Done!

I got my final grades yesterday. In Med/Surg I got a B- (I missed the B by 6 points. I rather it be 6 than a 1/2 of point!) In Maternity & Pediatrics I got a B+ and in Clinical I got an A. I was happy with that, they were the same grades as last semester except I got an A in clinical instead of a B. I start Spring term on Wednesday the 14th and go until June the 19th. I will try to keep you updated!!

Almost Done...

Well I only have 2 more days left of class until spring semester. I know for sure that I have passed my Med/Surg class. You need 780 out of 1000 to pass and I have 799 right now and there are 70 more points available, I would like to get an 86% which is a B, so I need 61 of the next 70 points, which is possible! In my Maternity/Pediatrics class I am aiming for a 89%, which is a B+, so hopefully I can get that too. I only need 69 out of 200 on the final to pass, but I can never settle for that :) And I am pretty sure I am getting an A in clinical too. Next week I have my other final on Tuesday and my clinical evaluation on Wednesday and then I will be done with tests for a while :) I'll let you know how I end up.

Excited!

I got some good news in the mail today. I received a $1000 scholarship! It was one that I also received last year. I was excited! That's less that I have to pay for. Today was my last day in clinical for the semester. Next week I have lab simulation, and then I'm done! Nothing too exciting this week, I got to do some dressing changes, a manual IV and some more insulin injections. Can't wait for the spring semester!

Week #14

Still can't believe it, only 2 more weeks left and then only 6 more weeks until I'm officially a nurse!! I had two tests this week, but all my studying paid off because I got the highest grade on the test on Tuesday. I was SO excited. That never happens! Now next week I have a test on Monday and then a Final on Wednesday; and I'm done with Med/Surg! And the following week I will have my final on Tuesday and my clinical evaluation on Wednesday and then I will be done for the semester!! I am so excited, I will actually have free time once again.

My excitement for the weekend came from Tanner. My Mom had him outside on Sunday and he never left her sight. Well he came up to her with a big hole behind his shoulder blade! The only conclusion we could come to was he ran into a stick (He likes to run at 100mph) Well my vet wasn't in on Sunday and the other place I called wanted over $150 because it was Sunday, so I decided to wait until Monday and Mom took him in. He ended up with 8 stitches and I doubt he learned his lesson :( I feel bad for the poor baby. I just hope it doesn't get infected.

Week #13 - WOW!

It has been REALLY hectic these last few weeks. I had signed up for spring semester and I thought I would have 1st pick, so I wasn't worried about betting where I wanted for clinical. Well I was wrong. When I found out where I had been placed, I almost burst into tears, I got Gail again! She was the instructor I had first semester and I did not want to re-live that again. So I went and talked to the scheduling lady immediately. Lindsey had been placed in a different Clare Clinical while the other 2 girls I car pool with were in the clinical I wanted. So I told the lady that my car pool group was in that clinical and how I thought I was first pick for clinical and why did I get stuck with this clinical site that I obviously didn't sign up for. She told me that apparently I was the last choice and she would put me up for a possible change, but there was nothing she could do about it right now. So I thought I would send out an email seeing if by chance anyone would want to trade for the clinical I wanted or ANY other one, because I really didn't want to be in Clare period...But who in there right mind would?! They all know about her. Well last week I got an email telling me that they found someone to switch and I got into the clinical with the other 2 girls!!! I was so happy I almost started crying!! That was a huge weight off me and I could be excited about clinical once again. So that was my drama for now.

This week I was in clinical and I was following a nurse around, to get more experience doing procedures and other things we might need practice in. Yesterday I got to take out my first catheter, which was really very easy. I also got to go watch an echocardiogram (Ultrasound of the heart) which was really cool. You don't realize how fast everything works until you see it like that...all the valves opening & closing, it was really neat. Oh I'll also tell you about the lady I met. She was in her 80's and was missing her thumb. The nurse asked what happened and she said "My Mom hit a telephone pole and I bit it off" That was all she said. The nurse said she was only 3 or 4 when it happened. How horrible!! I guess my Mom cutting my finger with the nail clippers wasn't so bad! Today there wasn't much exciting going on but it ended up being better than I thought. I did get to draw-up and give some insulin, and I haven't done that since the first semester with Gail. I witnessed a baptism of a man who was going off dialysis. It was really sad. His wife was crying and when it was done he kissed me & the other nurse, very sad. I also witnessed a rapid response code, because a lady was having shortness of breath and her heart rate dropped in the 30's. It wasn't tragic, but it was good to watch. So overall it has been eventful and I'll try to keep this updated better once I get into spring clinical.

Week #9

Well I'm made it back from spring break. Although I did NOT want to come home! I also survived my tests and now I have 2 more next week. I also have my nursing pictures on Monday...so this must mean there is an end in sight, right?! I'm over half way done with the LPN program and it's so exciting! Clinical this week I got yet another patient with pneumonia...It makes for easy paperwork though! He was an exception though because he had other things wrong too. I did get to watch a bronchoscope, that was pretty cool. I also got to do my first procedure without the instructor...taking out an IV. It was the 2nd one I've done. But its something different that usual. Just taking the tape off sucks!! My instructor said maybe next week I will get 2 patients, so that will be cool.

Week #8

Well I am finally done with my tests before spring break. It is such a relief! I got an 85 on Tuesday and I'm not sure yet on the one today. At this point I don't really care, I'm just glad its over! I still haven't gotten anything ready for the trip and there is much to do! Our teacher let us out at 10:30 and I don't have lab until 12:30 so I am stuck here until then, when I have a TON of stuff I need to be doing. Clinical tomorrow and it's been such a long time since I've had an actual patient, so we'll see how much I've retained. Talk to you after spring break!!

Week #7

Today I was in observation of the 3rd grade in Marion. And coincidentally it was my same 3rd grade classroom and teacher. It was fun to see how things are done now and how different it is from when I was in 3rd grade (although I don't remember a whole lot!) They were learning to count back change from $5. They caught on pretty fast and I know a lot of adults that can't do that! Tomorrow I will be in the 1st grade so that should be fun too. Next week is going to be horrible and so is this weekend. Next week is the last week before spring break and I have 2 tests. And this weekend I have a wedding and reception to go to...as you can imagine I'm swamped. Every spare minute I have is going to be spent studying. Can't wait. Josh & I are going to Florida for spring break. He's meeting me at clinical and we are driving to flint to hop on a plane. And I don't even have time to get excited about it! I guess I will have the whole plane ride to :)

OR Clinical

This week in clinical I was in surgery. It was really neat, except it was not what I had expected. On Thursday I was in plastic surgery. I got to see a liposuction, lower lid eye lift and a breast augmentation. I could have watched this on 'Dr. 90210' on TV! It was interesting, but I was looking for 'blood & guts' so to speak. So I thought on Friday maybe. Not today either. I was in with a podiatrist. I got to watch 2 bunionectomy's and a double hammer toe fixation. It was still pretty superficial stuff. I did get to see some sawing of bone and some pins & screws inserted, but it was just a little disappointing. The other girl in my class got to see a gall bladder removal and ovary removal. I am a little jealous. My instructor said if there was time at the end of the semester I could go back in and watch another day. It was very much a new experience for me and it might be something I would consider doing in the future.

Week #6

Sorry it has been so long since I have wrote on here. Last week we had clinical cancelled on Thursday because of the weather and Friday we didn't have clinical because our instructor had a conference to go to. This week I will be in the operating room, so that should be interesting. The only thing I am worried about is standing in one spot for so long. My back will be killing me! I only have 2 more lab quizzes. I have gotten 100% on all but the 1st one which was a stupid mistake! Oh well. Yesterday I had a test on pregnancy. I had the extra 2 days to study for it and I still got an 85% I was a little disappointed, because I spent so much time on the material. There were only 40 questions on the test and I only got 6 wrong. Disappointing, but room for improvement. Last week I had a test in my other class, I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I also should have studdied more than I did. I did pass, but that was it. The pop quizzes in that class are killing me. They are 5 questions, worth 10 points and only 5 minutes to do them! We have another test in the class on Wednesday, I need to get a good grade to bring my average back up. So hopefully... (P.S. Sorry if spelling has been bad lately, spell check isn't working)

Week #4

Today I had outside rotation in Harrison preschool. We are going to several different grades in school to observe the varios developmental stages of children. I got to do a lot of fun things, like dancing in gym and playing doctor. It was doctor week this week, how fitting :) In the morning there were only 6 kids there because of the weather, but I had no trouble making friends. One little boy wanted to sit by me in circle time and well he ended up laying on my lap. And when he got up, he had drooled all over my leg! Lovely. His sister was in the class too and she wanted me to sit by her when she did everything. And in gym she called me on the floor for dancing and then she sat there and pouted the whole time! I didn't quite understand that one. But my skills in the chicken dance finally paid off though :) The last time I did that & the hokie pokie was in Spanish class. The one thing I couldn't believe was how many autistic kids there are. About half of the class are autistic. They seperate the kids for certain activities so they can concentrate better. There are varying degrees of it, so of them will hardly talk, while others won't be quite. There was only one boy who was really disruptive, but he had one-on-one attention the whole time. I met some wonderful kids, they are just so sweet, it makes me miss teaching CCD. I just hope I didn't catch anything...I think all of them were coughing, sneezing or had a runny nose. I used a lot of hand sanitizer!

Clinical this week was quite boring for me. My instructor thought she gave me a difficult patient, but he wasn't. He didn't even have IVs to do. He was very independent and his wife was there and she spoke for him. So I couldn't even talk to him to pass the time. Today a bunch of his other family was in the room with him also, so I was really bored. I did get to do some throat cultures and a urine specimen and send them to the lab, but that was the only interesting thing I got to do. Next week I will be in the middle and pre- schools observing. So no patient for me. Hopefully I won't be as bored!

Week #3

Things are going really well for me so far. Last week in clinical I got to do a lot of firsts. I got to remove sutures and a drain, remove an IV catheter, hook up an IV and give an injection in the stomach. It was a lot of learning. I just hope every week is like this. My patient was 93 years old and in GREAT condition. Her memory was perfect. I came in on the second day to wake her up and she said "Is that Erica?" Hardly anyone remembers your name, especially when your 93! She was a very nice lady and I enjoyed being with her. Today I had my 1st test. I didn't get to study for it as much as I would have liked to, but I got a 84%. So it's good enough for now. I also had 2 quizzes last week and I got 100% on both of them. Now I have a lot of reading to do...

Things are going great so far. On Thursday I had my first clinical in Midland, and well the day was interesting. We followed around a nurse for the day and I had my first experience with a severely confused, combative patient. I learned what to do in the situation, because really I had no idea. I also got to watch some IVs being inserted - some good, some bad. I also got to hone my bed making skills :) I still can't get the miter corners down. I will be excited to get my own patient on Thursday. Also this semester for our Maternal-Child class we will be doing outside rotations in elementary, middle and pre-schools. That will be nice because I will only have to drive to Marion, not Midland. We will be observing children in their different developmental stages. This is a new thing, none of the previous nursing classes have done this before, so I guess we are the test group...I think it sounds like fun :) The lab on IVs went well. We won't actually be inserting them until out RN, but we get to give the medications through them. It's good to actually know that a little air in the line won't kill a person. Not that I was worried :) I got 9/10 on my quiz and the one I got wrong was my own stupid fault! The answer was in the question, and it was 50, well I must have been rushing because I only wrote down 5! STUPID! I won't be making that mistake again!

I'm off and running. Yesterday I had my 1st Med-Surg class and it went good. I also had hospital orientation. I am SO glad we decided to go to Midland. It is very nice there and very big! But I know I will learn a lot more here than if we would have stayed in Clare. The trauma units & ER are like what you see on TV, it's just really cool, I can't wait! My clinical instructor is really nice too. This semester we will have less paperwork and more 'hands on' sort of experience. Our last instructor really stressed paperwork and now this one is stressing experience, and I'm all for that!! So I can't wait!! Today I had Maternal-Child and this seems like fun too. This semester is going to be more work but I think the material will be more enjoyable to cover. And tomorrow in lab is IVs...eeek!

Semester #2

Well I can't believe break is over...it flew by and I didn't get anything done (In the nursing aspect). Not that I had to, just stuff I could of done. I still can't believe it starts tomorrow. I will be taking Care of Adult I, Maternal - Child & Clinical II in Midland Hospital. Tomorrow I will have Care of Adult and then right after class we have to drive down to Midland for hospital orientation at 1:00 and we will be there until 7:00 + the drive home! So it will be a long day. Hopefully we get out a little early from class, otherwise we will be crunching for time. It's pretty much the same schedule as last semester except my skills lab will now be on Wednesday from 12:30-2:30, which is better than last semester and we only have skills lab for the first 8 weeks. Well I still have a lot to do before tomorrow...I will keep you posted :)