This has been my life the past few weeks. This our guest room that we made to rent to travel nurses. But I took it over and now I study here. And the cats live here, apparently.
My final exam is tomorrow for Block I! I will officially be 25% nurse! I mean, I think I will. I have to get a 34% on the exam to pass the block. The lowest test score I’ve had id an 81%, so it should go okay. I need a 64% to get a B. I need a 99% to get an A. Ha! I had my HESI exam (the Block I exit exam for the state) on Friday. It was brutal. I wasn’t prepared for the way the questioned were presented or worded. That’s the exam I got the 81% on. I was a little disappointed, but I’m trying to be better about my attitude on tests and assignments because I don’t want my kids to think that if they get a B on something they’re failing miserably. So I’m trying to keep in mind what their inner voice will be in the future during school. I want it to be one that is kind and forgiving. I also had my Chemistry mid term last week which I got an 85% on. 100% in my book! That was tough. Turns out chemistry is not as much my thing as I thought it was. I do love chemistry, but it takes me way too long to get all the concepts down.
So pretty much I’ve just been studying the past few weeks for these end of semester tests. But so many things have happened since I wrote last. Where to start. . .
I finished my clinical rotation at Springdale! It was a great experience. I remembered why I got started with all of this in the first place. This is what I wrote on FB. It sums ups my feelings nicely.
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With the exception of my final and block I HESI, I am now 25% nurse. Aaaand I decided to leave my job as Cardiac Monitor Tech in Mountain Vista’s ICU.
We did our clinicals this semester at a long term care facility. I got my start in a long term care facility! I volunteered at a nursing home in college for three years. I volunteered in the activities department calling bingo, going on outings, etc. when I sold my business and started working for First Impression Ironworks I felt like I was wandering. I thought I should volunteer again. I liked the nursing home and that population. And for some reason I’ll never understand old people love me. I went to a nursing home nearby to see if I could volunteer, but they weren’t taking volunteers because of Covid (it was May 2020). So I just decided to ask for a job! I said, “Well, I don’t know anything, but I have two hands and a brain: I’m willing to work and I can learn things.” They handed me a name tag and a vitals machine so fast!!!
I decided to leave long term care in May 2021 for acute care experience at Mt Vista Medical Center. I have had a wonderful time there, learned many great things, and have so many mentors that both taught me and looked out for me. In these last few weeks doing clinicals in long term care I have remembered the population that I originally got into this for. Long term care is not an easy job. it’s also looked down on for some reason. It’s looked at as a temporary place to work or a place to get started. Even the instructors at my school had a bad attitude about it saying, “you just have to get through the long term clinicals then you can get to the hospital.” I loved my time in long term care and I loved my clinical experience. My first job was at a facility that was. . . Not awesome. In the last few weeks I’ve been able to get a feel for the environment at this facility and it is wonderful! after we took the pictures below the staffing manager offered me and another girl in my group a job! I accepted. I start next Wednesday!
Long term care is hard on the body so I told them I needed to make enough to cover chiropractic care and regular massages! They definitely came through. They also offered me a “career” as they will help with tuition all the way through the Np program at the university I’m currently at. I’ll get an NP with a geriatric focus from Grand Canyon University.
I Love school and I love work so I’m usually pretty happy wherever I’m at. So it’s possible I’ll fall in love with ten other specialties as I go. But for now, I love the consistency of long term care, developing relationships with patients, and caring for their whole being and not just whatever acute problem is in front of me. It isn’t as cool sounding as ”ICU nurse,” “Nurse Anesthetist” or any other exciting career in nursing. But I know I will feel fulfilled in this area and feel satisfied with my life’s work. I may not have as many cool war stories, but the Florence prisoners at Mt Vista supplied me with enough of those for a lifetime.
Thank you Mt Vista and all the wonderful people there. Back to long term I care I go. And happily so 😊
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I am excited to return to Long Term Care. I isn’t an easy job, but it’s a great experience. I really enjoy the deeper connections with patients and caring for them as a whole person, not just whatever their acute ailment is. I start on Wednesday!
AND our bathroom remodel is finally done. I am enjoying it, but I am unhappy about a lot of things our contractor did that just happened out of pure laziness and carelessness. I can’t even write about it because it still is eating me alive. I’m glad it’s done. Since it’s been done I think I’ve used the shower in a different way each time!
ANNNNND We bought Joshua a car with our tax refund money so he can help me while I’m in nursing school. He’ll be driving himself and Miriam home from school from now on. The tinting is so dark that Joshua doesn’t feel comfortable driving it because he can’t see the side view mirrors. So we’re getting that fixed on Friday. We’ll have the tinting removed and have the legal limit tint applied.
We were lucky to find this. This was the kind of car he wanted. He wanted something small yet tall because he’s so tall. It is uncomfortable for him to get in and out of Garren’s little Audi. There really wasn’t much out there. We went to an auction car dealership where they buy all their cars at auctions (the cars have been repossessed). We quickly learned that the type of person that gets a car repossessed is the kind of person that doesn’t care about the condition of their car. We only *tried* to drive three cars. One we only got as far as backing out of the parking space. The steering wheel wouldn’t turn. Then the next one we got in reeked of cigarette smoke, so we got out of there as fast as we could. Then we drove a Kia Soul! The windows didn’t roll down, and the prior owner let kids eat in the back seat. There were stains and juice and soda pop syrup everywhere in the back. It was designating. Then Joshua drove it around and it wouldn’t go faster than 40 mph! That was with the pedal on the floor! So we decided this wasn’t the type of place we wanted to buy a car for our child. He said he really like the Kia Soul though. So we went to a Kia dealership. The only cars they had even remotely near our price range was a Mitsubishi Lancer and . . . A KIA SOUL! It was just meant to be, I guess. So we drove the Soul and Josh was like “YES” instantly, but he also said, “Now, let’s go look at other stuff.” We were like ??? He said he’d feel more confident about his decision if he drove other stuff. So we went to other car dealerships nearby and they really had nothing. One thing was in our price range but they said they fixing some safety stuff on it and we couldn’t test drive it. So we went back to dealership and drove the lancer so he could make sure he didn’t want something a little smaller. He drove the lancer and said, “Yep. Let’s get the Suol.” He loves it! (Except the tinting). He is not very excited to drive though. He is very apprehensive. He’s going to take it very slowly. he’ll drive to school twice this week. But he’s going to drive my car until we get the tinting fixed. We had him go out and drive around the neighborhood by himself yesterday so he could get that “first time” out of the way. So driving to school this week will really be his first time driving without us. He’d rather not, but it’s time to kick him out the nest. . . Out of his comfort zone. I am excited for him. I think this will be an experience he will come to enjoy. Next up for him is applying for jobs!
In other news, I contacted my former therapist from Virginia. I was hoping she would do virtual appointments after Covid. We’ll see what she says. I saw her for OCD as a result of EDS and grief as a result of what I went through with Garren’s sister’s and my business. I saw her for four years! She was amazing. I tried to find a therapist out here when we moved here, but no one measured up. So I gave up. I’m hoping to connect with her again so she can help me process some of the stuff I went through in Covid and deal more with some OCD stuff. I think I’ll perform better as a nurse if I can really get a hold of this stuff.
Well, this semester was brutal and I’m glad for it to be over. I’ll be working full time at Springdale over the summer and hopefully into the fall. I miss my old doctors and I hope they will be approved under my new insurance. They were familiar with all my pre cancer stuff and were monitoring me every three months. I really didn’t want to start that over again with someone new. So I’m working full time just to qualify for the insurance that will let me see that doctor again! It’s probably crazy and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to handle that, but I hope I can. Oh, I probably haven’t talked about the pre-cancer on here yet. I have cancer markers for B-Cell Lymphoma—a blood cancer. I was being monitored every 6 months for it, but mid last year they bumped it up to every 3 months because, “when it hits it’s going to be bad.” But I haven’t been since December!! So I really need to get back there. I’ll go into more detail about how they found it all later. This post is already long enough.
Back to studying for the final! For real, though, I’ll probably just sit on the couch and watch Supernatural with Miriam. I introduced her to the show this weekend and she likes it!
Here are the pets being pets. . . just for fun!
