A blur...

is what I feel like the next few weeks will be. I just hope I make it out alive.

I have my Peds clinical tomorrow and then am watching my most favorite kids tomorrow night for a few hours. <3 Probably shouldn't be but I haven't seen them in forever and I want to snuggle 'em. Friday morning is Med Surg lecture as usual... I'm going to go over my Neuro exam with my instructor to see what I got wrong and hopefully kick ass on the next exam (and finish my Peds eval sometime before Saturday).

I work all weekend from Friday through Monday. Monday I'll practice in the lab (we got our facesheets for our final simulation and I'm slightly freaking out... lots of things to know in such a small amount of time) until about noon and then go off to work. Somewhere between now and Wednesday I must study for my Peds exam on Wednesday... Thursday again is my Peds clinical (my last day on the floor... the following week is our last week and I'm in the OR) and then Friday is Med Surg lecture.

Then the week of the 9th is like fricken doomsweek. Monday is our final simulation (my time is 0940) where we will listen to report via headphones on three patients (a peds patient, an OB patient and a Med Surg patient) and decide which is the priority patient and then treat the problem they're having. I'm already hyperventilating about it and wish I had gone to the doctor to get an rx for Xanax. Now I fear it's too late to see how I'll react to it... the last thing I want to do is go into the sim completely doped up. 

After final simulation that Monday, we have our Peds final on that Wednesday as well as our article presentation to give in class after the exam (joy). Thursday is our last Peds clinical (thank goodness) and Friday is our Med Surg renal exam (that I must do well on)... then of course fitting in time to study for all of these exams and such. I work the weekend after the last actual exam for med surg and the final is the 19th of May so there's just so much going on... I'm going to need ample sleep to get through it without crying every single day. :-\

My Med Surg clinical grade is a B and my instructor said she encourages me to continue on for my Masters. HA! She's hilarious! Let's get the RN first. 

I feel like I'm so close yet soooo far. Hurry UP May 19th. HURRY UP.

Another week...

And so begins week 12.... 4 more to go until I'm done (3 more to go for most... that 4th week is just the med surg final). This past week wasn't too bad... we had our last med surg clinical on Tuesday. My instructor was being evaluated by the co-dean of nursing so she picked me to administer medications with her so the dean could think she was super busy all day. Fantastic. :-|  After the clinical, our clinical group and instructor met up for lunch and drinks (her idea LOL). It was fun and she picked up the tab which was so nice of her. 

Peds clinical went well too... I finally gave IV meds with my instructor. Another week down there...2 more to go on the floor for me and then the last week I observe in the OR so that'll be nice :)

One of the girls at work wanted Saturday off from work so I worked for her and yesterday for Easter went ok. We went to church in the morning as usual and then to my grandma's for brunch. I fell asleep at 7pm for the night and woke up at 8am this morning... that could be bad for later because getting too much sleep isn't the best idea..

This week I have practice in the nursing lab to prepare for final simulation. I also have to work on an article for Peds that we have to present. Peds clinical on Thursday and then my 4 days in a row of work Friday-Monday. Woohoo. 

Last Medical Surgical II clinical

Oh sim....

Good bye week 5.... and I'm emotionally and physically exhausted. Tuesday's med surg clinical went well, nothing exciting Wednesday with peds lecture. Practiced a lot in the lab this week because of our simulation that we had today. Studied my butt off as well, especially Wednesday, with Angel. Wednesday after studying we went out for Chinese, which was fun. :) Thursday was Peds clinical... my patient had a T4-T5 injury :( So sad... 13 yrs old. Got to do my first straight cath which was crazy. The female anatomy is annoying :-\

Then studied some more until about 10pm with Julie for the Neuro test that was this morning at 8am.... which we got grades back for already and I got an 83% which is what I needed. One step closer to passing.... keep in chuggin' right? 

Simulation was ridiculous and quite frankly, I'd like to forget about it. But I said all experiences would be documented here because I think 10 yrs from now, reading about this "journey" (for lack of better word) will give me a chuckle. I was the med nurse and the other girl was the primary nurse. She did the assessment and I drew up the meds... which were g tube medications. No biggie, I've practiced G tube and knew how to do it. I made it MUCH more difficult than I should have and it took me almost 10 minutes to draw up 2 liquid meds and 2 flushes of sterile water. The instructor gave a 2 minute warning and by the time I got in the room, they called time (you only have 10 minutes to do the simulation). I just started bawling right then and there. I think I scared the one instructor because she was just against the wall but the one instructor that was with me gave me a hug and said I did fine, I just don't need to make it to difficult for myself. Once I started crying, I could not stop... ugh it was terrible. I think it was all of the stress catching up to me from the Neuro exam an hour beforehand and then prepping for this sim. It's just ridiculous. :-\ Not to mention one of the instructors is a nurse that I occasionally work with at the hospital so I felt embarrassed that I didn't do well... 

I went home from there, cried some more then went to work. Got to work and of course who do I see but the instructor that was in the sim with me. Naturally... and she says hi to me and that the color I was wearing (we have to wear teal colored scrubs now) looked good on me. I said 'Heh, yeah it's better than the blue' re: the color top I wore for sim that day. :-| I got upstairs to the unit and they needed someone to go home so they asked me. You BET I took advantage of that! I was still so edgy from the day and didn't know how long I'd last so off I went. I also had to finish my evaluation for Peds clinical that is due tomorrow by noon. It was such a blessing in disguise. 

So now onto the next week... Monday I have coffee with Jane and I'll probably run to Old Navy to find something to fit me for Easter next week. Then I work Monday night... Tuesday my last Med Surg clinical which we're leaving early from to have lunch with our instructor (scandalous, I know). Wednesday is my second Peds exam (so this weekend, in between work, I will be studying for that) and then Thursday is Peds clinical yet again... Friday is Good Friday but I'm working and then the weekend is Easter. My next MS exam is the first week of May and I must do the same as this exam or better (and I'm hoping better). I have that exam and the next 2 peds exams to worry about and then the final for both classes and of course, the final simulation (which just made my stomach churn). But one day at a time, right? One day at a time.... and each day without crying is a good day :)

Week 5...

5 more weeks... Tuesday I had simulation for autonomic dysreflexia. My partner that I went in with did not know what AD was because she missed that lecture (and why bother looking it up, right? :-| ) so I filled her in on the systemic manifestations we should look for. Went into the sim hospital and did the sim... I straight cathed the "patient" and broke sterile field (which I knew) but was so focused/scared, I did not verbalize it. So I got remediated for straight cathing. My clinical instructor was the instructor holding the sim for us so she said I did just fine and was the leader in the sim. My partner however did not do so well... she looked at me like I was stupid when I asked her to do things that related to AD and my instructor noted that and questioned why she did so. 

Wednesday was our first Peds lecture exam, which I passed thank goodness. I thought I did better than my actual score but didn't so I'm going to review the test tomorrow. I also have to take the dosage calculation exam again because I got 14/15 and we must get 100% on this test. Most frustrating part is the answer was right, I just forgot to convert it to teaspoons. :-| Maybe not having a test immediately following a 7 hour clinical would be a better idea... 

I hate pediatric clinical. I don't know what it is but I am not enjoying it; all of these calculations and safe doses etc is so annoying. I'm actually looking forward to Med Surg clinical Tuesday because I feel like I know what I'm doing there. Peds is a crapshoot and the instructor is a bit hard to read. 5 more clinical days there... only 5. 

I was off this weekend so I tried to finish my holistic 50 page pediatric assessment which I am about 90% done with now after spending all day Saturday on it. Today I met with some friends at Corner Bakery to study for Neuro... man there's just so much information for a 35 question exam and so much pressure for me to do well on it. So nerve-wracking. I also have a 'well child' growth and development project to complete (not sure when exactly that's due but the sooner the better) and a pediatric article to present (not sure when THAT'S due either...). All I know is two more med surg clinicals (Tuesday and next Tuesday) and then I can focus on passing that class (and of course Peds clinical/lecture). And of course on Friday, after the Neuro exam, we have a Peds simulation on sickle cell crises; something we've not even covered in lecture yet so I guess it's a 'learn on your own' sim. Great. So I'll be in lab practicing G Tube meds, buretrol med administration etc. Needless to say, can't wait until week 5 is over.... c'mon week 4!

eHarmony and school.

Alright so I joined eHarmony again last month just to see what's out there again. They had another one of those deals where you pay 19.99 a month for 3 months. I figured 'what the heck?', it's been a few years since the first disaster date, why not? I swear to God, men are getting stupider by the moment. What kind of idiot puts a photo up, holding up a peace sign with his fingers and his lip pouted out? I mean seriously. I'm losing hope here, people. Right now my excuse works; who has time for a relationship in nursing school? Super busy. But soon I'll be 50 and the cat lady thing won't exactly work for me because I'm allergic so I can't even have cats :-( *sniff* I know, it happens when you least expect it and I know I'm super picky and not like most girls... but there's gotta be someone out there... right? I don't even want an answer to that question unless God Himself tells me because He's the only one that knows for sure. It's just frustrating... :-\ 

Anyway, enough of my pity party ;-) 6 more weeks of school but so much packed into those 6 weeks.... tomorrow I am studying Neuro with friends at the library in the morning then I work my 4th day in a row. Tuesday I have a simulation *sigh* and then study Pediatrics all day since my first exam is Wednesday morning at 8am. Wednesday I work again... Thursday is Peds clinical (ugh) and Friday is lecture. Luckily I don't work this coming weekend so I can really focus on studying for the Neuro exam the following week (which I must do well on). I'm just looking forward to being done and having somewhat of a life back during the summer (though looking at my schedule in the summer, I feel like it's already super busy). It'll fly by and sooner rather than later, I'll be back in school.... hopefully my last semester though. ;-) Seriously, PLEASE JUST LET ME PASS THESE NEXT 6 WEEKS :(