IowaCindy

Those fireworks were just reflecting your own happiness over being done! Congratulations!

Congratulations! :balloons:

Veering away from the professional topics for a moment: One of my personal favorite things to do is plan a trip around a music festival. I have a destination and wonderful music when I get there and usually the trips are not exsessively pricey. I've been to Winnipeg twice, LaCrosse WI once and this will be my fourth year in Colorado at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. I'm looking forward to a long weekend of great music, hanging out with festival friends and maybe some dancing on the mountainside. :) It will be a wonderful break after completing school, passing boards and starting a new job. This will be my first year at RMFF that I will be able to stay for the last song. I've had to leave early these last years so I could be home in time to start school on the next Monday. There are other festivals I'd like to attend someday- Philadelphia, Calgary, the Woody Guthrie Festival in Oklahoma. Maybe Kerrville in Texas. Back to Winnipeg. If anyone here's gonna be at RMFF in August, I'd love to meet up with you.

And did you know if you call the NCLEX response number at 1 AM on the second day, they won't have your results? But at 9 AM, they will. I passed. No, I PASSED!!!! Now I can enjoy the summer! Thanks to everyone for good wishes and support. Cindy

And did you know if you call the NCLEX response number at 1 AM on the second day, they won't have your results? But at 9 AM, they will. I passed. No, I PASSED!!!! Now I can enjoy the summer! Thanks to everyone for good wishes and support. Cindy

I honestly don't know how I did. My classmates were right - I think every third or fourth question was a priority question. One on external disasters, Only two that were specific med related, a couple on assigning patients to other staff members, no OB stuff, a few pediatric questions. 78 questions later as I was rocking back and forth to the voices in my head of my instructors saying "Think ABCs, Cindy - ABCs!" the machine turned off. Startled doesn't begin to cover my immediate response. :chuckle But the deed is done. Hopefully the last wait of this entire experience will be over on Thursday!

In the last week at work I've had three funny, funny incidents with the residents. 1) Last Saturday there was a temper tantrum over the recliners in the dayroom. Of course, there's not enough if a a large group of residents want to watch tv and on a Saturday night when those exciting old reruns of Lawrence Welk are on PBS there can ba a ruckus. There nearly was. :) 2) On Sunday there was a near screaming match overcontrol of the television. Some men and a few women wanted to watch the College World Series so the tv was turned to ESPN. 15 minutes later, a woman came down the hall and started a yelling match - she didn't want to watch baseball. She was informed that she would be escorted to the other dayroom where there was a tv open for any other programming. She walked back to her room in a huff "I never get anything around here" (Definite untruth!) She waited until everyone had gone to the dining room for supper and rushed to the tv to turn it. 3) On Monday, an end stage Alzheimer's resident on Hospice services, resting in her geri-chair showed a spark of her former sass. This lady rarely talks anymore, may answer simple questions appropriately depending on her mood/the weather/the environment. You know the type of patient. A nurse walked by whistling and the resident raised her head and snarled "I'm going to kill that damn bird!" :rotfl:

and it says "test tomorrow at 9 AM!" However, I will be sitting with a smile masking my jitters. As a graduation gift, my youngest daughter took me to see Simon and Garfunkel last night. It was fabulous! Two hours of musical heaven in Omaha last night. I cannot find adequate words to describe the musicianship of the famous two and their band of seven players. What a great way to break that rising tide of anxiety that's been dogging me for that last week. So I did a last review of some labs today, mowed my yard tonight singing "Homeward Bound" and I think I'll be relaxed enough to test without going entirely blank. Live music..........I'd prescribe that for anyone facing NCLEX. :chuckle

I've kept at the practice questions now for three weeks. Today I got online and downloaded the review from ERI and took it - passed 10 points above the passing grade so I guess something somewhere along the line has sunk into this poor, poor brain of mine! I'm studying in limited blocks of time this weekend with time out to go wander the local metro area summer arts festival and then on Sunday a wonderful break to go a Simon and Garfunkel concert (graduation gift from youngest daughter). But my poor innards - they're starting to rebel from the stress. Everday it's a discussion among the various parts in there: to go or not go - how often - etc, etc, etc. I've read the posts and commiserate with everyone and rejoice or hurt as the message has read. ackkkkkkkkk! Becoming a nurse is a true birthing process, isn't it! That last little push to get through NCLEX is the final delivery and it just may do me in. I'm getting the 'transitional crazies' happening! :rotfl:

I was working my way through today's selection of questions when I dozed off, woke up an hour later with a mark on my hand from leaning on it. :chuckle It was such a perfect day here in Iowa, it was very hard to stay focused on doing anything too serious.

I don't test until the 29th. I'm studying, reviewing labs and some meds and doing about 150 questions a day (from my review books). My classmates are starting to get their results and I've heard that they've had many, many questions on prioritizing. After report, which of these 4 patients do you assess first, etc. My school only started throwing those questions in the last couple of weeks of classes. I struggled with them. Have to hope my critical thinking skills are sharp enough.

The facilitator yesterday was great. Everyone liked her style. She reviewed the OB content from the book but made it interesting and added stories to help it 'stick' in our heads. The facilitator who started today is nice enough but is zooming through the book and it was a difficult day to stay focused and awake. I'm not looking forward to another two days with her. On the plus side, it's been a little reassuring to recognize how much of the material I haven't forgotten yet. Much of it has been very familiar. I do know I have to work on my lab values and some of pharm stuff. ugh....pharm is difficult for me to keep in my head. It's why I work with my med book by my side.

My college is hosting a class that starts tomorrow. Has anyone taken the ERI class? Hoping the class is the kick in the behind I need to get studying. I've taken this week since graduation as a nothing week. No studying at all. Now I'm ready to study. Hope the ERI class works.

"All I hear is that everything is too hard, too hard, too hard, and irrelevant. I'm talking about comp I and a microbiology course. I'm wondering if any of you think that good English and writing skills are needed in nursing? I would think with all the paperwork, clear writing would be important. I guess it just scares me that these people want to be medical personnel, but they want to be spoon-fed the things we need to know, because I know it won't be like that on the job. Will it change once I'm done with my prereque's? " Being just a few days away from graduation and having worked in LTC for almost 10 years, I can say that there is a need for clear communication!!!! People who are unable to adequately express themselves in written word even though they are competent otherwise will be a frustration and a hindrance to their coworkers and to their patients. Yes it's frustrating to have to take these 'other' classes when you want to concentrate on nursing but it all fits together like a puzzle. It's the foundation to the work you'll be doing. you have to understand the mechanics of the body to understand the actions of drugs, the effects of one system on another, etc. You've obviously got the right attitude. Don't let the others distract you from the goal. You are going to be so happy you considered the 'extra' classes as important as the nursing classes. And it does help to be able to get them done before beginning Phamacology, Nursing through the Lifespan, Assessment and other classes. OF course, the one class I could have done without was "career strategies". That was a college requirement. I did NOT want to write a resume while I was working on assessment class and OB and such. Blah.

Can I just say a HUGE "Thank you" to all of you who are able to juggle your usual duties and include the students who invade your work world. You've taught me your routines and tricks, educated me in the right and wrong ways to do procedures. You've encouraged me to keep going when I thought I had made a great mistake in changing directions with my life. Y'all make the difference in a successful clinical experience to us. Thank you, thank you!!!