RNMal227

It's 2020, the world is vastly different, and I'm getting my MSN! I know, I know... my journey has taken a turn.... and that's okay! I'll update you guys soon! I hope you all are safe. Much Love, Mal.

Hi! Welcome, Peachmarie! You are entering as undergrad. Click that module and see if your program is there. If, not the Leadership (module 7) might be your baby! I can't remember which I chose! Let me know how your fare please! Best wishes, Mal

Just checking in guys! Things are preettyyy hectic in my part of the woods! I just wanted to pop in and give some encouragement to anyone following this thread. Keep moving. Right now, I'm having a difficult time juggling school, personal, work, kids, health, etc! C'est la vie, oui? It's okay to not be okay... the thing is to keep moving... Even if its crumbs at a time, push it. I'm finding these days I have to do a few paragraphs (writing or reading), and get up and walk and engage in another activity for 15 minutes just to keep up my progression. That's not the usual way I work, but that's okay. It's working. I am accomplishing things and its rewarding to see that completion. I encourage you to do whatever it takes, even if it's unconventional. We've got to make it. I am now currently considering stopping here at Bachelor's (yet, again) and pursue a FNP degree. Time will tell. The original plan was to get this Master's, practice a bit under it, then FNP. I have so much to consider.. I'm just trying to align my life, that's all. I'm not giving myself a tight timeline. I just want to consider everything before my next journey. Thing is, I am however pressed for time when it comes to starting my Master's courses. Ugh, decisions, decisions. When the decision is made, I hope to have considered all options and tracks, and received some Divine direction. Life has a way of turning, does it not?

IIIIITTTT'SSSS JULY! July 4th that is and I'm back with an update. June, Lord JUNE! It was EXTREMELY challenging for me! I lost almost all motivation and bit off tiny pieces of my last two courses. June of last year I lost my grandmother (she was 104 y.o!!), had emergency surgery, and it's also my Mom's birth month and sadly death month. Again, June, Lord...June. So this June was difficult... sometimes too difficult to put in words. I put my energy into other things, subconsciously attempting to escape the memories. I had moments of extremely high energy, and the other end of the spectrum..lows (you know what that is). Nonetheless, I was making progress, but not enough for me. And still, I kept slothing (is that a word?) around. It soon became a few days before the end of the term and I had only done like 3% of the TWOOO courses I had left....prepare fOR THE CRASH...... **RECORD SCRATCH** I prayed. I talked with my mentor. I talked with my husband. I cried. I GOT UP. I STARTED AGAIN. I....FINISHED!!!!!!! I said I FINISHED!! When I tell you guys I took charge of my life... I took my guilt (of wasting time), my sadness, my pain, my anger and morphed it! With God's Grace, I got on that computer and WORKED!! I said, "You want better for yourself. You CAN do better for yourself. Your children are watching. Your family is watching. You ARE CAPABLE! Your Mom told you to keep going ALWAYS. GET UP and GO!" And so I did. I worked when I was tired... I took note of the feeling. I remembered THIS IS NURSING SCHOOL. GO HARD. I wrote those papers. I did those charts. I perfected those papers. I watched those live classes. I talked with that course instructor. I lost sleep, but it DID NOT KILL ME. I was told "Even if you turn those assignments in today, it won't make the end of term date." I said to myself, "I have faith. I know my God." It was literally ONE day before the end of term and I completed one course and finished the mammoth of papers for the second course. I had a goal... to finish what I started..ON TIME. I turned those assignments in and let me tell you... they were returned with..... "PASSED". It was merely minutes before midnight and we were celebrating! Oh what a JOY! I'm here to tell you.. DON'T GIVE UP! FAITH WINS MORE THAN HALF THE BATTLE! We are human, we will fail; but as my Mother used to say, "just because you fall in the mud, it doesn't mean you have to waddle in it." Whatever it is, you CAN get through it. It might hurt- I wont lie- but joy follows I promise. Guys, I hope I've touched someone today...for our battles and testimonies aren't for for ourselves only. I am now working on my field experience, and only have 3 transition courses and your girl will be a Bachelor's degree prepared nurse...and well onto Master's! I leave you with love, renewed spirit, faith, hope, and friendship. Inspirationally Yours, Mal.

Hi there!!! Thank you for your kind words! I don't know how I missed your comment!! Well, you are here now and that's what counts my dear! I hope you have applied to WGU (or a school of your choosing) since this post. Biochemistry is nothing if you pace yourself. The cohorts (bootcamps) can really help if there is chunk of info you don't quite understand. Use that anxiety as fuel and put the petal to the metal! SKKKRRTT! Please update me on your progress! With love, Mal I also updated this thread on my experience in Biochem! Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have!! ?

Heeyyyyy girl HEEYYYYY! Hey boy HEEEYYYY! I am FINALLY here to share a quick update! So STATISTICS>>> The best advice I can give you is--->> DON'T BE AFRAID. DON'T HESITATE. GET. IT. DONE. I took entirely too long and information started to dwindle and I found myself revisiting information! Take breaks. Don't let yourself get hypnotized in the reading. I had to say "okay Mal, you need to DO THIS." So I did. I dedicated everyday to getting chunks of it done (with the intent to learn it as well), and KABOOM! I took the PA (again) and passed! I went right on to take the OA and after 30 minutes of technical difficulties (they couldn't hear me), I breezed through it and PASSED! This was 3/15. Im currently in Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership, with 6 weeks left. I'm truckin' right along..... There have definitely been some wonderful and exciting things going on on my life as well. I am thankful for this little world of support we have here. If we keep it up..this faith and encouragement, we will make it... just you wait!!! I pray for strength, love, dedication, understanding and peace for you all. Until next time, Mal

How goes it?

Oh my the dedication! Keep up the great work! I know you are!!

Hello there and welcome! Statistics sailed right on by! LOL I took wayyyyyy longer than I should have in Statistics! Life picked up, and school became a "task" to do. I had to refocus myself and get back on a roll. Once I did, I passed that PA and went on to take the OA and passed the first try! I kind of kicked myself for taking so long, but hey, no time to dwell in the past. I reveled passing the OA and quickly moved on! The OA wasn't difficult at all. You just have to know your stuff! The only thing that got me was the technical difficulties in ProctorU. They couldn't hear me for some reason. After we spent 30 minutes getting that fixed, I was good to go. Are you currently taking it?

Hey everyone! I'm still here! I too am in Statistics lol!! Keep moving guys... we will get there! Will be doing some serious updating soon! Catcha in a few!

Happy New Year everyone!! Will be updating my progress soon! Happy to be able to post again. Wishing you a prosperous 2019 in every way!?

I TURNED BIOCHEMISTY BLUE!!! Thank GOD I finally stopped taking bird bites and went into BEAST MODE! I read and studied EVERY DAY! I watch the cohorts and bootcamps, used the study guides, played the Jeopardy game, and used the extra quiz questions as supplements!! I used the last PA as an indicator of my final readiness before the exam. I re-scheduled my test twice! I thought I didn't have some of the information down, so I rescheduled and studied more! For those of you that think like me---> Sometimes, the modules start off "talking" like you already know the info...KEEP READING! It will explain to you, in-depth, what the information is about. I went back several times trying to figure out if I missed something, and if I had just kept reading, it would have gotten into the meanings and I wouldn't have gotten lost! Everything will be explained. The best way i think to pass Biochem is to not just memorize, YOU WONT PASS from MEMORY. The CONCEPT has to be grasped. I probably got a couple of questions that were knowledge based. The rest was applying what I learned! It's the bonafide point of competency right?? FIRST, read the terms and definitions..this helps later on. If not, the terms are greatly explained in the text. Make sure you watch the videos in the text!! They prove to be valuable for "putting it all together". NEXT, do the quiz attached to the chapter. Write down the concepts you missed based on that feedback, so you'll know what to brush up on. They make that easy by telling just where that info is located just so you can! THEN, do the games, flashcards etc. I watched my cohorts as supplements and did not attend them live. You can sign up, and the video will be sent to you. I always knew if I had a question, there were TONS of support available, so even though I didn't attend them live, ALL questions I had were answered in the text, the live recordings, or the course videos. Now with all of that out of the way... I ENJOYED THIS COURSE! I now know HOW insulin works, HOW medications work, and I am able to apply those concepts in my nursing career. I have explained in depth to nurses and families how medications work and how carbs are broken down. I am MUCH MORE competent and have improved my nursing judgement based on knowing how the body works on a molecular level. Once you jump in there, I mean REALLY jump, you'll find yourself immersed in the wonder of the body. It's truly amazing. Now I know everyone won't share the same sentiment as I, but the more positive your outlook is on a task, the easier it is to tackle it. I dreaded it based on horror stories, as I previous stated....but I now wonder, "WHY DID I?" I leave you with encouragement, positivity, and hopefully, motivation to keep trucking! Just breathe. With love, Mal

It was a breeze at first, but now I'm finding studying a bit challenging since school has started. I let a PRN job go because it required me to work a specified amt of hours monthly, and I found the weekends were a golden time to study. In addition to this, my FT job has a lot going on and I've been doing a lot of planning and conversing after hours. As a result, my concentration dwindled. After I got home, I still cooked for a few days in advance and that took away from study time. In came the chronic headaches that love to rear their ugly head during stress! I considered taking a nap after I got home, like I did in nursing school the 1st two weeks- which was very effective, but thought that as a last resort.. So I had to take a day to re-evaluate what my priorities were! I sat and talked with my husband and talked about my worries balancing it all. I took another day at work to sort through all of the new things going on and develop a plan to complete smaller daily tasks. I still cook in advance, or hubby helps with meals. We tag team, helping with the kids' homework. I take study breaks now to meddle the kids so they won't feel left out. I'm still adjusting, but I was able to identify the problem and studying is coming a bit easier. I might still do that cat nap to wake with a more clear mind for study. Whatever I have to do to not only exceed, but excel, I am willing to do.

Hi guys!! Just a quick update! I have finished the Leadership & Comms (L&C) class and have been pounding Biochem! I hope to have it completed by the end of the month. We had a paper to write for the final for the L&C class. I had to be at least 4 pages or 2500 words, I believe. We had to turn in 2 prior papers and this was the first time I had my paper returned to me. I sweated it a little bit, because I felt I explained it thoroughly. I then thought about one of the things I learned in the class- accountability. I perused my paper again and found I indeed did not fulfill that part of the rubric clearly. You see, they give you a written explanation of why your paper didn't meet the requirements and that eliminates any guesswork on our part!! I sat down, took a deep breath, and began to type! I read it yet again, and re-submitted it! It took about a day to get my results... I think I was #141 in the queue. But who cares.. I passed!! So happy to report 2 classes down and ready to add more to that quota! I hope you guys are having a great day. Talk soon, Mal

Nothing wrong with that! If you're able to get all of your requirements squared away before the 15th of August, then you should be good to go! It is so rewarding see that status change as you go! I wanted a June 1 start date, but I made my decision to attend a bit late, so I missed the date. The beginning of June was extremely challenging for me and my family as we had a death at the beginning and I had surgery towards the end. There's definitely a silver lining. and bittersweetness to that. Go with your gut/heart!