Week 6 | Preparing for First Test

This coming week is going to be a bit insane!

1. We have our first lecture test for the Nursing Fundamentals class (NUR 108) on Friday. It includes anything covered in readings and lectures for the past 5 weeks, plus anything covered in readings for skills lab (theory content)  for the first 3 weeks.  And we've probably read at least 700 pages, I would guess.
2. This first test includes Fluid & Electrolytes, which was our lecture content for this past week... F&E includes all things related to excess and deficits. It's overwelming material and with only really a week to digest and memorize the signs/symptoms, causes, etc... mercy!
3. Not only is the test this week, but we still have to prepare for the lecture that will follow the test on Friday! Believe it or not, the content subject is STRESS! haha. Thankfully we don't have a graded quiz on that material--so I wonder how many people will actually do the reading before Friday. It's possible the instructors may put up a narrated lecture online, which can help, but we are still responsible for the readings.
4. We also still have to prepare for clinical (Wednesday) and do readings for skills lab this week (Thursday).

I honestly do not know how people who have families and/or work are able to manage it all. Perhaps they don't get much sleep. But that hardly seems sustainable--and definitely not healthy. I've been sick the past two weeks with a head cold and while I feel better now, it was still very hard to push through to do my school work when my body was so tired. Glad I'm not getting sick this week...that would be AWFUL.

I studied all day yesterday (with regular breaks to capture stinkbugs that have mysteriously found their way into my house) and picked up again at noon today. Will spend all of the next two days focused on school stuff. It's sad, I have not left the house (except to walk to my mailbox) since I got home on Friday afternoon. I do need to go to the grocery store, so hopefully I will leave house before clinicals on Wednesday!  

Secondary to school, the homeowners are coming into town on Thursday (day before exam) and so I'm also thinking about cleaning bathrooms, Swiffering the kitchen/hallway floors and decluttering the downstairs. This past week I've "taken to" the kitchen table for studying. A little too close to the refrigerator, but is better than the sofa (temptation to snooze) and better than the office upstairs (warm/chair that hurts my back). Since the homeowners will be here for the next three weeks, I'll need to find another location other than the kitchen table. I enjoy having them in town, but it's really hard to get and stay focused on school when there are people around. So I may be living at the library a lot over the next three weeks! 

Here's a photo (my first for this blog, I think) of my current study setup. You'll notice that my 7.9 lb. Fundamentals textbook is supporting my laptop. So no textbook reading going on this evening...just working through an online F&E tutorial today along with focusing on normal lab values for the 6 main electrolytes (reviewing various sources).

Well, enough of my procrastination. I think I will cut off the studying for this evening. I will spend the next 20 minutes printing off school documents & assignments, then maybe take another 20 minutes to Swiffer the kitchen floor and carry up belongings from den to my bedroom...every little bit helps. And then I'll climb in bed for a little lite reading to relax me. Oh, and probably another glance at normal lab values so that my brain can be memorizing them all night long. haha.