Did I REALLY sign up for this??

Summer is here, well I mean not officially, but close enough, and this summer means school is back in full force. Of course by full force I mean part time. In one way I'm looking forward to the fact that I'll only have 2 classes at a time to focus on, which hopefully means I'll make straight A's. On the other hand though, I wish I was able to go full time, like in nursing school, and get it over with! Another 2 1/2 years...sigh. The good thing about this time around though, is how AWESOME clinical is going to be!!! I am soooo looking forward to my clinicals, all dressed up in my white coat and professional name tag! Guess I need to do some shopping before then huh? Going straight from nursing school into nursing, I haven't really had the need to stock up on professional clothing. I went from jeans, sandals and tennis shoes, to scrubs and tennis shoes. And of course there's the ever present bun that I wear, definitely going to need to get my hair did before then!...

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...

Four of five Critical Care clinicals DONE & can I just say, I REALLY like this.  I have to be honest, between my run in with one of my clinical instructors (who as it turned out happened to be MY clinical instructor [who turned out to be super nice even after the incident]), my lackluster attitude at the beginning of the semester regarding this class & not being REMOTELY interested in critical care, I really did NOT think I was going to like this clinical. Ha! I couldn't have been MORE wrong.  Not only do I like this clinical, I'm pretty sure it's going to be top on my list to do my capstone clinicals in.  And yes, no one is more surprised than I am.  I'm not sure where my perception of critical care came from, but I was totally wrong about it.  I thought I would be grossed out by the vent care & bored with just having two patients but I was way off.  My preceptor was so awesome.  The day of cc the first thing she...

"if he really loves me? I say a prayer with every heart beat" ok I couldn't resist.  I wrote the title & then the song just came to my mind.  Of course any youngun's won't even know the song, lol.  So, I've been reading my fav blogs (Adventures of a PICU Nurse Practitioner) being one of them & I am just wondering, how will I know where I really want to be when I graduate?  As it looks now  I am looking at 3 more years of schooling after my RN for my DNP & so I am wondering, how will I know where I want to spend those 3 years?  I have always said that I didn't want to do Med/Surg, but really how will I know?  I am so excited that next semester is my CC & Peds rotation, but really that only gives me four real rotations that I've had.  Well five if you count the SNF, but that's not even a consideration.  So, by the time next semester is over I'll have had Med/Surg, L & D, Peds & CC.  Wait, I think we have a ps...

Ok since this is nursing week there are lots of people posting why they became a nurse, and even though I'm just a nursing student I thought I'd play along with Anna's question of "Why I became a nurse". If you are new followers of this blog & you don't read my other blog then this will be new for you. On May 2, 2008 I got a phone call at work from one of my mother's really good friends saying that my mother was in the hospital & that she was almost non-responsive & that my sister & I should come right away.  (We live about an hour from where my mom lived.)  So, we immediately went to the hospital where my mom was in the ER.  She was in a stupor, barely responsive and we weren't sure what was wrong.  After many tests the doctors told us that she had a huge tumor the size of a lemon on her cerebellum and that it needed to be removed immediately. Now, some background.  My mom had been sick for several years from what she said w...