Looking Ahead

Grades posted today for our final exam. And I'm THRILLED that I scored a 94%. Huge relief! Even though I'm disappointed that I didn't get an A in the class, I am still quite happy with my B. Part of the challenge is learning to take nursing school tests that are written to help get us ready for the licensure exam. So hopefully I'm growing/progressing in this area and will do better next semester.  Although next semester does come with its own challenges. I'm going to have to dig MUCH, much deeper next semester to come out with good grades for both Nursing II (med-surg) and Pharmacology.

This next semester I will take two classes totaling 10 credit hours. Nursing II (112/med-Surg) now includes two clinical days and our care plans will be much more in-depth and comprehensive for our patients. We'll also be evaluating our goals/interventions/client's responses as part of our care-planning. I'll also be taking Pharmacology, which is a tough course in its own rite. I have decided to take it online, saving time/gas since I won't have to travel to campus (25 minutes). Plus I've done really well with online courses in the past. Our nursing program offers it both in classroom and online. At this point, it seems like the majority opted for the online version. The nice back-up is that Pharmacology will be offered again in the summer (in case we don't do as well as we'd like).

We have not received our clinical assignments yet. I think program administrators may be waiting to see who passed Nursing I  (108) before posting the schedule...as they may have to reshuffle some clinical groups. Once they post the groups, we'll know WHERE we'll be working (which site, which unit) and WHO will be in our clinical group (9-10 students per group). Will be nice to get to know another group of my classmates, but it would be nice to have at least one person that I know fairly well (like from other classes).

Next semester I really want to do better in taking advantage of PVCC's fitness center. Unfortunately, last semester I got sick during 2nd or 3rd week of the semester and it greatly disrupted the good start I had started --plus then we started doing care plans around week 5. And unfortunately, when care plans started having weekly due-dates, I lost a lot of that time that I thought I'd have. ugh. And b/c I've not be training adequately, it would be quite miserable to start back running at this time of year (outdoors in the freezing cold). I really need to get my act together! I also need to do better at mass cooking and getting soup and stuff put in the freezer for future meals. I should do a LOT of cooking during my semester break and work hard to get my freezer filled up! 

Dating, getting together with friends, going to weekly Bible study---these have all been challenging, but I'm going to keep pressing on. If I don't get out of the house and hang with friends, how am I ever going to live a balanced life rich in relationships? Let alone meet someone with mutual attraction, date and hopefully get married? I'm not getting any younger or any more charming...and I'll be 38 by the time I graduate. Too bad marriages aren't being "arranged" anymore! That would make it so much more simple!  I could focus on school while my family or church family is trying to find someone to agree to marry me. I like that idea.

While I think dating someone seriously while in school would have huge challenges (priorities, distractions, emotional energy),  I think it could also be very good. It would require things to go slow, to be intentional, the best outcome is that it would get me out of my independent, self-sufficient mode and thinking about someone else for a change! But too much thinking about the other person could be a huge disaster academically...and if the relationship did not work out...sigh, that would be double depressing.  So I just have to keep trusting the Lord with this. To keep praying for His will to be done in the midst of this chapter of my life which from the outside probably reads "she's just to busy for a relationship"...which is TOTALLY WRONG. We'll never NOT be busy. This is just a different type of busy. My only consolation is that plenty of people meet and date while in school. Oh goodness...how did I get off on this topic? Stopping now.

Well, not much more to add. Just feeling good that the semester is over and that I have a five weeks to relax  and have a little extra time on my hands to do some fun stuff. If you know me...call/email me and we can go do something!

Semester Two: Finished!

Survived my final. Think I did pretty well. Grades not expected to post until next week. Not sure if that's the exam grade or the final grade...the rumor was a little lacking in specifics. : |Glad to be done.

Headed out now to help with my niece's birthday slumber party tonight (15 or so eleven & twelve year olds???) and then will stay over to help my sister move into her new apartment.

So glad that I can relax now for a few weeks. Will work 3 days a week but that's nothin' compared to schoolwork hanging over my head!  Now what? Not to worry...there's plenty on my list to do. Some fun stuff..some not so fun...but just not school!

Cheers.

Semester Two: Almost Gone

Semester Two ends this coming Friday with the taking/passing of my final exam. Almost there. Almost. The Thanksgiving holidays definitely gave me a taste of winter break, so much so that I really did not want to come back for my tests and final exam, mostly b/c it's been SO hard to get re-motivated for the final two weeks. And it showed. I was very disappointed with my Test 3 results. I probably could have spent more time studying, but mainly I over-thought things and changed answers. If I had left them alone, I would've done much better! My score could improve if they end up throwing out a question or two that I got wrong. I can only hope.

Friday evening (after we took Test 3 that morning) we returned to campus for collaborative testing to help us get ready for our final exam next week. It was there that we saw preliminary results for Test 3 (and got to review all our tests). So I won't know Test 3 official results for a couple days I suspect. But now, there is no conceivable way for me to get an A in this course. I'm sooo bummed. But reality is...what's done is done.  Can't go back and change things...can only move forward (having learned a lesson---maybe?) Now it's time to focus on the final exam!

I think I've counted that I have about 28-35 hours this week that I can study for my exam on Friday. I work all day Monday and Tuesday (my seasonal job) and that really only permits about 3-4 hours of study those nights. I'm just hoping I can get/stay motivated to systematically work through the study schedule that I've worked out. I've basically divided up all the content onto different days, based on whether I think I'll need a little or a lot of time to review it.  Today I review/read again chapter on Fluid, Electrolytes and Acid-Base imbalances... I know I'll be needing to spend time all week on this, so I figured I'd start early and then take flash cards to work this week to use during my breaks and to review before bed. And now that I've taken this little break, it's time for me to get back to the books.

I really doubt that I'll be posting anything new this week...so all my faithful readers (all three of you) can enjoy the break.

Cheers.