YKYW - Nursing Student Blog

While it may not sound like much to some of you, my weekend was packed! On Friday, I met up with a friend from college (yes, from the first time I tried that whole education thing) who I last saw over 10 years ago. She was in town to celebrate the birthday of a friend, and they were kind enough to let me tag along. I had a good time — I got to catch up a bit with my friend, meet some new people AND I learned how to make sangria at home. Can’t beat that

On Saturday, SK and I took Toby to spend the night at the lake house. Since the drive is through hill country, I was looking forward to seeing the wild flowers in bloom. The sky was overcast for most of the weekend, but because of all the rain we’ve had recently, everything was green and in full bloom. Springtime is a wonderful time to drive around Texas. I guess we weren’t the only ones to think so — at one point, we stumbled across what seemed to be a VW convention! There were Volkswagons all over the place! SK even pointed out one that was painted like Herbie the Lovebug. I didn’t realize there were so many different kinds of VWs out there.

After we made it home yesterday, I did some studying, and then had dinner with Jac. I’m trying to be good this week and get in a lot of studying. I have a test on Friday, and my final is coming up soon! My first nursing major careplan is due this week, and I’m a bit nervous about it. We did get some feedback on our mini care plans, but there’s such a big difference between a major careplan and a mini careplan. This major careplan counts for 20% of my grade in my clinical class. 30% comes from the various skill checkoffs, and the last 50% is the subjective evaluation by our clinical instructor. I sure hope she’s in a good mood when she does mine! I wonder if she likes chocolate chip cookies?

We had our last checkoff of the first semester of nursing school today — inserting a Foley catheter. After next week, we are done with our lab class. The nice part is that we’ll have two weeks after the end of clinicals to concentrate on lecture. I don’t know about other nursing programs, but our lecture class is killing us! It seems like every time we get together, we’ve lost a few more people. It’s scary to see that happening to people I thought would make decent nurses. Just shows that I shouldn’t be the one judging

And, I have a decision to make. The campus I’m attending now is my second choice campus. I was told that if I asked for a change to my first choice campus for the second semester, I’d probably get it. But, I’m not so sure I want it now. Since I’ve already established friendships with some of my fellow nursing students, and I know that I have people I can count on if I need a helping hand. I’m sure I’ll meet new people, but will it be the same? However, the other campus is closer to home and has free parking. The clinical sites should be closer, too, which will be really handy when it’s time to start job hunting. Ah, decisions!

Easter weekend was really nice. We went to Florida to visit SK’s nieces and nephew (and their parents happened to be around, too!). I know you may not believe it, but I actually wore a dress to church.

Are you done laughing? :p

I know I said I’d start writing more often, but it sure is hard when life is this busy! Last week was my Spring Break from nursing school. Since I hadn’t seen my family since Christmas, I drove down to Houston on Monday and came home on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, SK and I left to spend the rest of the week in Ruidoso, New Mexico. It was so beautiful — low 70s, sunny and still a lot of snow on the ground. We weren’t sure we were going to be able to make the trip this year, but I’m really glad we did. On Friday, we drove out to Carlsbad, and toured Carlsbad Caverns. It was a first for me, and I was amazed at how beautiful it is. If you had asked me to describe a cave before, I don’t think I would have ever thought to associate the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘cave.’ After touring Carlsbad Caverns, now I understand why people enjoy spelunking!

Although my lack of new entries doesn’t make it obvious, we did make it home safe and sound from California.  California is such a gorgeous place that I can understand the motivation for a song advocating “Go West.”  I was going to wait and write up a grand post, complete with pictures, but we have over 300 photos from the trip!  So, I thought I’d give a quick update while working on the sorting, cropping and resizing.

We made it home late Saturday night, and spent Sunday doing laundry and trying to adjust to the time and temperature differences.  Sunday evening we got together with SK’s family for her birthday dinner.  I got up bright and early Monday morning to register for my fall classes.  I signed up for Microbiology, US Government and Texas Government.  I will probably only take Microbiology, but I wanted to reserve my seat in the government classes since they are online.  Depending on how things work out, I might go ahead and take them because I will need them to finish up my core program.

Today I went to the downtown Dallas campus to take the NET (nursing entrance test) and get my second hepatitis B shot.  Going into it, I was a little worried about taking the NET because I wasn’t really sure what to expect (not to mention my general test anxiety).  I wasn’t too worried because I only needed 50% and it just covers basic math and reading comprehension.  I shouldn’t have been worried at all — I made a 95 on the math and a 92 on the reading and ranked in the 99th percentile nationwide.  Now that I can cross these two things off my list, I am almost ready to apply for Spring admission to the nursing program.

Now it’s time to watch So You Think You Can Dance, and play some poker.

Tomorrow morning, SK and I are heading to California for a week to celebrate our birthdays.  We’ll be in San Jose, San Francisco, Napa, Monterey, and Mendocino.  From a sunrise hot air balloon ride, to winery tours, and sunset dinners overlooking the ocean, it is a dream vacation.

But then, dream vacations becoming reality shouldn’t surprise me since finding the love of my life is already one dream come true.

Thank you, SK, for this dream and all the others that I will share with you.

Were you beginning to wonder if I was stuck under a pile of textbooks?  Have no fear; SK dug me out after I finished my final on Thursday.

Our trip to Atlanta was wonderful and relaxing.  I really enjoyed being able to share some of my childhood memories from Helen, Georgia with SK.  We even made the trek up to Anna Ruby Falls.  Ah, I love waterfalls!  We also spent a day out at Stone Mountain.  I didn’t know what to expect, but I enjoyed it.  Personally, I like to read historical markers, and Stone Mountain was chock full of them!  We took the Sky Cab up to the top of the mountain and found a spot to sit down.  The hawks were circling nearby, and we had to look down through the clouds to see the tree tops.  There aren’t many experiences that can compare to that.

I haven’t been feeling so hot for the last week and a half or so.  I think I caught the creepy crud.  Coughing, sneezing, stuffy nose and all that fun stuff.  I swallow pills every few minutes and drink enough Airborne to keep a whole union employed.  I’m ready to feel better.  Now.  kplzthx.

If things look a little wonky around here, I’m moving all my sites to a new server again.  I think there were a couple of new comments posted on the old site after I copied the database, so if you noticed your comment missing, I apologize. But, if you are reading this, then you’ve found me!  Things should be back to normal soon.

This is a quickie — SK and I are off to Atlanta for a long weekend of fun.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!  More on Monday…

Quickie:  Our trip to California was wonderful!  Bumper cars, laughter and the smell of the ocean…

And, posts will be hit or miss over the next two weeks.  Anatomy and physiology lab final is only a week away, and lecture final is a week and a half away.  If you see me online, I should be studying!

But, I did take the time to take this silly meme…

Update: SK pointed out that I didn’t include the link to the meme.  Oops.  Here it is.

Yes, I’ve been home from Ruidoso, NM for almost a week and I’m just now blogging.  So shoot me.

Our trip was wonderful, with plenty of time to relax and enjoy Mother Nature.  We found this gorgeous place off a lonely gravel road.  Standing there amidst the trees with mountains all around us, it was easy to pretend we were the only people on Earth.

Before we left for Spring Break, my anatomy and physiology instructor offered to email us our lab grades if we’d send her an email asking for them.  In my email to her, I said, “If I were a betting woman, I’d say 81.”  Her reply?  “It’s a good thing you’re not a betting woman.  You made a 94!”  Wahoo!  A 94!  There were only two A’s and I made one of them.  I cannot tell you what a relief it was to find out that I’d made an A on my midterm.  I think I drove SK and Jac crazy, because I’d randomly turn to them and say, “94!”

I made a 100 on my history test, and things are moving along nicely in my other classes.  I’m a little worried about my psychology grade right now because I’m riding that fine line between an A and a B.  I hope I can pull it up.  We have another test in A&P lecture on Monday, and I’m trying to study for that now.

Other than that, life is progressing along.  I feel like I’m so out of touch right now with everyone.  How are you?

Guess who made a 100 on her anatomy and physiology lecture test last week?!

Wahoo!  It gives me a little peace of mind going into my lab midterm on Wednesday.  I’ve been studying for it, and I think I will be ready in time.  If I ever say ‘glabella’ or ‘posterior inferior iliac spine’ after Wednesday, I’ll be really surprised.

Since I also have a math test, a history test and psych homework this week, it’s keeping me busy.  If you see me online, spank my hand and tell me to hit the books!

My family is coming for a visit this week, and then SK and I are going to Ruidoso, NM for the week of Spring Break.  With everything together, things have been hectic and we are ready for a vacation!

If I’m a good girl, I shouldn’t be online for the next two weeks or so, and lemme tell ya, I’m looking forward to it!