November 12, 2010

Well, Murphy's Law strikes again.....about the third week of October, I sat down in my bed, laptop in front of me, right before turning in for the night and there it was.....an email from Research that said "CONGRATULATIONS!" I couldn't even believe it, let alone get excited about it. After all, I dropped that Physiology class.

The next day I emailed Leslie Mendenhall (who is in charge of admittance into the program) to see if we could meet and go over whether there was even a chance of me accomplishing the pre-reqs. For several days before the scheduled meeting, I wouldn't even tell people I got in because I wasn't sure. I thought if she seemed skeptical about me getting them done in time, I wouldn't even give it another thought.

Then I met with her and she didn't seem particularly phased about me getting it all done before next August. It won't be easy but she said it would be do-able. Then I find out that HCA is only giving 52 forgiveness loans and that we'll have to interview with them. I keep hoping that the interview will take place before I have to pay Rockhurst. The pre-reqs at R.U. next semester alone are almost $4000! Of course, it's November 12th and I haven't heard a word about the interviews.

If it doesn't fall into place, it doesn't. I am going to go ahead and interview for the LPN program at JCCC as well. My interview for that is next week.

In the meantime, I decided I would do some volunteer work to spruce up my resume. So I applied and interviewed for a position at Safehome. It is a hospital advocate position for all 5 of the Johnson County hospitals. If they have a domestic violence victim who comes in and wants to meet with someone from Safehome, they will call me and I have 30 minutes to get there. I have already done some of the training (8 hours to be exact) so that should be starting soon. I'm a little leery of being in an emergency room and what kind of gore I might encounter but I do know if I can handle it, the contacts that I would make would be invaluable.

I also applied and interviewed for a student internship program at Children's Mercy Hospital. They made me jump through major hoops as far as getting the paperwork done and the references submitted but I was given the internship. Of course, as luck would have it, I had to have a flu shot, a tetanus shot and have my blood drawn. Evidently they test for latent TB and I am high risk as a flight attendant. I told them that I had a negative TB skin test in May but they said this test is much more extensive. It came back positive! So now I am sweating bullets about whether or not to retest, I don't want it reported to OSHA and have it affect my chances of getting hired after graduation, I don't want to take the medicine for 9 months as everyone says it is hard on your liver; etc. I have a call in to Dr. Bowlin to get his advice and for now I am stalling with the nurse at CMH.

So....there's where I'm currently at. I'm taking Chemistry this semester at JCCC and so far, I still have an A. I'm very worried about keeping it because this is one of the hardest classes I've ever taken!

August 30, 2010

Well, here's the update:

I was given the go-ahead by the head of the nursing department at Neosho to take my state test in Chanute on August 6th. Because our class ended two days before the state test was going to be given in Topeka, there would not have been enough time for our instructor, Deborah, to get the paperwork to the state as to who passed the class; etc. Everyone in the class was scheduled to then take it in Topeka on September 7th. I pleaded my case to Deborah (about how I lived on State Line and needed to take my test in Missouri also; plus how I am applying for the part time LPN program at JCCC and all the paperwork needs to be turned in by October 15th and waiting until September to take the test would really worry me) and she in turn plead my case to Tracy Rhine (department head for Neosho). Tracy gave two spots to Colin (another guy in my class) and me but asked us to keep it quiet.

Mom and I drove to Chanute the night before and spent the night. It was a nice little getaway for the two of us. She slept in while I went and took the test. Finally, two days ago, my name was listed on the KS site for Certified Nurse Aides. I have now sent the request to Missouri to take the challenge exam on their side also.

I am currently enrolled in Chemistry and muddling through. My mind is numb from trying to remember everything and it's only four classes into it but so far we've had a worksheet, homework and two quizzes and I still have an A. I just have to keep that up.

I was interviewed for the Research one year BSN program and even though I had not fulfilled the exact criteria to be considered, I gave a great interview and hoped that they would grant me an exception. (I had not completed two of my Sciences at the time of the interview and I only had 5 hours of Anatomy/Physiology and they require 6). In order to keep myself in the running, I enrolled in a Physiology class at JCCC. Well, I got my letter mid August from Research and, while not selected for the program, I was #9 on the waiting list. The good news is that they didn't exclude me....the bad news is that I'm #9...ugh.

I took my first class in Physiology today and about an hour into the three hour class, I realized I was in WAY over my head. I really had no idea what the teacher was talking about. Soooo, I was upset but THEN turned it around to reframe it in my mind. I'm not stupid or I wouldn't make straight As. I do not, however, have the science background needed for this course, which also means that I'm probably not prepared for the Research program. I'm so happy, actually, that I have now figured out, by process of elimination, that I will apply for all three programs at both JCCC and Penn Valley. And I'm dropping Physiology, which should allow me to get a part time job.

June 26, 2010

Well, I managed to achieve the "A" that I desperately needed in Anatomy and Physiology. I'm in the middle of my CNA class but didn't get in at JCCC. I ended up taking it through Neosho County Community College which meets in Lawrence twice a week. I thought it would be a "blow off" class and in some respects that's true. Not doing as much reading, studying for quizzes is not quite as taxing for my brain. However, the commute is kicking my butt (I eat terrible when I'm eating on the run, I don't get enough rest so I've quit getting up to work out), the actual hands-on portion of the class is out of my comfort zone (I cannot hear when I attempt to take blood pressures and wonder if I'll EVER get it!).

I've also applied and had my interview for an accelerated program at Research School of Nursing. If accepted (and that's a big if because they will have to grant me some exceptions), I would spend the next year busting my butt to get in all the pre-reqs that are required of this program. The following year would be an INTENSE year going to school full time but at the end I would get my BSN. Not sure how I will swing the price for the pre-reqs but the actual program is reimbursable if you work for an HCA Midwest hospital for 2 years. I will find out in August if accepted. I do feel my interview went well.

I'm enrolled in Chemistry for the fall....again. I would really like to get that over with.

Pounding Right Through the Prerequisites

Wow, I kind of forgot about this blog....I've been that busy with school. I'll recap what I've done so far:

I last posted just as I was starting Psychology (which I took because it was a pre-req for Penn Valley; I had taken it way back when but got a C so I retook it to up the grade). It was a fun class; I liked the people, it was interesting and best of all, I got an A!

In the spring of 2009, I took a mid semester class of Algebra. It was an introductory class (I had to take it because I bombed the math part of the entrance exams). Man, my head just doesn't like math...it was very challenging! But, drumroll, I got an A!!

In the summer, I decided to take two classes online. Word of advice: don't do it!!! I took Nutrition and Human Development. They almost killed me. It was 7 weeks of pure torture...tons of homework, LOTS of reading and, worst of all, timed tests! Anything timed stresses me out. But, get this....I got an A in both classes!

In the fall of 2009, I had slotted to take Chemistry. Chemistry stresses me out because when I took it in college way back when, it was my "diploma" class...meaning that if I didn't finally pass it, no diploma for me. Way back when, I took it a couple of times. I have conveniently blocked the specific grades out of my mind but I think it was F, D, and finally C. Regardless, science courses for the nursing program have to be current (within the last 5 years) so I have to take it again. I'm just hoping I'm a better student now. Well, DH decided to start commuting for his job between KC and Denver and that left me working full time and running two teens to all their many activities. Didn't think I could pull off a decent grade in Chem as well so I dropped it. In doing so, I almost lost my momentum for nursing school. The semester off was nice but then I really did feel trapped in my job.

In December, I revisited the idea of starting back up again. DH was getting disillusioned with the commute, the kids didn't want to move to Denver....it made sense for me to start to pursue nursing again. In doing so, I had to change community colleges because we are on the opposite side of the state line now. I waited a little too long to enroll and had to sweat a few bullets to get into the class I needed to proceed. BUT..I finally got in after a few others had dropped for lack of funds.

I'm now taking Anatomy and Physiology and...whewee!....it is HARD. We've had four tests so far and I'm still a little shocked that so far I'm pulling off an A.

So there we go....on Monday, enrollment opens for the summer and I'm a little stressed that there are only ten open spots for the ONE CNA class I can take. (Certified Nursing Assistant). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll get in.

In the fall, I will take Chemistry (!) and then apply for the part time LPN program. If accepted, I will start in January. I will also be applying for the full time program (LPN) and the RN program. If accepted into either one of those, they will start in September of 2011. Which means that I will need to also take Microbiology in the summer of 2011.

Hopefully I won't wait so long to post this time.