studying – Imaginary Sunshine

Studying… still.

Michelle — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 20:24:56 +0000

It’s been a few weeks since I last stepped foot in a hospital. And it really kind of sucks. I miss being in the hospital. I miss patient interactions. I even miss being a little bit stressed because “ohmigosh, everyone has 8am meds!”.

I’ve been studying a lot for the NCLEX lately. I decided to do the review produced by the NCSBN[1. National Council of State Boards of Nursing] because it was significantly cheaper than all of the other online review programs. I like the idea of self-study because sitting in the classroom having someone talk at me just does not sound like a good time. So far it’s been going well. I study Mondays to Fridays for 6 to 9 hours a day, depending on which lesson I’m on (I’m following a suggested study schedule, which is outlined by the lessons).

Studying is possibly one of my least favourite things in the world to do, but I find giving myself the weekends off really helps! It gives me time to relax, to regroup, and to just not think for a couple of days about the NCLEX. I know some of my classmates that are studying every single day and I think my brain would just be all “Pfft, eff you, I’m going to play Blank Space for you on repeat for the next hour'” or just give up altogether.

The thing is, I learned a lot over 3 years. And having to review all of that stuff is a lot to digest. So, daily studying, plenty of breaks, and weekends off does the trick for me. I know that a lot of people on allnurses.com are probably rolling their eyes at me because I should be studying 12 hours a day for 7 days a week or something equally horrendous. My brain likes breaks! And sometimes it’s nice to just relax and watch an episode of something on Netflix and not think.

Speaking of weekends to regroup – I did just that. I roasted marshmallows in a backyard fire pit, got harassed by a Boston terrier, and slipped down a flight of stairs. Oh, and that was just Friday night. For Saturday, I hit my head against the wall trying to sit up. Cue laughter from the boyfriend because he just thought I was hilarious (he witnessed me slipping on the stairs too).

Hopefully next weekend will be a bit tamer – I’m going out for an afternoon tea on Saturday!

NCLEX stress

Michelle — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 18:30:12 +0000

Since last summer, I’ve owned NCLEX study materials. I bought a few books off of Amazon and then they sat on my shelf for the better part of the summer. And then all through term 5. And, if I’m being honest, they moved with me for my first term 6 practicum and sat on a shelf looking pretty. Now they’re laid out in front of me and I’ve flagged many, many pages as I go through the review process, it’s a bit daunting to think that I’ve learned this much over the course of 3 years.

Many of my classmates have opted to sign up for NCLEX review courses that typically go for 3-5 days. But these review courses are often $400-500USD, which with the current exchange rate makes them incredibly more expensive (hello, poor Canadian dollar!) and that just makes signing up for one of these courses completely unattainable for me, at this time. While I’d love to be able to spend over $600CDN on an intensive review courses, there is the matter of a cash flow issue for me at this time. As in, I just don’t have it. Luckily, many others have passed the NCLEX without attending fancy review courses, and I will be making out a study schedule for myself when the term is over. I don’t want to wait too long after I’m done the program to write it, in fear of all that knowledge just falling out. It’s been a (little) while since I’ve done mental health, or maternity and pediatrics, that I really need to get my mind wrapped around that knowledge again (especially the medications, oy the medications!).

You’ll just have to excuse me as I go mostly silent on the internet again as I get to worrying and stressing over the NCLEX!

School is out for the summer!

Michelle — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 19:18:02 +0000

For 16 days at least, as I start up again on August 18th. No rest for the wicked!

I had my last summer course final today. Not entirely sure how I did, and frankly at this point (going straight from January until today), I don’t care as much as I probably should. That said, I know I got an A on the multiple choice portion (was done on the computer and there is the instant gratification of getting a mark straightaway) so it is just the written portion left to be marked (maybe by next week?).

What was my first act of summer fun? Ate ice cream for lunch. And last weekend, I got my hair cut (finally…):

Another completed term

Michelle — Sat, 10 May 2014 04:19:38 +0000

I wrote my last final of my fourth term of nursing school yesterday. It’s an amazing feeling to be another term closer to the goal – graduation, becoming licensed, becoming a registered nurse. It has been an incredibly difficult fourth term. The learning curve is steeper, the depth of knowledge I’ve needed to have is a lot more than ever before. Expectations on me have risen while my own standards for myself have gone up at a stellar rate. But I got through it,through a lot of hard work and possibly more than a few sleepless nights. When I was going over my final clinical evaluation with my instructor, she told me the following “You study too much, Michelle. You work too hard.” Because nursing school, despite what it seems to do, shouldn’t be the be all and end all of my social life. Even though it is, although I did manage to make some time for friends and the boyfriend throughout the term. I don’t want to be someone who barely scraps through nursing school, and I don’t think anyone would want a nurse who did that. So I hold myself at high standards that even my fellow over-achiever classmates think are impossibly high standards.

My spring/summer classes are forthcoming. One actually started the first week of April (my school doesn’t understand what the phrase “summer” class means) while the other two will be starting on Monday, the 12th. In the meantime, I’ve been taking my instructor’s advice and just taking a break, even if it is just for a little bit.

Life, in general, has been pretty good to me. I’m confident that I’ve been able to pass all of my classes, I working on my specialty nursing certificate right now (the class I started in April goes towards that), I finally read something for fun for the first time in what seems to be ages… and I’m in a good place right now. I’ve been knitting a lot, but being absolutely horrible ta keeping my crafts blog updated. I’ve been blogging a lot, but just not there, and I’ve just been keeping busy. The chronicles of Michelle took a backseat this term because, in all honesty, the journal of me just didn’t seem to be important over things like studying, or patient research, or attempting to get to bed by 9am before a clinical day (when I woke up at 4:30am).

My plans for the summer will of course include working on my three online classes. I’m also hoping to start volunteering again, do a lot of crafting, be a little bit more active with the blogging, and, of course, spend time with friends and family. I find as I get older, it’s harder to do that. Friends move away, they start working full time or part time with odd hours, they’re still in school. And then there’s me, who doesn’t feel like hanging out at night when I’d been up since 4:30am. Is this how my life is going to look when I graduate and I’m working shift work for real? Probably. But the thing is… I love nursing. I found out this term that I really enjoy complex wound care. That’s probably a rather disturbingly morbid thing to day, but I love wound irrigation and packing wounds. Possibly the most fun thing I did throughout the entire term. I will leave you with that thought… because I can.

Reasons Not to Move to Hong Kong

Michelle — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 03:42:59 +0000

I haven’t blogged in a while, but I swear I have a good reason for it! Since I last blogged, I was busy with:

Packing for a four week trip overseas
Spending a week in China
Spending three weeks in Hong Kong
Spending a week as a ‘vacation from my vacation’ at home doing absolutely nothing (mostly sleeping)
And working on my online courses (mandatory for the nursing program I’m in)

Online classes are very different at this school than my last one. I only had one online course at my old school (Human Sexuality – still one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever taken!). These ones are more structured in a way that requires more deadlines. The other one only had deadlines for the midterm and final (all online). These ones, if they have finals, are on campus. But the midterms were online, so it was alright (I guess…).

Hong Kong was great in the sense that I got to see relatives and meet them for the first time (I do not count the time when I was under the age of two). But on the other hand, visiting Hong Kong reinforced the decision that I had made to never move there permanently. Ever. I couldn’t handle it, for so many reasons. The weather is awful – the day I arrived was mid-30s (Celsius!) and 85% humidity. It’s like having someone slap you in the face with a hot wet towel when you leave the airport. It was difficult to breathe properly at first because it was so much like being in a sauna and I didn’t like that at all. A lot of indoor places have air conditioning, which I took advantage of and it made things barely. July and August are supposed to be even hotter (!) with the same level of humidity or higher. I’ll stick to my milder weather at home, thank you.

Nurses in Hong Kong are greatly under-appreciated. They are expected to have higher education (post-secondary), but they make a third of what I would make in Canada in an equivalent currency for entry level (here). My aunt has friends who work as nurses and and they make ~$12,000-15,000HKD/month – which is less than or around $2000CDN. They also have no over-time. They are expected to work over-time and are not monetarily compensated for their work. Also, I visited an elderly aunt in a convalescence home (recovering from a stroke) and the nurses there were very old-fashioned looking dress uniforms. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, think about the Halloween “nurse” costumes that you seen (white dress, buttoned down the front, with pockets, etc.). It’s like that, only the dress isn’t low cut and it ends at below the knees. I didn’t go to a hospital in Hong Kong, so I’m unsure if nurses there wear similar uniforms, but it’s a possibility. I like my scrub pants and tops just fine, thank you.

Lastly – body image. They have a very specific body image that they like in Hong Kong and clearly I do not fit it. I was told (multiple times, by various people who are related to me) that I’m very pretty girl (thanks!) but I’m too fat (oh…). Yes, the size of my body was brought up. Many, many, many times. I was beginning to understand where my parents got the idea that I’m fat from[1. Yes, my parents have told me in the past that I’m fat or overweight, ever since I was a preteen.]. Keep in mind that I am 5’1″ and weigh around 110-115lbs (last I checked). And this is considered to be fat. I tried on tops and I was still a “small” there, but my legs were (apparently) an issue. I’m not short compared to the average height of women there, but my width was an issue for my relatives. They’d tsk their tongues and mention how I’d just look so much better if I dropped maybe 10-15lbs…

Additionally, I was inappropriately spoken to (and grabbed!) on public transit while I was in Hong Kong. Because apparently if you wear short shorts (by Hong Kong standards, lets not discuss how prudish their clothing is) it is an open invitation for skeevy grown men to grab your ass on public transit. And they tell you that it’s okay because you’re asking for it.

I’ll be posting more about the fun and adventure of traveling ~ and with more pictures!

My life, currently

Michelle — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 02:34:36 +0000

School, school and more school.

Finals are coming up soon. I have 2 more days of clinical left, 1 week of classes and then 1 week of finals! People in my class (class = everyone that started the program with me) are talking about going out to the pub after the last final (patho). It ends at 12:30pm – but it’s always happy hour somewhere in the world.

Oh hai, I have a blog?

Michelle — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 02:30:25 +0000

I’m still alive, promise. I’ve been super busy! Since my last post, I was on spring break for a week (where I picked up a week of full time work). My break consisted of homework and work-work. At least I got paid for one of those… But the money is already spoken for, oh well! I have exciting things that I’m doing with the money that I made. Plus I filed my taxes for 2012, and I’m getting a refund (due to putting money into income tax that didn’t need to be put in, grr). You can also find attorney for notices from IRS as they can deal with the matters related to revenue.

A lot of studying has happened, due to the fact that it’s still midterm season. I have one more midterm to go before finals. There’s currently five more weeks of classes. This also means 8 more clinical days(!), which is both exciting and sad. I like clinical, but it’s a lot of work. I still have two more 12-hour shifts at the hospital

I started being able to do IV meds in clinical! I was very nervous. My clinical instructor has drilled into us that when IV meds go wrong, they are very wrong because there is absolutely no way to take it back. So a lot of prep work goes into clinical now for IV meds. There’s a lot of information to consider – what to reconstitute the medication with, what is it compatible with, what is it not compatible with, how fast to give it, what temperature is it stored at, is it already premixed? There’s a lot to consider with IV meds that I never knew that nurses had to consider – that I had to consider. There are a lot more precautions to think about with IV meds than, say, oral medications. But on the fist day that I could give IV meds, I got to give two. Which was two more than some of my clinical group members.

And it’s finally spring around here! Flowers make me happy – the crocuses and daffodils are out and gorgeous. I can’t wait until daisies (June-July) are out because I love them. Love, love, love daisies. But they won’t be out for a bit, so in the mean time I’m enjoying the flowers that are out. Plus the roses in front of my house have started with new leaves, spring is always so much fun. I saw a bumblebee for the first time this year two weeks ago and it made me smile. Warmer weather always means that the insects come out.

Back into the swing of things

Michelle — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 04:06:21 +0000

And it’s almost like…

I didn’t get a break at all…

Life as a nursing student has been busy! I’ve been busy as the term quickly turned into a lot of work. I just turned in my first paper of the term, I’ve been doing loads of readings every single day, doing research for a presentation (first one of the term – next week!) and just trying to enjoy the process. I’ve had clinical since my last blog entry and I’ve had some wonderful patients so far. I’m really looking forward to getting to do more (removing Foley catheters, nasogastric tubes, IVs/saline locks, pulling out drains) in the coming weeks. This week in lab we’re learning about checking blood glucose so I’m getting my finger pricked tomorrow and I shall see what my glucose levels are at!

It’s the little things in life

Michelle — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:21:44 +0000

On the new laptop front:

I’m loving it. I need to do a virus scan on my HP before I go and copy files over and make my Asus my primary computer, but I love it.
It turns on (after being shut down) in 16 seconds, it’ll ‘wake up’ from being in sleep mode in 3 seconds. It’s amazing.
I have all the programs that I love and adore on there right now.
I love having a shut down button (yes, I’m repeating myself from my last post) – that’s how much I adore it.
It’s super light-weight. My HP is well over 7lbs (it has a 12-cell/extended battery instead of a 6-cell battery). My Asus is under 5lbs (2kg!). You wouldn’t think a scant few pounds would make a difference, but my shoulders can tell.
My biggest problem so far is that despite being the same in screen size (technically), it doesn’t fit into the laptop sleeve in my backpack (woe), but it can fit in, if I pop it into a laptop sleeve first and have it in the main area of my bag.

I started school last week and it’s been go-go-go ever since January 7th. It’s term 2 for me. I have some one new-to-me class and the rest are just a level up from last term, which is nice. I’m really making an effort in my class where the students do the teaching by participating and whatnot – it’s hard though, for me, as I’m not a chatty, talkative type (with people that I don’t know well). And as it’s a group (11 students, 1 instructor), and not a small group (2-3), it’s even harder for me. But I’m making an effort, really trying to anyways.

So far classes are going well… I think. There hasn’t been too much for me to be evaluated on yet, I don’t think, so my grades are still in tip-top shape! I think I’m going to enjoy clinical this term. I’m on a general surgery ward (primarily post-op patients). Last term I was on an acute general medicine ward, so it’s pretty interesting to compare and contrast the differences. One of my instructors for clinical skills is my clinical instructor, so he quizzed me a lot in lab today – nice thing to know that I can (hopefully?) make a good impression outside of the hospital! I get my first patient assignment of the term tomorrow afternoon and I’m trying to be proactive in making drug cards for the ‘common’ drugs from the list he had provided (but there’s probably like 50, so I will not be making them all in one go…)

In other news though, I’ve made things! Like socks…

And laminated notes for clinical…

And lastly, I got an all-metal construction 3-hole punch (the only plastic is in the tray that holds all the punched out paper). It may be the best investment I’ve ever made for school. Not only is it fantastic, but it’s so much better than the $2 3-hole punch that I previously had (it was metal and plastic and had holes to fit in a 3-ring binder) and it doesn’t hurt my hands when I try to punch holes into papers. Best thing ever.

Finishing term 1 of Nursing School & Winter Holidays!

Michelle — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:50:32 +0000

It’s been so long since I last blogged and I apologize! I’ve been super busy with school and then finals (which ended last Thursday!). Since the last time I blogged, I had:

Written my last pathophysiology midterm
Completed & got my professional portfolio back (93%)
Did my presentation on MRSA[1. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus]
Handed in and got my last paper back (95%)
Completed clinical (and passed – it’s a pass-fail course)
Attended pharmacology seminars (so boring…)
Wrote five finals

I’ve waiting on my final grades to come back, but I had done a little bit of math work and if I had gotten 0% on all my finals, I’d still be sitting at a 65% GPA so… I’m not entirely too worried about passing or not! It’s nice to finally get a decently long break (just over three weeks) of doing nothingness. Or rather, doing nothing related to nursing and nursing school!

My first day off from school, I went to the mall at 9:30am and was out by about 11:00am. I got almost all of my shopping done in one day, didn’t spend as much as I thought I was going to (always a good thing!). The last bit of shopping I needed to do (I needed candy canes) was done at the dollar store near my house. Of course I ended up buying more than a $1 box of candy canes… I also bought holiday-themed cupcake liners, translucent gift bags (for cookie gifting) and Christmas-themed and Angry Birds colouring books (not for myself…). I love the dollar store by my house though, the ladies that work there know me by face now so we chat a bit whenever I’m at the register or poking around the store.

Because it’s the holidays, I’ve been doing a lot of baking, which is both good and bad. I somehow got roped into doing a cookie exchange at my summer work place (where my mom works), so I got to bake 6 dozen cookies and I get 6 dozen cookies back, each dozen is made by someone different. So today I got a bunch of delicious things. Some had chocolates and marshmallows, some you could just smell the ginger. Delicious! I’m quite pleased, although I did notice that I had the best presentation overall. I made dinosaur and dinosaur print sugar cookies:

The recipe is from Betty Crocker’s The Big Book of Cookies that I got for my birthday back in November but I did adjust it a bit (taking out some ingredients because I didn’t have them on hand) and they still turned out pretty good. The icing is just royal icing (alternatively, you can buy premade icing that comes in containers that look like school glue bottles). I was originally going to individually ice the cookies and then flood them to give them the nice icing layer, but I added a wee bit too much water to my powdered sugar, so it was too watery. So instead, I just picked up each cookie, lightly dip the surface into the icing and then let any excess drip off before putting them onto the wax paper to dry. It worked out well and was a lot faster than individually icing and flooding 6 dozen cookies.

In other baking news, I’ve also made 2 dozen shortbread (will make more!) and have also made one and a half dozen chocolate fudge cupcakes. So much baking! I love baking though, and I don’t often get the chance (or have the time!) to do it during the school year. Especially not with nursing school.

I’ve also spent some time this past weekend with a lovely group of ladies who also share a love of dollies. We had fun exchanging Santa Swap presents. I got a new mug and a bunch of lovely miniature ornaments, chocolates and stationary. I gave a box of chocolates, some handmade things for the dolls, a cute toque with a pompom, a miniature art easel and a Littlest Pet Shop Teensies set that was very well received! I just love shopping for other people, it’s a lot more fun (and easier to spend money!) when it’s not for me.

But today Value Village was having a 50% off clothing (and some other departments) sale for those who have membership cards (and of course, I have one). I went with my sister, who was going to look for pants. I went through housewares, crafts and toys before making my way to the clothing section. I ended up getting 4 cardigans (some looked like they’d never been worn – two still had original store price tags) and 1 sweater for $17 before taxes. My sister got a pair of Guess jeans for $3 (remnants of the original paper tag were still on the jeans, they didn’t look worn at all!). There’ll be other 50% off days – last time there was one, I focused only on pants and it’s a good thing too because I find myself getting overwhelmed if I go and really look through more than one clothing section. There’s just too much stuff everywhere!

Overall it was a good shopping day at VV. The only sweater I bought today is a fairly thin one (100% cotton, probably more meant for spring or summer) that’s light green and from Banana Republic – I generally don’t find Banana Republic at low prices at VV or in good condition, but this one fit the bill as it was originally $4.99 (so down to $2.50) and it was in great condition with no pilling whatsoever. One of my cardigans is 100% cream-coloured lambswool from Great Britain and it was my most expensive buy today at $5 (down from $9.99). I love cardigans, but I’ve had to get rid of some recently due to them being too threadbare and really well-loved. I’ll have photos of what I bought after everything’s gone through the wash!

Lastly that’s new is that I actually redeemed some points! I think most credit cards attached to banks have this, but whenever I use my credit card, I got a point for every dollar that I spend. I’ve had my credit card since I was 19 (and could have my own), but I hadn’t used any points at all. There were bonus points for the first month that I had it, bonus for my first transaction, etc. I ended up redeeming for gift cards (none of the merchandise options seemed good). I ended up redeeming for a $100 gift card for Sears (as my half of my joint present to my mom for Christmas – my sister is chipping in $100 cash as my mom wants to buy a new vacuum cleaner) and a $50 gift card for La Vie en Rose (for me!) and I still have points left over. I’m pretty sure I’ll end up redeeming more points late for more gift cards for myself (I really want to get an e-reader and I’ve been eyeing the Kobo Glo but I don’t have enough in gift cards just yet), alternatively I’d redeem for “financial rewards” and just get it in cash for general shopping purposes. It’s kind of like getting “free money” – which is nice considering I never leave a balance on my card so they’ve never gotten any interest from me. Always very nice to be responsible!

Oh, and I did my nails for the first time since August (when I started school). It’s nice being able to keep nail polish on for more than 5 days (seeing as how I can’t have polish on my nails at the hospital). Very nice indeed!