Hey there Kym! Hope life is serving you well! I am writing to you on
the upside of Nursing School ( Smile that means you made it!) It was SO
tough, but you buggered through it! You work at the local nursing home (
I know, hard to beleive, but its not to bad.) Let me tell you being a
nurse is....ok. Its not what you expected but then agian it might be
because you are in LTC and your heart isn't really there. But that's ok
too! Here is my advice to you ( or others who may be reading this) on
how to survive nursing school.
First off Look at this bloggy thing. It's hilarious and you can relate to more than you think! =)
http://whatshouldwecallnursingschool.tumblr.com/page/11
You are working 2 jobs ( 1
full time, 1 part-time) and going to school fulltime, you sleep in your
car between jobs and you see Mom and Pete once every 2 weeks, when you
actually do make it home. You barely squeak by your first semester but
you make it!
Second Semester is the hardest for you.
Pappy's health is rapidly declining and you go visit 2-3 times that
summer to Pennsylvania.That last time you visit give him the biggest,
tightest hug and kiss you can ever imagine, listen to him read you the
bible, give him the card and go down to the giftshop where you will get a
penn state pin and pillowcases from the hospital. Give him the biggest
hug you can imagine. that will be the last time you see him , alive
anyway. You are struggling SO hard with school. You are still working 2
jobs but only for the beginning of Summer. Catherine's lets you go,
without letting you know ( apparently she did that to 1/2 the people
that worked there, never got their last day memo either.) You barely
squeak by in Pharmacology, but you make it. Med-Surge however you do not
pass, you miss it by 2 points. After the Summer Semester ends (
Mid-September) You face MAJOR depression. You failed out of school,
Pappy is declining and in and out of the Hospital, you are now
completely jobless, your relationship is horrible ( turns out later he
was just a jerk all along ;) and you just suck into this depression
vortex. I would tell you things get better, but it is not for a little
while
October 24th 2010 at 0500 am Sunday Morning, you get a
phone call. Or rather the house gets a call on the house phone. Pappy
has passed away without warning ( even though his health was declining,
it was still a surprise, due to the fact that he was supposed to come
home that Monday) This sends you into an even deeper depression, but
thankfully it only lasts for a little while. That was the hardest
goodbye you ever had to say. To this day it still makes you cry. In
fact, writing this post about it makes you cry. Funny how the mind and
feelings work like that. That October you and your 3 best buds have a
mystery halloween party on halloween. I will never forget that and I
will never forget how they cheered me up, just days after Pappy's
passing. I also remember James being really nice and supportive during
that time. He was ok sometimes. While you are up there you get 2 job
interviews, one at Michael's and one at Kohls. You get the job at
Michael's and your boss is so super duper nice and the best boss ever.
Then he retired, but he totally deserved it.
Fast forward to
March. Your grammy winn starves herself and is a failure to thrive and
passes away. You are sad, but it doesn't really effect you to much. IT
sounds mean and pitiful I guess, but the truth is its hard to miss
someone who disowned you and was hateful to you the last time you
talked. You forgive her now, but its hard to forget those things. You do
have a pretty good time with your Dad in PA those 3 days, he seems
pretty stable and normal. That's good.
In April you re-apply
to the LPN program in Farmville. You wait and wait and wait and wait,
your friends all get back in but you don't get a letter stating you get
back in. That is until 1 week before class starts. You will THRIVE this
time. You end up with a 86 in Med-Surge and do well , you are very
confident and so different from last year, you instructors can see it
too. You learned that the proper success is to STUDY super hard , have a
good study group ( <3 a="a" amp="amp" autumn="autumn" boo.="boo." close="close" friends=")</p" group="group" have="have" holly="holly" is="is" it="it" of="of" outside="outside" resources="resources" thing="thing" to="to" too="too" use="use" wonderful="wonderful">
You Pass to Third Semester, by this point you are just ready to
graduate and have a countdown to the day ! ( actually you have had a
countdown since second semester) Clinicals are no longer Scary. Just
kidding. Clinicals are always scary , but you survive! When you get into
the 'real" world, you learn procedures are not really as scary as they
seem in clinicals. Like now you are a peg tube BOSS! =) You have
survived LPN school, ending up with a B and an A in your last 2 courses.
Graduation was so super special. Grammy came down, and you started
crying during graduation because of what you wore under your collar and
the message you wrote . Mom and Pete took pics and taped the whole thing
=) You have watched it 3 times now. It's beautfiul life.
For
the NLEX, you take a break during Christmas, but you study study study
study. When you are not working at Micahels you study. You use Kaplan
over and over and over, find other trainers buy 3 different books. You
study like a Boss ( It is well worth it!)
The Morning of NCLEX
you pray , and then you talk to Pappy for a little bit ( and cry a teeny
bit too.) You make Your Peppermint Mocha Coffee, leave the house at
0700 for the test at 1030/1130. You eat something, but I don't remember
what. The whole way driving there you just are relaxed, calm praying,
singing, doing lab values. The last thing you do is read your bible
verses, say another prayer, take a deep breath and go inside the
building. The only thing I will say about the NCLEX is MAN it was HARD!
Your test shuts off at 85 questions and you freak out a little bit. You
took it on a Friday and you have to wait until LATE monday night to find
your name on the phone registry thing ( incidentally you are with your
Bestie and squeal like a little girl over and over) You do not fully
believe you pass until you get the paper copy in the mail, which you
immediately frame. Also the NCLEX people are SCARY! You feel like you
are getting ready to go to prison with all the pictures and scanning and
whatnot that they do. They scanned my hand, my ENTIRE hand.
What is the moral to this letter Kym? Besides telling you your story there are some morals right? Of course silly.
1 ) Yes, Nursing school is ridiculously hard- but you DO make it
through and learn that sometimes you wish you would be back there ( not
for the studying part, but for the "fun" parts)
2) study study study study study study study study study study (have I mentioned study)
3)
ALWAYS do your patient research for clinicals AS SOON as you get home (
then you can go to bed by 9pm and wake up bright and cheery! also make
sure you know ever miniscule detail, look up labs, procedures , tube
feedings etc. ( you were terrified of PEG tubes and trachs.) (you still
hate dealing with trachs.)
4) Keep pushing through, you will be ok!
5) You and James breakup mutaully- you talk every now and then, it seems to work out best that you don't date
6)
It's ok to be scared. I think it is a natural reaction to the
situation, everyone is scared, we probably look like a little herd of
deer.
7) It's ok to ask questions ( but you usually and rarely will.)
8)Stop
beating yourself up for every mistake- you aren't perfect, no one is (
you will continue to beat yourself up throughout the duration of school
and your job)
9) Find a group of students that you get along with,
nobody else will understand what you are going through, the long hours,
the frusterations, but they will. Find them, cherish them and keep in
touch with them . =)
10) Find an outlet to handle your
frusterations & take a day off ( or a night off, whichever you can
afford) Find something that relaxes you and makes you happy.
Know that when all is said and done you will by K.Izawesome LPN and
life will be peachy keen forever ever after ( HAHA who are we kidding!
=) ) Stay tuned to my next post on being a New Nurse 6 months =)
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