even number). When she came over to count it she came out with 36 gtt/min, which is awesome because we had a +/- 4 gtts/min. YAY!

The only checkoff left is Foley Catheters! That'll be a toughie I'm sure. Maybe not. I just can't find any volunteers to let me practice with. Hmm... any volunteers? It's real simple, really. I'll just shove a tube into your bladder and then take it out.

I've passed all my exams and I only have 2 more left (I think) plus the final. I feel pretty good about it, but I don't want to get overconfident. I tend to overstress about things but that keeps me from getting lazy. Sometimes the overstressing is bad though, when I'm overstressing about too much at once it proves detrimental to my health LOL

Oh yeah, speaking of which, I got to talk to my dr about my stinkin blood pressure. I'm on Atenolol and my bp has been spiking alot lately. I'm so terrified of having a stroke or heart attack. My grandmother died of a stroke within a month of finding out she was a diabetic. I was so traumatized. So now here I am a diabetic for what? 6 years? My A1C's are decent (around 7) but my dailies are not. Plus the HBP doesn't help. And I could definitely stand to lose a few. And my dad had like a quadruple bypass earlier this year. Anything he gets physically, I tend to as well. He's diabetic with HPB with the same liver crap that I have. WAAAH! Ok Amy... chill tha hell out. Yer fine!

Ok everyone! I'm off to the land of sedation heaven! Muchos lovos and stuff.

School Update

Well this has been quite the eventful week. Guess what? I survived front loading!!! WOOHOO! It all gets easier from here. My next two check offs? Oral meds and Subcutaneous Injections. I'm excited about subq's because I give myself 2 of them every day!!!

Monday: I went for my vital signs check off and passed it perfectly. All of my findings were well within the narrow range that they allow us (2-4 pts) and the lady doing my check off, Ms. Orlean, is beyond awesome. She's a midwife and I really look up to her. She's quiet but she's got a fantastic personality. I think she's my favorite out of all of them. I feel so at ease with her. During my check off I was a little nervous, but I had a thrill for a second. I felt like a nurse and it felt so natural. I hope I get that feeling more often. When I checked my email later that night I had an email from the coordinator about our clinical group. Our instructor never showed up and quit. So we didn't have a clinical instructor. But Mrs. Read was taking volunteers to do clinicals at Rockdale (the hospital 5 miles from my home and RIGHT next door to my sons daycare). I didn't sleep that night. I was so excited.

Tuesday: I spoke with Mrs. Read and she said she just had a few details to get settled but most likely I'll be at Rockdale. I'm really cautious and try not to think about it but for once I'm happy to be at school. After class I have a mandatory meeting with my Nursing Advisor. She reviews all my stuff (test grades, teacher notes, etc) and says that she's rather impressed. I'm glad she feels that way but I feel like I'm losing my everlasting mind! She explained that Nursing School is unlike any school you have ever experienced and it's VERY demanding and VERY stressful. There's alot riding on your success and they are very difficult on us (Remember! Didn't I tell you it's like bootcamp?!) But she said everything I'm feeling is very normal and actually I'm coping really well with school and it's demands. The only thing I need to work on is stress control. Stress has bad effects on my diabetes, HBP, and ulcer. She wants to see all that get under control. She's a fantastic woman and I'm glad she's my advisor.

Wednesday: I receive word that Rockdale isn't accepting anymore students. BIG let down. I'm back at DeKalb with an instructor from Lawrenceville. See? This has happened so much in school that I KNEW not to get my hopes up. I'm disappointed, but not suprised. Glad I didn't get too excited.

Thursday: I receive emails from my new clinical instructor. She has a reputation as being really cool and funny. That gives me alot of relief. She starts giving us the info everyone else has known about their group this whole time but our group was in the dark on. I'm scared of the unknown and not knowing ANYTHING has made the upcoming clinical experience even scarier. Finally I'm receiving "info" on my fear. I also find out I'm in group 1, which starts next Thursday. I was kinda hoping for group 2 so I wouldn't start so soon. Two of the guys I'm good friends with went to group 2. That sucks. But I found out that one of the girls in my group lives real close to me and her and I will carpool. That'll help so much. I'm not too familiar with that part of Atlanta. The good thing about being in group 1 though is I can face my fear of clinical and find out sooner that it's ok. Nothing to be afraid of. Plus I get it done and over with. We're also done with clinicals 2 weeks sooner (before Thanksgiving).

Friday: I attend clinical orientation. I still haven't met Mrs. Buchholz, my clinical instructor, but I'll meet her on the first day. We didn't actually go to the hospital, we sat in the auditorium at school and received lots of cool info about DeKalb Medical. We're going to be in the Cardiac Telemetry Unit. That sounds like it'll be ALOT of fun (ie interesting).

This Weekend: I'm going out to buy the supplies that I need for clinical (clipboard, pocket notebook, poclet nurses guide, etc) I feel like a kid starting school for the first time and having the honor of buying supplies. I also have to study for another Exam on Tuesday morning. Once again, Nursing tests aren't over what you know, it's "can you pick the best trick answer". Real frustrating. But my last 2 exam grades are 76 & 80... I have to score at least a 75 on all my test to pass Nursing school. So far so good. (I found out that they threw out one of the questions, one I just happened to get wrong, so my grade went from a 78 to an 80.)

Lord thank you for blessing me with the opportunity to become a nurse and help me to remember that this is a BLESSING and to stop whining because it can all be taken away in the blink of an eye. Amen.