B.T.H

hrjqtpie, you hang in there. Your in the core nursing program already so tough it out. It is hard to go to school with the help of someone else, let alone doing this by yourself. I have a lot of respect for single parents that are willing to sacrifice(suffer really) to improve their situation for the benefit of them and their children. I think you are probably just tired and stressed out, and your clinical experience wast just the catalyst the stress needed to come out. I'm not sure the human body is built to take the stress that we put on it sometimes, and with your schedule of work, school as well as being a single mother.....I don't think its a suprise to find yourself stressed out. I agree with your reasoning for sacrificing when your child is young and getting this degree out of the way early. The few years you sacrifice will open up avenues to you time wise to spend your with your child later. I would rather do my schooling when my kids are young and be able to spend more time with them later on when they begin to go to school and such. One of the reasons I chose nursing is because of its many avenues of work and scheduling flexibility, which will allow more time with my kids later on. I hope you can take a few moments once in a while to reflect and see why your doing this and why, as well as just to re-energize yourself (praying, meditating, yoga, a drive in the mountains, etc.). Just use your this last clinical experience as a way to motivate yourself to be better prepared next time. Hang in there and good luck. B.T.H

Hi Amy, I took 101 last semester and made an A in it. English has never been easy for me because it's my second language. I have never made A's in English growing up, so I made sure to pay extra attention to it last semester. I made sure that every time I handed in an essay that I would have it proofread at the writing center first. Also in 101, grammar and punctuation is 50% of the grade. I think with writing it's important to be able to visualize the paper as a whole so that you can orchestra the content better. Be clear about your topic sentence and lay down the guideline for your paper well in the first paragraph, then follow that guideline throughout your paper. Pay a little extra attention to the conclusion and tie the whole paper together well at the end. The important thing is to take a little extra time and have your paper proofread by someone qualified before handing it in. I'm in English II now and it's actually a lot easier then 101 because content is stressed more then puctuation. As you can probably already tell, once I get started typing, I can go on, and on,......and.............on:D Good luck in 101 if you decide to take it again. B.T.H

Thanks for your time and effort in recording your experiences Nilipoc. I have enjoyed reading your blog and will miss it because your experiences have given us CRNA wanna-be's a very good picture of what some of us hope to experience in the future. But having said that, I'm glad that the blogs end is for a good cause(your success in the program). Your on the home stretch now so hang in there. I want to echoe the other posters by saying that I hope you continue your blog after your schooling is done(better yet write a book because I'm sure a lot of us would enjoy reading it). Thank you for your efforts and good luck, B.T.H.

Athlein, thank you for your honest replies and assessment regarding my questions posted earlier. I agree with yours and Anthony's assessment that you don't have to be a genius to do this. My take on this pursuit after some consideration is that in the end it is hard work that usually determines whether one makes it or not. My belief on the question of intelligence and talent is that most people on the whole are average (with some minor differences). There are people more intelligent or more talented then the average on the whole, but everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Things have a way of evening out in the end because of the intangibles. Most of the time it comes down to hard work, determination, and discipline which dictate where we end up at the end. There are very few people in this world that have everything in one package, in any field. These people are rare in comparison to everyone else. The rest of us fall in the gray area somewhere and have to work hard to move up. I agree that a person has to be realistic about themselves and their capabilities, circumstances, energy, etc., when pursuing a goal. Doubt is a normal occurrence for us being humans, and the important thing is not that we have doubt, but how do we handle the challenge they represent. I realize that CRNA education is very difficult (to say the least) and will require everything an SRNA has in order to complete the program, no matter how smart they are. When the time comes, I will be ready to dedicate completely, or elevate myself to whatever level is necessary to finishing this journey I have started. What I have gotten from the post of you upper level classmen and CRNAs, is that this type of dedication, sacrifice, and commitment is the only way to succeed in this journey. I'm committed and failure is not an option(doubt or not). Take care, B.T.H

Hi Everyone, thanks for all the advice. I guess I was feeling a little tired from dealing with 3 deadlines in the same time period, taking care of 2 kids by myself (wife got accepted to a nursing program out of the city) as well as taking 17 credit hours this semester. It's suprising how much harder school is when you don't have enough time to study properly(maybe a preview of the stress and doubts I'll face as an SRNA someday. he,he) Iliket3, I can relate to a lot of the things you posted, especially the one about looking at your son and wanting the best for him. I hope you finish the goal you set for yourself of becoming a CRNA someday. Good luck to you and to everyone else as well. Thanks again for the words of encouragement and advice. B.T.H

Hey everyone, I was wondering, what is a good criteria to go by for knowing if you have what it takes to make it into and through a CRNA program? I guess what I'm asking is, were the pre-reqs and nursing classes a breeze for a lot of you that have made it into a CRNA program, or was it challenging for you? I don't know if I'm getting worn out from the constant kids work, and school schedule juggling act or not, but I'm starting to get some nagging doubts about whether or not I'm capable of pulling this off. Thanks a lot for any feedback ahead of time. B.T.H

Never heard that saying while I was doing A&P, but now that I have, I don't think I will ever forget the cranial nerves again. (oh oh oh to touch and feel a girl's ...............................!!!!!!) Hard to forget this one. The one I learned for sensory, motor, or both is, Some say marry money but my brother says bogus bimbos marry money. B.T.H

Devi, Your recieving some very good advice from a lot of different people. I would just add that the secret for me is to simplify and learn what is necessary or what is covered in lectures. There is no way that your going to memorize everything so don't hurt yourself trying. Learn what the teacher lectures on(take good notes) and use the book to fill in the blanks. Most times, the teachers will quiz you, or test you mostly from the material they lectured on in class. You can learn a lot about your teacher's testing tendencies if you pay attention. This will help you to improve your test scores if you can narrow down these tendencies. Take good notes from the next lecture, then after the quiz compare the two to see if he follows the info from the lecture in the quiz. Note cards are good also. But I usually only used them to fill in the blank where I felt my notes weren't enough, or where a topic is complicated or tricky. For me the coloring book is a waste of time because they just add more to the work load. It might work for other people, but for me, the simpler you keep it the better. Like John said, you have got to get mad and approach it with a chip on your shoulder. Hey, if however many nurses have taken and passed A&P, why can't I do it. Get the " this class is to hard" thought out of your mind." Study smarter and and don't accept that you can't do it, and you will be fine. B.T.H

I'm going to be taking A&P 2 next semester also. The first one was kind of scary since I heard that it was a weed out class and I hadn't been in school for 17 years, didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't too bad. I think the teacher makes a big difference on how difficult the class is. We had a pretty good teacher that tested and quizzed on what he lectured on in class and the midterm and finals were based on the homeworks he gave us. I have heard that A&P 2 is easier then 1, but we'll see. I would recommend taking the same teacher for both one and two so that you will know their testing tendencies. I would recommend flashcards like the other posters suggested, and also don't fall behind studying in this class. A little bit each day will make it easier to obsorb everything then trying to cram to much in at one time.(unfortunately this is what I did because of work and family obligations) Good luck to everyone next semester. B.T.H