New Blogness:

It is time. It has been a while since I have posted a blog, and I've been wanting to try blogger out for a while. This is my official test run. We'll see if it takes off, or if I decide to go back to my LJ that I've had for a few years. I think I like blogger better though. Either way, I will rss it to facebook. :-)

Here goes official entry #1:

I am now in week 6 out of 15 in the spring semester of the Practical Nursing program at Lorain County Community College. The LPN program always starts in the fall, and lasts one year (meaning I'm pretty close to being done). As of this year, a summer semester was added to the program, so in August, I will be graduating. It excites me to think of how close I am, and yet scares me at the same time.

I have made a lot of sacrifices to get to where I am right now, such as dropping to minimal part time hours at work, ditching my health benefits, dropping my blackberry and getting a normal phone, and pretty much chucking most of the social life. To be perfectly honest, it has been rough. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't somewhat depressed at times about it. I do know that if I'm going to be serious about this, which I am and am 100% committed to, these sacrifices are needed. This week was a reminder to me of how it pays off though. I went from being afraid of failure, directly related to past experience, to having confidence that not only am I doing the right thing, but I'm going to be successful at it, and maybe even pretty good!

High points of the week:

• Successful passing score on lab check-off for IV starts (not a big surprise, as I have passed this one in the past)
• Ability to shadow an RN and LPN, instead of just being thrown onto a floor to do work during clinicals. I have actually never gotten this opportunity before in my 6 previous clinical rotations, and it helped me learn a lot about what I am getting myself into.
• I got my first chance ever to start an IV. The opportunity has never presented to me in the past, so I was terrified. I nailed it! I was successful on the first try! This is huge for me!
• My clinical instructor allowed us to work in teams with the teams of nurses on our floor. This also allowed us to get so much more hands on experience than ever in the past.
• I got an A on my lecture test Monday! This is my second A, and we've only had 2 tests! Out of a possible 120 points in the class, I have now only missed 8! I was floored to sign on today to find this:
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That's about all I have to say for now. I plan to keep this updated with more stuff that I find exciting, hopefully not all school related...

Thanks for reading!