Did I REALLY sign up for this??

This weekend my nursing bestie graduated from Nursing school! I am so proud of him! It was so neat being at pinning again, but this time in the audience. I can remember how it felt sitting there waiting to get your pin, knowing that this was the culmination of everything you had worked so hard for. I can hardly believe it's been 7 months since I was the one walking across that stage getting my beloved pin. Here is a pic of me on my way to pinning :D It was a great night and I even got to see some of my classmates. I can't believe how much I miss all of them! We all said we need to get together soon & I plan on making that happen. I really love those people and let's be real, the only people that can truly understand the hell that you had to go through for those 2 1/2 years are the nursing peeps that went through it with you. Speaking of being out of school, it's so weird. Being out of school and just working is such a different pace. There's no more deadlin...

Well, I'm still waiting, but I'm pretty sure I should have some exciting news shortly, I'll let you know for sure as soon as I get the final word (like you couldn't guess). Anyway, as my title says, I'm really starting to settle in to my job on Med/Surg & dare I say, I've actually started LOOKING FORWARD to going in to work. I don't know that it has so much to do with the job itself or with the fact that I'm starting to find my place. It seems like it's harder to find your place in a tight knit group, especially when you only work 3 days a week, which I am TOTALLY loving btw. But when some of those nurses work 4 & 5 days a week they really get to know each other.  Then of course you have the ones that have been there for 30 years, so they REALLY know each other. It just takes a while, but I think I am really starting to not only find my place, but get a groove when it comes to running my day in M/S. Of course I know I still have a long way ...

Soo, nothing from graduate school. I applied to the online RODP program on August 5th & have heard nothing. I have a friend that said that one of the girls she works with heard immediately after she applied, so I'm thinking that my answer is no.  The thing is that if it's no then I'll get over it, but I'd really like to know either way. I've called twice & have been told that my application is with the "review board" but dang, it's been over 60 days how long does the review board take?  I've kind of given up, but even so I'd like to hear. Anyhoo, yesterday I met up with two of my nursing school friends & it was great to catch up and talk about our new jobs.  I have to say I miss my nursing school peeps!!  Well, the majority of them anyway ;) Also, I feel so stagnant. Even though I finally have what I've been working so hard for, I still feel like I'm spinning my wheels. Is that bad? Does that mean I don't appreciate wha...

So what has 2 months as a brand new RN taught me?  Well here goes: 1. Doctor's REALLY can be serious jerks 2. When doctor's are being serious jerks it's usually not personal, so try not to take it that way 3. Patients really do die & even though it's not your fault, you still feel like it is in some way 4. Errors CAN happen, be VERY vigilant 5. SLOW DOWN 6. If you're doing something that you're unsure of and your nursing sense starts tingling, STOP what you're doing and ask someone about it 7. It's hard to remember your patient's names when you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off 8. Once you're off orientation it's full steam ahead so if  you feel like you need more training/orienting time then say so! 9. Nurses are a cool group of people 10. TED hose really do make your legs feel SO much better after a 12 hour shift (and they sell some really cute ones too) 11. Working 3 shifts a week ROCKS!! 12. This...

Sorry it took me so long to post, but yes I passed the dreaded NCLEX!! I was so nervous but it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  I got 141 questions & I swear around question 130 I thought "I'm the one, I'm going to get all of the questions", but luckily I wasn't, but my friend was!  Me & two of my friends took it at the same time & one finished with 75, then there was me & then the other one got all of the questions, thankfully though we all passed!!  After it was over we all came together & did "the trick" & yes it really works.  2 of my friends failed & they were able to go all the way to the credit card screen after taking the test, but everyone that passed was stopped before getting to that scree, so just in case you're wondering, yes the trick really works. So, I have been working on Med Surg now for about a month & I have to say that I have really learned some interesting things of which I will...

So as you can see I have GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!  I am SO happy that nursing school is over, but can we say holy terrified?  Tomorrow is the NCLEX & I feel thoroughly unprepared.  Fortunately our school provided us with the HURST Review  and even though I have been studying this for about 2 weeks now I still feel completely terrified to actually take the test.  Of my former classmates I know of one so far who has failed....so scary... The rest of them are chugging along & passing on a daily basis, hopefully I will be one of them! But to rewind, here are a few pics from graduation & my graduation party that my precious husband & sister threw for me: That's my baby girl to my right, she looks taller than me!   I seriously couldn't have been cheesing any harder!! My nursing bestie & his bf hiding in the back! My study buddy!   My inlaws, aren't they precious!! Definitely one of the ...

I have that song from the 80's in my head "It's the final countdown"!!  I can't believe that I now have less than 50 days until my last day of school!!!!!!!!  Woofreakinhoo!!!!!  Seriously, I am so excited.  This week I have my LAST research paper (well for my undergrad anyway) due!! Yesterday we did our LAST group project (rec'd a 95 thankyouverymuch).  While I'm so excited to be getting close to the end it's also a little bittersweet.  I have seriously come to love the majority of my class mates so much and I have to admit that I will miss seeing them on a weekly (sometimes monthly if I ditched classes) basis. I know for sure that there are several that I will stay in touch with, but then there are some that I KNOW I will never speak to again.  I mean I don't speak to them now, so why would that change? :)  But seriously, I will miss this chapter of my life.  I am so happy and proud that I have done this.  I mean I am about to have a ...

DONE with my ER rotation!  As a matter of fact that means I'm DONE with clinicals period!  Woohoo!!!  Friday was my last real clinical in nursing school.  I worked 6 twelve hour shifts in the ER & I can truly say that I would feel 90% comfortable going straight to the ER from nursing school.  Besides the actual trauma codes that come in, I feel like I could easily handle what goes on in that ER straight out of nursing school.  I thought that I would LOVE ER, and I did to an extent, but what I really found out in this clinical was that I just DON'T KNOW .  I don't know exactly what I want to do yet as far as being a nurse, and honestly I just don't think I would really LOVE any nursing job. I know that I want to be a NP & therefore nursing positions to me don't really hold a great appeal. That being said, I don't know yet 100% what dept. I want to to work in, and what I really came to realize is that I don't think I'm going to kno...

 Can I just say for a minute how seriously TIRED I am?  And not just my legs but me too.  I thought I was over dramatizing how busy the ER would be, uh no, it was BUSY.  So here's how my 2 days went. First day I was assigned to a nurse.  I basically followed her around for the majority of the morning & observed, but that quickly got boring.  So then I started asking her if I could do stuff for her & she slowly started letting me try to start her iv's & do blood draws.  That was cool, although let's just say I wasn't very proficient at that.  Well by the afternoon I guess the nurses had gotten used to me being there so they all started asking me if I wanted to come & try to start their iv's, take out their iv's, do their blood draws, etc.  After that it was a lot more fun.  All in all I think I tried starting about 7 iv's that day and guess what?  I FINALLY got one!! My very last patient of the night was an iv s...

Tomorrow is my first clinical in the ER! I am SUPER excited.  I seriously can't wait.  Of course I'm also a little nervous.  I mean what if I get in there & they expect me to know something I don't know?  Or to do something I've never done before?  I mean I guess that's the point of a clinical, but I guess I'm just overly worried about it because it's the ER & in my mind that means that everything is moving in a rapid pace...Of course this is a small town, so maybe I'm overdramatizing what it's going to be like...I guess I'll see tomorrow.  Our clinicals are on Thursday & Friday, so for the next 3 weeks I'll be in clinical every Thur & Friday, on top of going to class Tue & Wed. & probably working some Saturdays & Sundays...February is about to get serious ya'll! So tonight I'm going to get my stuff packed, get my lunch together & get to bed early so I can be there bright eyed & bushy tailed at ...

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Yes, it's official, I am counting down my final days of school in the DOUBLE DIGITS!!!! Today marks 98 days until graduation!! I am so excited.  When I first started the countdown it was in like the 800's & I thought "Oh what's the point of counting down", but then it got below 365 & I started to get a little excited.  Now it's less than 100 days until I graduate from NURSING SCHOOL!!  I will be the first person in my family to graduate with their bachelor's degree & I am so excited! So a little about my last semester.  First of all my clinicals.  This semester we have 3 different clinicals.  We have community, psych & capstone.  For psych & community we basically have to get 45 hours each & most of it is on our own.  While it kind of makes me feel like I'm running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, I don't really care because IT'S MY LAST SEMESTER!! I mean seriously they could throw anything at me at th...

OMG!!!!!!!!! Can I just stop for a minute to give a HUGE shout out to Nickasarbata for this AMAZING tutorial on dimensional analysis!!!!!!!! (He has a youtube channel where he talks about nursing school also) Because of this video I have now MASTERED dosage calculation.  And thankfully I found it JUST IN TIME to take my test this past Friday.  This video is about an hour long but seriously I only needed to watch about 30 minutes of it & I GOT IT!!  Can you tell I'm excited?  Well, if you've been following my blog from the beginning then you KNOW how much I ABHOR Math.  It's the complete bane of my existence!  BUT this person made this great little video and completely saved my buttumpkus!!!!!!  I'm so happy.  So, if you're having problems with dosage calc, then for SURE watch this video.  That is all :D

     Sooo, I got my confirmation for my capstone clinical and surprise of all surprises I got BOTH of my first choices!!  We were allowed to pick 3 areas we were interested in working in and 2 hospitals that we would like to work at and I got BOTH of my picks!!  My choices were ER, ICU, and OB in that order, and my hospitals were the one that is in my town, which is literally 5 minutes from my house and the one right in the town over.  Since we don't get an ER rotation I was REALLY wanting to do that. So, let's just say that I am SUPER PSYCHED for this last clinical!!  Also, like last semester, I got first rotation for my clinical.  What this means is that I am going to hit the ground RUNNING, and I will be CRAZY for that first month, but thankfully it will give me a bit of breathing room at the end to study for finals (I hope) & get preprared for graduation. GRADUATION!! Did ya hear me!! I graduate in exactly 119 days!!!!!!!...

Guess whose LAST SEMESTER OF NURSING SCHOOL is about to start??  Yep, ME!! I am SOOO HAPPY that I can say I am FINALLY in my LAST semester of nursing school.   This semester consists of Leadership, Psych, Community and my clinical Capstone (in which we get to pick our designated area of clinical & hope that we get it). We start back on Jan. 16th & I am just SO ready to get this over with! But what about last semester.  Well, it pretty much went how I though it would go.  I got my B in Peds & a stinkin' C in Critical Care.  I hate that I got a C but I'll be honest, I'm just happy that I passed that class.  Last semester was seriously the hardest semester since I've started nursing school.  I think there were several factors leading up to my C, including the fact that I started working last semester.  For those people ahead of us that told us "Oh yeah you can definitely work and do just fine this semester" I say WHATEV!!!  Ye...