Festivities!

Wow, what a week I just had! First was pinning on Wednesday night - it was great. We packed out the church it was held in! Mostly it was a long night of watching everyone get pinned and waiting for my turn. Eventually, I was pinned & at the end we recited the Nurse's Pledge holding a candle. That was the moment that it became very real, this commitment I am making to the public. Completely amazing!

Next was graduation on Thursday night. That was another long night, a lot of waiting for my name to be called. But then I heard it "Jamie Durham, Associate Degree in Applied Science, Nursing-High Honors!" What an accomplishment & it felt really good!

To top it all off was a long holiday weekend. I completely enjoyed myself and didn't look at one school related thing. By the time Tuesday rolled around I felt that I had begun to decompress from 2 years of major stress.

I finished up this week with the last two review classes for the NCLEX that were offerred by the college. They were helpful b/c it was mostly Peds and Maternity. I was surprised at how much I remembered of that stuff & in the same breath, how much I had forgotten!!

Another exciting moment this week was sending in my application to the PA state board of nursing for a nursing license. Now I just have to wait for my ATT (authorization to test) and I will be ready to pick THE TESTING DAY!

In that regard, today I began reading the Kaplan NCLEX Review book. I start class on June 4th and apparently I should have read the entire book & have done several online exercises before I start. Sounds like a lot, but I can handle it, after all I just graduated from nursing school!

Real Quick

I took my last final last night - whew! What a relief!! I have to say I was in quite a daze & could hardly concentrate.
The good news is I got a 96% on the final, highest in my class. That finishes the semester with a 96.2% for the class, highest again! What an accomplishment :D
So it is 5:36am, I couldn't sleep...seems to be the trend lately. Today & tomorrow I have an all day content review for the NCLEX. I'm not sure if I would rather be there or having a tooth drilled (at least I would get novacaine!)!!

One Down - One To Go!

I took the first of two finals last night. What a relief! It was harder than expected, but I got a 93% surprisingly :) That gave me an A for the class, which is great!
So today is a full day of studying for the BIG exam tomorrow night. I feel fairly prepared for it. After a while the material starts to stick in my brain, fortunately, and then I feel better about the whole thing.
After the exam tomorrow there is no time for relaxing - our school scheduled an NCLEX review for Thursday & Friday. We have to be there at 7:30am! That should be interesting, to say the least. Hopefully it is helpful. The talk around school is that it isn't. I'll give it a try.

As far as the job scene, I am still waiting to hear if I am officially hired. Apparently, the budgets for the health system came out & not as many positions are available as originally planned. So I wait & I don't sleep. Welcome to Nursing in the real world.

Happy Nurse's Week!

In honor of the profession I thought it fitting that I should write something. Actually, May 8th is Student Nurse's Day - that is kind of nice that they acknowledge us students :) My college had a special morning program for the nursing students. It was mostly for the day students, I think I was actually the only evening student there. So that made it kind of strange to look around at a room of mostly girls, and I do mean girls, that will be my peers very soon. Most of them looked to be around 20 years old, wow. I don't think I could've done this when I was 20, so kudos to them!
They showed a video from Johnson & Johnson that had patients talking about the nurses who made a difference when they were in the hospital. It was really sweet & a little knot formed in the back of my throat. The speaker was a CRNA, MSN, PhD who specializes in hypnotherapy. It was kind of neat. Some of it sounded a lot like positive thinking tools, but if you think about it, patients in the hospital could use some extra positive thinking. One of the things he said was when you go into a patient's room, we always ask "How is your pain today?" He said that the word 'pain' conjures up all sorts of images in their mind & even if they didn't have pain they try to think if anything in their body hurts, etc. Basically, that we are suggesting that they 'should' have pain. Rather, he said to ask "How comfortable are you?" That the power of suggestion would help them. Even just simply suggesting that they are looking better then when you saw them on your last shift, would somehow improve their outcome. Pretty neat, I will give it a try. One thing that he did mention that was surprising was that it actually states in the PA Scope of Nursing Handbook that nurses can use hypnotherapy. I guess if we can use it might as well know how!
On another note, as I was watching my favorite shows last night, Grey's Anatomy & ER, I was trying to follow all the medical lingo as usual. Not so much with GA because that is more drama than medical. Mostly with ER, there was a girl/guy who came in with hepatic encephalopathy. I just learned that about 6 months ago & for the life of me could not remember all the details. The asterixis, decreased clotting times, that was slightly familiar, but it made me nervous! How will I ever prepare for the NCLEX?!
So amidst all the joys and celebration of graduation I still have a tough road ahead. After graduation I have to hit the books hard to remember skeletal traction, fetal heart rates, GI disorders, cardiac meds, transesophageal fistulas, renal failure, cancers, etc....

Gotta Get it Back

Yesterday, at the gym, I did my usual class at 9:30. Painful, very painful. Then I decided that I need to start running again. So I went on the treadmill after class. I only ran for 30 mins, did 3 miles and burned 275 calories. It was so hard b/c I haven't been running for a while. It is amazing how quickly you lose your endurance. I had been up to running for a straight hour and doing about 6 miles. I would love to have that back! But honestly, that is not happening anytime soon. It took me a month of running 5 days a week to get up to that.
I ended up paying for my running escapade, my lower back is so tight and sore. But I am so glad I ran, it is such a great feeling. Besides, I just bought a couple new swimsuit from a catalog - so the pressure is on to be able to fit in the size I ordered! ;o)

Well I'm glad that's over!

I just had my last weekend of offical clinical. It was great, knowing that on Sunday when I got up at 4:45am and put on the blue scrub shirt & white pants, this was the last time. The morning went by quickly & I caught myself several times thinking that "this is it!"

As we were finishing up I had always imagined that angels would sing and the heavens would open up, but it was pretty anti-climactic. No bells, or bright lights, no great feelings. I was just done. Done with 2 years of weekend clinicals.

At post-conference my instructor talked a bit about the day, then she looked at all of us and said, "So, are you ready?"

Um, ...

Interview News

I had an hour and a half interview today - I have to say I think it went pretty good. I absolutely love the floor I might be working on.
The only thing I wish right now I could change about myself is that I get soo nervous when I have to formally talk to people. It would work best for me if interviews could happen as you met up with someone in the hall and then walked down to the cafeteria together and got a coffee & donut. I guess just the formality of a suit, office, desk, them behind the desk you in front of the desk, and then the soul-searching questions kind of get to me. My voice quivered and sounded weird, but I was able to get across the major thoughts that I wanted to convey. Then the one question was asked, you know the one, that is so close to everything you want? 3 tears squeezed out on that one. How pathetic. I hate myself that I did that. They didn't seem to mind - they actually looked at me like they wanted to help or something (of course, they are Nurses!!). I recovered somewhat quickly and it turned out okay.
As I was driving home I thought, of all the professions, nursing is one that it is okay to cry. Your patients get close to you & you help them when they really need help, at their worst. What person wouldn't cry at that point?
Anyway, I should hear in about a week if I got the position. 87% of me thinks I got it. The other 13% is the common sense of me that won't let me be over-confident.

All I can say is wow. Wow, wow, wow. It is actually happening. I drove home listening to an ecclectic assortment of my favorite tunes. My favorite of the day was Carrie Underwood's "Crazy Dreams" (love her & her songs). Here's a little bit of the lyrics: (I bolded the lyrics that I especially love, and, yes I did refrain from bolding the whole thing!)

Hello you long shots, and dark horse runners
hairbrush singers, dashboard drummers
hello you wild magnolia's, just waiting to bloom

there's a little bit of all that inside of me and you
thank god even crazy dreams come true

i stood at the bottom of some walls
i thought i couldn't climb
i felt like cinderella at the ball
just running out of time
so i know how it feels to be afraid
and think thats its all gonna slip away
hold on, hold on

here's to you free souls, fight for life chasers (?)
street climbers, porch swingers, air guitar players
heres to you fearless dancers, shaking walls in your bedrooms
there's alot of wonder left inside of me and you
thank god even crazy dreams come true

never let a bad day be enough
to go and talk you in to giving up
sometimes everybody feels like you, oh feels like you, just like you

i've met some go getters, some difference makers
small town heroes, and big chance takers
i've met some young hearts, with something to proove, oh yeah

here's to you long shots, dark horse runners
hairbrush singers and dashboard drummers
here's to you wild magnolia's, just waiting to bloom
there's a little bit of all that inside of me and you
thank god even crazy dreams come true

thank god even crazy dreams come true

I love it, & it is better when she sings it. So, I'm a little bit in awe of my life right now. I'm enjoying every moment of it b/c I know it won't always be like this. As I was told today by the nurse educator, it will take about a year for me to get comfortable working on my own as an RN. It's going to get worse before it gets better, but at least it will get better!