Welp, I passed NCLEX. I am an official RN. It feels strange. It's time to start saving lives. ;0) I am really liking the unit I am on; I just don't feel like a real nurse yet. I wonder when that feeling will come. There is still so much I haven't done. LIke page/call doctors. I've only had to page a doctor once, and I ended up talking to a resident, and she was really nice to me :). Anyway, the thought of talking to a doctor scares me still.

We were in Colorado last week. We went to visit Brad's grandmother. Brad parent's flew with us and Monica's family met us there. We had a lot of fun, and got to go up to the mountains for a couple of days. We went to the lake that Brad and his grandparents would go for summer vacations. It was neat seeing all the places that were special to him. We got a lot of amazing pictures. I'll try to post them soom.

NCLEX update :) / :(

I took my NCLEX yesterday (nursing state boards). It was pretty difficult. I think I did ok, but I won't know until Tuesday. I still have a long time left in orientation. So I won't be on my own as a nurse until probably around Auguest or September. I'm ok with that because I have a lot of confidence to gain. I got a job on a cardiac step down floor. I love it so far, and my manager is super sweet. The only thing I don't like right now is that I have to work 8 hour shifts for the first 4 weeks. Ew! How do normal people work 8 hour shifts EVERYDAY?!!? I would take three 12 hour shift over five 8 hour shifts anyday. I'm definitely missing my days off.

Changes

I can't believe I have not updated this thing in so long! So much has happened!

I GRADUATED!! I have my BSN and I'm ready to change the world!! It doesn't really feel finished yet because I still have to study for and take my state boards. Also the orientation process is pretty long, so it will be a while before I think I will feel like a real nurse. I know I will feel scared, nervous, and anxious, but I'm excited to begin this new journey. My graduation present is a neeeeew camera!! And it is amazing!

The Job: My job fell through, and my manager didn't inform me until two days before graduation. Yay. The unit I was supposed to be working on is closing (I still have no idea why)so I was told to find another position. So now I have an interview on Monday for a cardiac floor which I'm pretty excited about. I think God has a better plan than I had for myself.

Good-byes: Some of our very best friends, Faith and Aaron, are moving far, far away. I don't think I've ever had to deal with a friend moving away, so I know this will be hard. Brad and I have fallen in love with this family! :(

Vacation: We went on a 5-day vacation with the Faith,Aaron and Brittany and all the kids! It was a so much fun! Someone at work asked why in the world we would go on vacation with adults that had kids, but we had a blast! We truly love those kids! We went to Dollywood and WonderWorks, and we went shopping one day (well, kind of two days) The cabin was great and the weather was beautiful! Oh, and Faith dyed my hair brown :)

Forever 12. No, seriously...forever.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I took my Mamaw to the ER while we were at the hospital visiting my Papaw. The triage nurse asks her how old she is.

Mamaw answers, "86"
The nurse looks up in shock. "You can NOT be 86 years old!! You don't look older than 65! I just can't believe that!"

And this, my friends, is why I still look 12 years old.

Oh my, my, my. I thought I was going to have a relaxing weekend/week, but I was wrong. My grandparents (who live in Knoxville) were in a car wreck on Thursday. My papaw broke his wrist and something in his neck. He spent a couple of days in the ICU, but is now on a stepdown unit. My dad, Rachel and I were able to go down there on Sunday after church. Both my mamaw and papaw are not happy about the fact that he will probably have to go to a rehab facility for a couple of weeks. They think that rehab = nursing home..and of course no one wants to go to a nursing home. We were hoping to convince them that this is the best [only] option, but there is no changing their mind! Anyway, while at the hospital yesterday my mamaw starting having chest pain..so I freaked out and took her down the the ER. All the test came back negative, so we think it is just the stress.

I am so thankful that I had several days off in a row (for the first time in months) and I was able to go down there with my dad. I was glad I was able to be there with them. I wasn't exactly happy with the care, but I guess I'm thankful for the experience of the 'family' aspect of floor nursing.

I have class tomorrow, and then my LAST day of clinicals on Thursday. Yay!

It's been a while. I've been crazy busy, especially the past couple of weeks. I've been trying to finish up my 240 clinical hours and I have 12 hours left!! So exciting. I can't believe I'm so close to graduating. It's such an odd feeling. I always thought I'd feel ready by my last semester, but I feel like there is so much left to learn.

Today I turned in all my information to take my state boards. To get my licensed processed I had to pay $100 today. I also had to pay $48 to get finger printed for a back ground check. Apparently they do finger prints these days. $8 for passport photos for my license. $8 for my BSN pin for pinning ceremony. $38 for my first set of galaxy blue scrubs. I think all I have left to pay is $200 to take my boards..and another set of scrubs. Yay.

This Friday I take the HESI at 9am. We have to pass this to graduate, and although we get more than one attempt, I would really [REALLY] like to pass it the first time. We took a mid-curricular HESI about this time last year, it didn't even really matter (because we didn't have to pass it), but I was still a nervous wreck. In fact the I rushed through the last 10 questions because I was so anxious about seeing my score. I actually did very well. I surprised myself. I sat there staring at the screen thinking something went wrong.

Well ANYWAY, I took this whole week off from work and clinicals so I could get some extra studying in. At this point I'm not sure how much more studying I CAN take in. I think tomorrow will be my off-day. Kinda like when I ran cross-country and track in high school...ya never work out the day before the race. :) That will be my excuse anyway. Maybe I'll do some therapeutic scrapbooking.

This is in memory of the Krispy Kreme in Kingsport that closed this week [sad face]: