The Beginning

So far, so good. Classes went well yesterday. Nothing too terribly exciting. They will be the easier classes. Adult health is the one to worry about- that lecture isn't until Friday so I think that will be when I feel truly overwhelmed. There is a lot to do this semester. I had clinical orientation today at the hospital, and that went well. The first two hours was just a bunch of boring stuff we are required to know, and then we got a tour of the hospital. I know I will get lost when I go in, I know it! Next week I get to do the whole day in the OR- I'm so excited!!! I think that will be my favorite day- and I will find out just how squeamish I might be. So far I haven't been, but I haven't seen anything really super disgusting- although I honestly think that the smells are the hardest thing to handle.

I took my medication dose calculation test yesterday and passed. If you don't pass (passing for this test is a 95 or above) by the second opportunity, you will be forced to withdraw from the program. Yesterday was my first try, and when I finished it said I got a 90 out of 100. I just felt sick and wanted to cry, so I went upstairs to go over it with my teacher. When she looked it up, it turned out that the computer made the mistake. Talk about relief! Even though I knew I had one more chance, all I could think was that I could do the same thing again and then have to withdraw. I was already going through all that in my head, and thankfully my teacher was there so we could look at it right away. Otherwise I would have been sick over it all day. After that, there was a nurse practitioner student who had to do a head-to-toe physical assessment walk-through, and so I volunteered to be the patient. It ended up taking an hour, but I actually learned a lot from watching someone else do it. I will be doing a lot of that this semester.

Whew! Day 2 and already I'm exhausted. I had a lot of coffee today, ha! I don't have class until Friday morning now, which is nice. Wednesdays and Thursdays will probably be when I do most of my community work. Ahh, well from now on probably this blog will be filled with stuff about school- because that is now my entire life. And I love it, I really do! We'll see if I'm saying that a month from now.

One year ago, I was just starting in the program. I was scared, and nervous, afraid I wouldn't even make it through the first semester. I felt like I knew nothing, and the next two years seemed insurmountable. I can't believe it has been a whole year. Honestly, I still feel like a newbie, I don't feel like I know as much as I thought I would by this time, but hopefully I will be able to have better recall than I think. This is supposed to be the hardest semester of all, and I hope I make it through. Yes, there is that fear of failing. I hate it, but I'm going to work hard and trust God.

I feel like I have written a novel here so I'm going to be going now. I'm going to take a nap, and try to get some reading done.