It's been about a week since I passed the TEAS exam and so I emailed the program development specialist (at hubby's behest [and pestering]) to enquire about placements since their website indicates that it could take up to 2 months to complete a contract between the uni & the chosen hospital/agency. Man will I be furious if I'm close to entering my placement courses and have no contract in place and then have to wait an additional 6+ mos to complete the course!
I did, however, receive semi confirmation that I am accepted into the program - yay for me!!! According to her my "official" acceptance letter will be coming in the mail (hopefully sooner rather than later!)
I've ordered my book to start studying for Interpersonal Communication - a course that I have to test out of. I need to have this completed by August. Not sure I'm going to enjoy this course, it's probably going to be quite dry. We shall see though, wish me luck!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Friday, June 14, 2013
I kicked TEAS ass!!!
I got 70% - enough to pass the damn english language section. I was sooooooooooooo nervous to take it, worried that I was going to fail again. I was so nervous that I cried when I found out that I passed. It meant so much that I passed, at least I don't have to retake the TEAS again for entrance in January. I'm happy that I don't have to change my timeline for life events.
I now get to start planning for September and the courses that I'm going to be taking. Oh how I can't wait to begin the core nursing courses!!!
I now get to start planning for September and the courses that I'm going to be taking. Oh how I can't wait to begin the core nursing courses!!!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Oh TEAS how I hate thee
I've been given until the 13th to complete my TEAS exam - so I've been trying to study out the wazoo - hope it helps!
I'm still having difficult in two different things, so I'm hoping that I figure them out by thursday!
Send a little prayer out for me, I need to get at LEAST 63% to pass this section. I need to sooooooo badly!!!
I'm still having difficult in two different things, so I'm hoping that I figure them out by thursday!
Send a little prayer out for me, I need to get at LEAST 63% to pass this section. I need to sooooooo badly!!!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Admission package prep
the deadline for fall admission into the nursing part of the program has come and gone - could be why I've been a bit MIA. I had to make sure that I saw my MD regarding a current TB skin test. Also make sure that I was immune to stuff (which I know I'm not but got ANOTHER booster - evidently the one I had like 3 yrs ago didn't work). Had to get up-to-date on my BCLS. And I had to take the dreaded TEAS exam - to get entry to the nursing program at ISU.
Long story short, I passed 3 of 4 sections. I failed by ONE question on the english/grammar part. I feel stupid. I know english but man when they give you these answers, they all look the same. And after doing the other 3 parts I felt like my brain AND eyes gave up on me.
Tonight I took a practice test (only 10 questions) and STILL didn't pass it I wanted to FREAK - but I even went over it with my BFF and she made the same mistakes I did (save for one) so it made me feel not so stupid.
The thing with this part of the exam is that it fucks with my disability. Whenever they want me to choose the "best" answer or find an error in a sentence - I don't always see a clear answer. The shitty part is that none of these english questions have ANYTHING to do with nursing, so it's not like my "critical thinking" skills are being used. GRRRRRR
I only have one more shot to pass this goddamn thing. My deadline is June 13 - please pray for me, I need to get this passed!!!!!!
On a separate note, I hurt my back again. I lifted one of Mia's toys and tweaked my back (never a good sign) and when I went into work yesterday and let my resource nurse know that my back wasn't feeling 100% and whether I could have minimal 1 assist or independent pt's - I was told to go to Occupational health and talk to them. She wouldn't deal with it on a unit level. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR and then when I got there, they were in meetings and didn't get back to me and so I ended up hurting myself while at work. Now it's an issue of whether it's an injury at work or outside of work. UGH!!!!!!!!! Man I can't wait until I'm an RN and can work with babies - where I'm VERY unlikely to hurt my back!!!!
Long story short, I passed 3 of 4 sections. I failed by ONE question on the english/grammar part. I feel stupid. I know english but man when they give you these answers, they all look the same. And after doing the other 3 parts I felt like my brain AND eyes gave up on me.
Tonight I took a practice test (only 10 questions) and STILL didn't pass it I wanted to FREAK - but I even went over it with my BFF and she made the same mistakes I did (save for one) so it made me feel not so stupid.
The thing with this part of the exam is that it fucks with my disability. Whenever they want me to choose the "best" answer or find an error in a sentence - I don't always see a clear answer. The shitty part is that none of these english questions have ANYTHING to do with nursing, so it's not like my "critical thinking" skills are being used. GRRRRRR
I only have one more shot to pass this goddamn thing. My deadline is June 13 - please pray for me, I need to get this passed!!!!!!
On a separate note, I hurt my back again. I lifted one of Mia's toys and tweaked my back (never a good sign) and when I went into work yesterday and let my resource nurse know that my back wasn't feeling 100% and whether I could have minimal 1 assist or independent pt's - I was told to go to Occupational health and talk to them. She wouldn't deal with it on a unit level. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR and then when I got there, they were in meetings and didn't get back to me and so I ended up hurting myself while at work. Now it's an issue of whether it's an injury at work or outside of work. UGH!!!!!!!!! Man I can't wait until I'm an RN and can work with babies - where I'm VERY unlikely to hurt my back!!!!
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Oooooo I'd like to smack you!
Worked several times this past week and there isn't many times in my short career where a pt has frustrated me to the point where if we could smack the pt I would but let me tell ya, this one did!!!
20-something yr old drug abuser - VERY open about this and honest which is surprising - who got beat up by friends (nice friends huh?!) who dropped the pt at the hospital and left (again, nice friends huh!) where it turns out that there's a brain hemmorhage in the frontal and Rt temporal lobes - bad enough that it required surgical intervention which also necessitated removal of the frontal portion of his skull. It was NOT subsequently put back in once the swelling resolved and when pt came to us still had no skull protecting the frontal lobe. Pt had a nice temporal to temporal suture line that was well approximated and healing nicely. Because this pt had very little impulse control related to the brain injury, it meant that there was a security guard 24hrs/day.
When I got this pt they had taken away the pt's percocet order being that this pt crushed it and snorted it - STUPID nurse for not watching this pt since history was known! And therefore received injectable morphine. Being that pt is a known drug abuser - including narcotic abuse - it's no wonder that the morphine dose of 5mg did NOTHING for the pt's pain. When I got this pt they were VERY whiney and irritating and I TRIED my best to get some semblance of pain control but even getting the dose tripled the pt still complained that I did nothing to help with their pain and that I sucked.
This pt was also a clock watcher which can be VERY frustrating and constantly badgered me throughout my shift. Well rules are rules, I'm not about to bend them because your pain control sucks. I called the doc, they choose what med to give you and how MUCH to give you, so BACK OFF!!!
Even while charting this pt would sit in front of me and bug me - and when the pt started to pick at the incision I had had enough and told him/her in no uncertain terms NOT TO PICK IT!!! That it would get infected and since no bone = no brain protection = brain infection = NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!! Ya this didn't seem to sink in and several hours later the security guard came to me and told me that the pt had picked at the incision again and now it was bleeding - UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! When I went in the room I seriously wanted to smack this pt having told this one not to do this exact thing several hours previously. Thankfully it was close to shift change and I was able to hand this one over to the next nurse to have to deal with!
The next shift I had this pt I came on shift and made it known that if the pt asked for the pain med more than one time that for every request I was delaying administration by ONE hour - ya, I didn't get pestered so yay for me!
20-something yr old drug abuser - VERY open about this and honest which is surprising - who got beat up by friends (nice friends huh?!) who dropped the pt at the hospital and left (again, nice friends huh!) where it turns out that there's a brain hemmorhage in the frontal and Rt temporal lobes - bad enough that it required surgical intervention which also necessitated removal of the frontal portion of his skull. It was NOT subsequently put back in once the swelling resolved and when pt came to us still had no skull protecting the frontal lobe. Pt had a nice temporal to temporal suture line that was well approximated and healing nicely. Because this pt had very little impulse control related to the brain injury, it meant that there was a security guard 24hrs/day.
When I got this pt they had taken away the pt's percocet order being that this pt crushed it and snorted it - STUPID nurse for not watching this pt since history was known! And therefore received injectable morphine. Being that pt is a known drug abuser - including narcotic abuse - it's no wonder that the morphine dose of 5mg did NOTHING for the pt's pain. When I got this pt they were VERY whiney and irritating and I TRIED my best to get some semblance of pain control but even getting the dose tripled the pt still complained that I did nothing to help with their pain and that I sucked.
This pt was also a clock watcher which can be VERY frustrating and constantly badgered me throughout my shift. Well rules are rules, I'm not about to bend them because your pain control sucks. I called the doc, they choose what med to give you and how MUCH to give you, so BACK OFF!!!
Even while charting this pt would sit in front of me and bug me - and when the pt started to pick at the incision I had had enough and told him/her in no uncertain terms NOT TO PICK IT!!! That it would get infected and since no bone = no brain protection = brain infection = NOT GOOD!!!!!!!!! Ya this didn't seem to sink in and several hours later the security guard came to me and told me that the pt had picked at the incision again and now it was bleeding - UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! When I went in the room I seriously wanted to smack this pt having told this one not to do this exact thing several hours previously. Thankfully it was close to shift change and I was able to hand this one over to the next nurse to have to deal with!
The next shift I had this pt I came on shift and made it known that if the pt asked for the pain med more than one time that for every request I was delaying administration by ONE hour - ya, I didn't get pestered so yay for me!
Monday, May 13, 2013
Crazy adventure part 3
Daughter woke up around 1030 hrs and so I sent her downstairs to hang out with "papa" and he okayed me to head back to bed since I didn't sleep at night being that I drove all night.
I woke with about 45 min remaining in my mom's shift and then grabbed the kiddo and headed to go surprise "nana". When we got to the store I did a bit of grocery shopping and then headed towards the cashiers checkouts. Unfortunately she was on express which means every customer wants to go through her because it's usually the fastest lane.
I tried to keep out of her line of vision but I also wanted to stop ppl from going in her lane because I knew that as soon as she saw us she would stop working and leave that person hanging.
I ended up coming out from behind the banana stand that I was hiding behind when there was just one woman left and she was ALMOST finished her order
To say that she was SHOCKED is an understatement!
She first saw the kiddo and she did a double take - then she like jumped up and down and it was almost like she squealed with glee. She stopped the lady's order and came around her till to come give us a hug.
She was soooooooooooo shocked that she started crying, apologizing to the lady for not completing her order. Lady said she didn't mind, she would have done the same thing if her daughter did the same thing that i did. The lady actually teared up as well. It was awesome and was glad that I kept it a complete secret and surprised her like I did.
Afterwards we did a bit of grocery shopping and then went back to the house to check on my dad because heaven forbid we leave him alone for more than 5 hrs --> or at least that's the way my mom was thinking!
I phoned around and let everyone know that I was in town and that we would have a huge family dinner the next day. Then I headed up to my BFF's workplace - a nursing home - to surprise her next.
When I got there it was dinner time so at least I didn't have to wonder around the nursing home lost. It only took me several dinner room areas to find her. When she saw me she didn't even seem shocked which suprrised me more than anything. Afterwards she told me that she was shocked but that she was so exhausted (she's 4 months preggo ATM) that her brain was on auto mode.
Then I headed back to the house to have a bite to eat and a couple of people popped into the house to visit. About 1100hrs BFF called and said that she was done work and asked me if I wanted to head to her place to see her new digs (she bought a house about a month earlier so I was excited to go see it). I had already put the kiddo to bed and took dad's cell in case kiddo woke up. Of course seeing your BFF is sooooooooo different in person than it is over the phone and we had so much catching up to do. We were sooooo chatty that he didn't realize the time flying by and when I looked at the clockm it was already 0300 and I jumped up and said that I would head out seeing as we both had to get up early. But not surprisingly we got held up at the door chatting some more and by the time I actually walked out her door it was 0400. Lets just say that I slept good that night!
The rest of my visit was the same - lots of visitors and lots of late nights (tho that was the latest).
All in all it was an awesome vacation and wish I lived closer where I could just get in my car and go and visit.
I woke with about 45 min remaining in my mom's shift and then grabbed the kiddo and headed to go surprise "nana". When we got to the store I did a bit of grocery shopping and then headed towards the cashiers checkouts. Unfortunately she was on express which means every customer wants to go through her because it's usually the fastest lane.
I tried to keep out of her line of vision but I also wanted to stop ppl from going in her lane because I knew that as soon as she saw us she would stop working and leave that person hanging.
I ended up coming out from behind the banana stand that I was hiding behind when there was just one woman left and she was ALMOST finished her order
To say that she was SHOCKED is an understatement!
She first saw the kiddo and she did a double take - then she like jumped up and down and it was almost like she squealed with glee. She stopped the lady's order and came around her till to come give us a hug.
She was soooooooooooo shocked that she started crying, apologizing to the lady for not completing her order. Lady said she didn't mind, she would have done the same thing if her daughter did the same thing that i did. The lady actually teared up as well. It was awesome and was glad that I kept it a complete secret and surprised her like I did.
Afterwards we did a bit of grocery shopping and then went back to the house to check on my dad because heaven forbid we leave him alone for more than 5 hrs --> or at least that's the way my mom was thinking!
I phoned around and let everyone know that I was in town and that we would have a huge family dinner the next day. Then I headed up to my BFF's workplace - a nursing home - to surprise her next.
When I got there it was dinner time so at least I didn't have to wonder around the nursing home lost. It only took me several dinner room areas to find her. When she saw me she didn't even seem shocked which suprrised me more than anything. Afterwards she told me that she was shocked but that she was so exhausted (she's 4 months preggo ATM) that her brain was on auto mode.
Then I headed back to the house to have a bite to eat and a couple of people popped into the house to visit. About 1100hrs BFF called and said that she was done work and asked me if I wanted to head to her place to see her new digs (she bought a house about a month earlier so I was excited to go see it). I had already put the kiddo to bed and took dad's cell in case kiddo woke up. Of course seeing your BFF is sooooooooo different in person than it is over the phone and we had so much catching up to do. We were sooooo chatty that he didn't realize the time flying by and when I looked at the clockm it was already 0300 and I jumped up and said that I would head out seeing as we both had to get up early. But not surprisingly we got held up at the door chatting some more and by the time I actually walked out her door it was 0400. Lets just say that I slept good that night!
The rest of my visit was the same - lots of visitors and lots of late nights (tho that was the latest).
All in all it was an awesome vacation and wish I lived closer where I could just get in my car and go and visit.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Crazy adventure - part 2
I drive a 2009 Honda Civic - my car has this really cool feature - the speedometer is electronic and has the ability to go between kilometers/hr & miles/hr - which is awesome! Once in Michigan I changed my speedometer to mph so that I knew how fast I was driving.
To be completely honest I was travelling 77 mph in a 70 mph and so when another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction started to slow down while approaching an emergency vehicle only U-turn spot between the divided lanes I was suspicious that it was a police vehicle and so I started to slow down and moved into the other lane (just in case it wasn't a police vehicle I was being friendly by allowing this person to complete their u-turn without having to wait for me to pass).
But once I was at the u-turn spot the other vehicle lit up and sure enough it was a police vehicle. Immediately I pulled over to the side of the road and pressed my special button to put it back into kph. here's how the conversation went down when the officer came to my window...
officer - hello miss, you were going awful fast. Do you know how fast you were driving?
me - about 122-123 kph
officer - what's that in mph?
me - I don't know officer. My car doesn't show me in mph only kph. So I just approximated my speed.
officer - Where were you going in such a hurry?
me - my father was hurt a couple days ago so I'm going to see him and make sure that he's ok since I'm a nurse and I'm not sure that I trust that the healthcare ppl are looking after him properly. (Said totally because cops generally respect nurses and see them as equals and those who will care for ppl)
officer - ok well license & registration
About 5 min later....
officer - (looking into my car) you should have a button that allows you to make your speedometer into mph...
me - really officer, I didn't know that (totally did but wasn't about to admit it!)
officer - finds button and presses it which did nothing.
me - no officer that didn't do anything
officer - presses it again
me - nope, nothing
officer - presses it AGAIN
me - I don't know officer, it's not doing anything
officer - this time he presses it for a bit longer & TADA it changes
me - wow, that's pretty cool
officer - well make sure that you use this as you travel. And please slow down.
me - oh I certainly will officer. Then he hands me back my license & registration.
Honestly I was thinking that when he pulled me over it was like my third strike for this trip and I was now out. I was shitting in my pants because how the hell was I going to tell my hubby that not only did I fuck up the car but that I was also caught for speeding. That certainly would NOT be a pleasant conversation.
Off I went to head across the border and to my parents house where I went in with the number code for the back door. I arrived at 0530 hrs and made sure to hide my car behind the neighbors big ass truck. Of course my dad was sleeping on the couch. Their stupid dog has a collar that jangles so of course it woke up my dad. I stashed my shoes & jacket in the closet and made sure there was no hint that I was there. I told Dad to keep me coming a secret and that i would try to surprise my mom before she went off to work at 1000 hrs.
Unfortunately I didn't wake up in time and off mom went to work. Stay tuned to part 3 to hear the rest
To be completely honest I was travelling 77 mph in a 70 mph and so when another vehicle travelling in the opposite direction started to slow down while approaching an emergency vehicle only U-turn spot between the divided lanes I was suspicious that it was a police vehicle and so I started to slow down and moved into the other lane (just in case it wasn't a police vehicle I was being friendly by allowing this person to complete their u-turn without having to wait for me to pass).
But once I was at the u-turn spot the other vehicle lit up and sure enough it was a police vehicle. Immediately I pulled over to the side of the road and pressed my special button to put it back into kph. here's how the conversation went down when the officer came to my window...
officer - hello miss, you were going awful fast. Do you know how fast you were driving?
me - about 122-123 kph
officer - what's that in mph?
me - I don't know officer. My car doesn't show me in mph only kph. So I just approximated my speed.
officer - Where were you going in such a hurry?
me - my father was hurt a couple days ago so I'm going to see him and make sure that he's ok since I'm a nurse and I'm not sure that I trust that the healthcare ppl are looking after him properly. (Said totally because cops generally respect nurses and see them as equals and those who will care for ppl)
officer - ok well license & registration
About 5 min later....
officer - (looking into my car) you should have a button that allows you to make your speedometer into mph...
me - really officer, I didn't know that (totally did but wasn't about to admit it!)
officer - finds button and presses it which did nothing.
me - no officer that didn't do anything
officer - presses it again
me - nope, nothing
officer - presses it AGAIN
me - I don't know officer, it's not doing anything
officer - this time he presses it for a bit longer & TADA it changes
me - wow, that's pretty cool
officer - well make sure that you use this as you travel. And please slow down.
me - oh I certainly will officer. Then he hands me back my license & registration.
Honestly I was thinking that when he pulled me over it was like my third strike for this trip and I was now out. I was shitting in my pants because how the hell was I going to tell my hubby that not only did I fuck up the car but that I was also caught for speeding. That certainly would NOT be a pleasant conversation.
Off I went to head across the border and to my parents house where I went in with the number code for the back door. I arrived at 0530 hrs and made sure to hide my car behind the neighbors big ass truck. Of course my dad was sleeping on the couch. Their stupid dog has a collar that jangles so of course it woke up my dad. I stashed my shoes & jacket in the closet and made sure there was no hint that I was there. I told Dad to keep me coming a secret and that i would try to surprise my mom before she went off to work at 1000 hrs.
Unfortunately I didn't wake up in time and off mom went to work. Stay tuned to part 3 to hear the rest
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