Cherisse Performs

Free from the grips of third quarter

So I'm getting ready to tackle my last quarter head on. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOSSHH!!! Only freakin 11 weeks left. These last 9 months has been hell, the question is would I do it again. I'm insane but I'd say yes. Why because before going into this program I knew what I was setting myself up for which was no life for 12 months. I am so freakin' happy. I ended last quarter with Peds-A,Community-A,Pharmacology II-A-, and Adult II-B+. Peds clinical was the quarter I enjoyed the most suprisingly I didnt think I would. I think it was because I wasnt in a hospital setting, it was a long term healthcare facility with children born with congenital abnormalities, intentional or unintentional accidents(bath tub drownings, gunshot victims,MVA, abuse, etc). I got alot of straight cath experience, tube feedings, trach suctions. I really loved my experience and I felt proficient.
I feel blessed because for some reason this quarter was the hardest for me despite thru the rumor mill 2nd quarter is the hardest. Anyhoo, Adult was the class I studied my ass off and I was pulling B's after my failing first quiz score of a 73, a 76 is passing for us. I guess just couldnt get the style of the professors teaching but I passed and I am moving on to the last quarter. Can you tell I'm excited?

I am blessed and i dont care how horrible this upcoming quarter is which again its supposedly the "hardest", I will be fightin tooth and nails to get to crossing that stage and getting pinned. I will be a Registered Nurse and I will continue on to getting my masters and I will meet and surpass my goals and I will succeed. Why you may ask? Because Jesus got my back.

So next in line is critical care,gerontology(I'm so tired of that topic), research(I plan on enjoying that if I have the time), senior seminar, and nursing leadership(I'll be sharpening my skillz).

Oh yeah I never got to tell you my exciting news, I was able to shadow this nurse on one of her prenatal house calls. Can I say I was like a little kid in a junk food store. I could so see myself waking up every morning doing this job. Unfortunately where I'm relocating that organization is not established. So what does the initiator in me wants to do? You got it, I plan on getting the ball rolling. Alrighty I'm going to continue relaxing before hell quarter starts. I'll try to update more. Much love.

Figures

So I just came in from my 5-mile jog, my 5k race for Ovarian Cancer is next weekend. So I'm happy to say that I've been commited in my training even though this accelerated nursing program takes 99.9% of my time. I'm glad that I start exercising again because whenever I'm caught up in school I tend to neglect my health. So setting goals like these races really is helping me make a concious effort not only to work out but watch what I eat.

It's weird that last night I had a dream that I came into my community class and the professor stands up and say put everything away , number two pencil, and you have 30 minutes to complete this quiz. I was like what da hell? A quiz! In my head I'm like oh my gosh how da hell I lost track that we had a quiz. I said to myself (of course all of this in the dream) okay calm down you can do this I could pass this from my whateva I heard in class while I was half listening. And then she passes it out and its like 20 questions with fill in the blanks where you have to put the stastical number. Immediately I was like Oh my God I failed it and put my pencil down. The professor then said I'll be right back it was an emergency next door in the other classroom. So I see this girl next to me with her notes under the scantron pretty much cheating. And then I was like hey maybe I could look at my notes, and instantly I said oh forget it, I failed I failed, I should have remmebered we had a quiz. It was weirdm then the scenary chage into something totally different.

But its funny to me even in my freakin dream I cant even cheat. Throughout my college experience I'v witness so many cheatin episodes and I never felt the need to take that route. There was plenty of time in organic chemistry I didnt half of that crap on the exams despite studying my ass off. But when I got that 'C' as a final grade, I shouted for joy because I earned with all my tears literally.
Today I shared this dream with my studymates, it was just weird because I never had a dream like that before.

So now I'm going to start studying for my three quizzes: Pharmacology II, Peds, and Adult II. And guess what? They're all on the same day, lovely Monday. What da hell? Anyhoo, enough moaning and groaning and on to studying so I can get them 'A's. Ooooh plus next thursday I'll post some exciting news well to me its exciting, until then much love.:)

Hangin' in there and Runnin'

So I'm still here, I have four more weeks until I'm done with this quarter. Soooooooooo close but oh so unfortunately not there yet. So in the meanwhile I've been training for my first 5k race its for the Teal Ovarian Cancer. So I'm psyched and very nervous.


So here's the story, I've always been overweight all my life. I remember in elementary I hated running and P.E except for our dodgeball games. The hate yes hate for running and/or exercised festered until I started college which was almost 5 yrs ago..oh my gosh 5yrs. Whooo time goes by. It really felt like just yesterday. Anyhoo then I was in this mindsite, I need to get healthy, I wanted to go up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing. So I started at the school gym running on the treadmilll for 10 minutes at a 3mph pace along with all these other group exercises. Little by little increased it until was I able to jog/run on our outdoor track completing 5 miles in an hour. So when I graduated last year I was at my fittest and lowest number I ever saw in my adult life. Until I lost my routine and made every excuse in the book to not take care of myself which is really what it comes down to, I'm not taking care of myself when I dont eat healthy or work out. Plus since starting this accelerated BSN program this past September I've put on 10lbs totaling from last summer a whopping 24lb. Yes thats huge and I totally feel and see the difference. Oh by the way I've lost 10 of those pounnds, with 14 more to go and beyond. So in the beginning of this quater my studymates and I have been on this clean diet for the first month. And this month of May we introduce exercising at least 3x for 30 minutes out of the week. Before that I was running at least once or twice a week. So since the month of May I decided to take my running seriously so I enrolled in my first 5k race. I've always wanted to do this and I'm already looking into a half Marathon in November. I'm setting goals b/c that's what keeps me motivated to train. Oh yeah I looooooooove lifting heavy weights I think more so than running. But its only thru running I'm able to lose weight. I have the muscles, I just need to melt some of that fat. All in due time, a Serena Williams Bod in the making here. Until then I'm going to rest my sore legs from 3 mile jog today. Guess what? I did it in 35 minutes!! Goal by the end of summer to do it in 30-32 minutes. All in due time. Okay school work is waiting for me along with House. Much LOVE.

Still hangin in there!

So I just got home from a marathon of midterms and riding on three hours of sleep. Where you may ask? At the library. Yes my study mates and I pulled out the pillows and blankets and slept in the library. So to finish off the lovely midterm exam week we had Pharmacology II and Peds to study for. Check my email and am shock to see that are Pharm grade is up from this morning. Then I see a friendly hello from LovelyPecola, which reminded me I had a blog to update. Time sure does fly.

So how did I do? I hate Adult II but anyhoo I studied my ass off and we ALL came out asking where the hell was all the crap I studied, and what kind of questions was that. I knew the nursing assessment, intervention, planning, evaluation, implementation you name anything a nurse responsibility entailed I knew. And pretty much taught myself. The prof sent an email saying they'd been getting alot of emails about how to study for the upcoming midterms and they specifically stated to cover those materials and to read the chapters(which means squeezing that into the 25th hour of my day). We had a quiz two weeks prior and the average was pretty low for our class, the lowest its been. 78% We're usually way in the mid-high 80s. Anyhoo, I stil cant figure out how they test and I'll be asking alot of questions in class, because the last couple of weeks was teaching on the diseases but not anything about nursing care. So I will be raising my hands when I feel I'm being short changed. So for that class I got an 84 on the midterm with a 78 on the quiz. Not bad but I want excellence.

Okay community's exam was a breath of fresh air in the middle of the week after the hot mess Adult II exam and got a 94. Wednesday consisted of me tired of studying, annoyed of studying, knowing I should start on something since I had Pharm and Peds on friday, but decided to sleep and watch House. A mess I know, but my body needed it, I listen to it.

So Thursday morning woke up covered Peds(a whole bunch of crap especially with the cardio but enjoyed it b/c anything with cardio makes sense to me.) Mid-day went to get some new running sneakers to get ready for this marathon in four weeks. Then completed Pharm on my own that afternoon. Approx. at 6pm headed of to the library met with study mates, went thru each powerpoint for pharm and reviews and rationales(those series are my friend better than most textbooks). Stayed up till 2:30 studying, munching, laughing our asses off, did silly things to remember certain drug, like Chlora had Gray Baby Syndrome at Bacteristatic Hospital. Fell asleep on my friend going over Sulfa drugs. Woke up at 5:30 and was at it again grilling each other. Soooooooooooooo, because of this study sleep over night at the library I feel it earned me my 'A'. I got a 94% whooop whoop!!!!! Heeeeeeeeeyyyy!!! I am so freakin psyched.

Okay peds, is another story, I hate Select All questions. What da hell. There was 6 and I got 2 right. And with a total of 10 wrong out of 50. I got an 80 which considered a C in the nursing curriculam. SOme questions were kinda weird and we were told 2 or 3 will be thrown out. So anyhoo, reason why I am not too flustered it was small percentage of my grade and I did pretty well on the quiz. And honestly Pharm was priority for me today since it weighed waaay more which pretty much was half my grade. Anyhoo, so since my 3hr of sleep fuel is pretty much flashing empty, get off the computer and go to sleep. I am going to gladly obliged. Thanks LP for checkin up. Much love.

VTech's Tragedy

Its weird that when I heard the news for a fleeting moment, which was yesterday from a minute phone call from my sister telling me "that a co-worker of hers on her lunch break called asking her what school I went to and quickly informing her about the shooting at VTech". She then quickly informed her co-worker that I attended SuchandSuch University. She told me in her head if this was occuring at my school she was ready to just walk out of work, book a ticket and be on the next flight to my city.

So I really couldnt react to the info. I was just in a stress nonreactive state of mind sudying in with my group. Here was my response "wow,seriously, 32 people died, oh my goodness, wow" (all the while three classmates staring wide eyed at me)*quickly entail the info to them*. Hang up the phone with her telling me to be aware of my surroundngs and be safe.

So I go home try to look up the info online, I'm still not reacting. Take my quizzes today, which I bombed one which I'll post about another time. Go to the gym which I havent been since February and after working out sat in the lockers lounge and watch the CNN's news coverage for 30 minutes. That one student which they titled as a hero, when asked to comment about what he thought about that*in my head I'm like what kind of question is that* he broke down and barely squeezed out that he was just glad to be here today. Boy did that do it for me. Can I say it just hit me. I mean I say that many times thank you Jesus for waking my up and blessing me with another day. Those words are never overused in my opinon because it's true. 32 people all those pictures and one sentence snid bit of info on each, accomplishement or major. I was thinking these people were more than what they were majoring, these people had a life, a family, friends.

It's weird that I feel at peace and thre's no spirit of fear upon me. After 9/11 that was a different story..took me a minute before I started flying. But now I know Christ, therefore I'm at peace. Please put the victim's and gunman's families in prayer, may they receive the spirit of comfort and peace in this time of pain, loss, and sorrow. Thank you God for your loving mercy and grace.

Two weeks and already tired.

So this is our second week of classes had three quizzes all on one day yesterday. Pharm Med Math, Adult Med Math, and a Community quiz. I believe I did well. But for some reason I've been having problems gettinng on my beat to start studying. Thank God I joined this studying group for this quarter which I have no choice but to go but at the same time we have fun doing it.

It didnt help that on Monday and yesterday I wasnt feeling well. Yesterday all I was thinking Lord please let me get thru the last quiz. He sent me an angel, my classmate and friend, to hand me some sudafed. Can I tell you not more than 5 minutes I felt soooooooooo much better, though I needed more tissue from the action of the pseudoephedrine(alpa1 agonist)which stimulates peripheral vasoconstriction basically squeezing all the mucus thru my nose out. I really felt decongested. Another thing I always find myself using what I learned in class to try and apply it on what's going on with someone I know or myself, or anything from watching House. Like last quarter during the week of finals I had diarrhea, so I was drinking a whole bunch of water cause I was thirsty, then I started feeling nausous and a bit irritable, then duuuuhhh "Fluid and Electrolyte imbalance" which was the famous topic of half of our lectures in Adult I. I diagnosed myself as having hyponatremia and possible all sorts of loss electrolytes with all that diarrhea and ingestion of water. So I quickly got me some gatorade and I was cured!!!! Diarrhea completely stopped and I felt hydrated and sane.:)

Okay on to another topic, Can I say I love my peds clinical. Why? Because its not in a hospital setting. So you wonder where will I be getting my peds clinical experience. Well it's a long term home for children who's either too sick to be home or too well to be in the hospital. These children are either victims of physical abuse resulting in head trauma, intentional or unintentional drowning accidents, MVA, and/or degenerative diseases. What we were told about each child made my heart get sad and sad and sadder. Its disheartening that most of their families arent involved. That's what made me really really sad. I could count on one hand how many of those kids parents still visited them from time to time. Plus my professor is awesome awesome.

Now the peds lecture class is another story. I had a really hard time this week staying in the class the full two hours. I sat in the back(probably that's a wrong move in itself cause I always sit in the front) and just was getting annoyed about having someone go on and on, powerpoint after powerpoint. So I took many breaks, once I stepped out for 30 minutes. This is like 16 pages with six slides on each condensed with a whole lot of information. Maybe it was because I was sick, who knows. Anyhoo at the end of each lecture she had like 10 to 15 practice question and I was able to answer them correctly even though I wasnt there the whole time. I guess that's good. I mean I did fine last week. I just was tired of all this info being thrown at us.

Other than that. I think this quarter is waaay more relaxed than this quarter. Its not because we have less work to do but I think it's because we've gotten the hang of it from last quarter. Last quarter was adjustment time. Now its just the same routine somewhat. Two days of lecture and three days of clinical. Two days of lecture and three days of clinical. and so on and son for 8 more weeks. Hey that doesnt sound bad. Only 8 more weeks after this week. Thank God. Then the last final quarter which I heard is the hardest of all 4. But I'm ready and I'm passing and my last week will be the first week of September. And I will be taking my boards in September. And I will have those two letter behind my name. In the name of Jesus. Alrighty let me do this assignment even though its due the last week of clinicals, its my way of getting out of the rut and back on the grind. Much love.

Sooooo

So I have 15 minutes to post until House comes on. Did I say I looooovee that show. Pick that over Grey's anyday.

So I think I mentioned that I was excited about my community nursing course this semester. But not too excited about my clinical assignment which is again at a posh posh retirement living facility. I was one of the unlucky ones. Oh well. So here's this email I sent to a nurse asking for a volunteering opportunites after I was referred by a nurse practioner who did my pap smear last week.

So of course some changes has been made to retain confidentiality:



Hello Nurse Such and Such,

My name is Such and Such and am currently in my 3rd quater of Such and Such's nursing program. I have a a great interest in community based and/or oriented nursing which I plan to pursue upon graduation. I was referred by Such and Such after an in-depth conversation of my interest in women's health and moreso my passion in addressing the lack of prenatal care in this country. My future goal is to enter Such and Such's Nurse Midwifery Masters Program. I believe providing my services in a community health center would in some way address the lack of prenatal care and offer an alternative choice for uncomplicated pregancies to deliver without the unwarranted medical interventions such as c-sections.

I also shared with Mrs. Such and Such my idea of implementing a prenatal house call services in my future career as a nurse midwife. I was then informed that your facility already has a similar program in place. I was both excited and delighted. I'm currently enrolled in community nursing this quater and assigned to a retirement living facility for my clinicals. Therefore, I wanted to supplement my clinical experience by actually having some exposure to my realm of interest in a community health center setting.

So, I'm asking if there's any volunteering opportunites in any of your primary care services and/or shadowing opportunies in the "Prenatal House Call" program, I would be extremely excited and grateful for the opportunity. Thank you for taking the time to read this long email.

Sincerely,
Desperate Student,SN, Future CNM

It's almost time

yep this night is my last freedom night to sleep, stay up, read a non-nursing textbook, and/or be a lazy bum which thus far I've completed all four. Currently in the lazy bum stage. Tomorrow night when I go to sleep I will wake up at 6:15 for adultII,community,peds,and pharmII. Oh how wonderful, I cant wait!! yeah right.

Anyhoo quoting a classmate, I wish I could either fast forward to 6 mos. later or just freeze time for a moment. But you know what? I'm gonna make it thru another quater. I'm half way there, once I complete this quater I'll be 3/4 in.

I am destined for success thru Jesus Christ.

I survived the 2nd term, 2 more terms to go.

Right now I am very blessed and am praising God for his marvelous blessings!

So this past week was finals week, where three of my grades was based on my final which was 40% and 10% for the infamous HESI(is a twin NCLEX but much harder). So I took the HESI for each topic( Maternity, Psych, and Adult) results following 92.9,94.0, and 89.4. I am very happy because at the end of this program there's a HESI exit exam which you must pass, even if you pass all your classes they wont let you graduate without passing that damn HESI. So if you pass the HESI which is way harder than the NCLEX, you obviusly will definitely pass the NCLEX which will preserve the schools rep of 100% of thier graduating students passing the NCLEX on the first try. Anyhoo, So passing this topis now made me feel really good. I was really trying to pass this term with a 4.0 but in the middle of finals week I started feeling as long as I pass who cares. But I slept it off and got back on the bandwagon. I think it's still possible. Two grades have been posted, Maternity I got an "A" for the class which I was very happy and most anticipated because obviously with a dream of being a midwife I would hope I knew my stuff to the 'T". I passed Psych with an 'A" which is supprisingly the clinical I enjoyed most. Two more grades left, took pharmacology yesterday and Adult taking 4eva putting their grades up.

Let me contemplate about this term, in the beginning I was determined to pass these classes but I guess I was still anxious with the knowledge of 2nd term as the one when the most people fail a class. I definitely didnt want fall into that statistic, b/c I dont have 3 months to wait out until the next group to come along and I damn sure and most importantly dont have the money to be forking out. I have just enough to complete this accelerated program with no stops. So anyhoo back on topic, after I took my last final yesterday which was pharmacology I called my sisters so freakin happy feeling like I did well and of course my ass cried. I cried because I made it, I cried because I did well. I really felt all the stress just fall of my shoulder. This quater was chaotic and I made it. I made it. I made it.

So as far as classed, maternity professors made it suck, the book sucked, and I think because this is a fast pace program I really didnt have time to sit and enjoy the topic, I just absorbed and went on to the next topic. The maternity clinical was okay but there was sooooo much down time, it was at a posh posh hospital where all the pregnancy was planned and majoriy in thier mid 30s all married, it was cute. But I dont see myself working in a posh posh hospital, I want to work in underserved communities. I want to be in a community health center and/or birth center. I want to be in the front line of giving prenatal care to minorites, I want to teach child birthing classes. I really have these ideas I would like to implement in the future addressing community women's health issues. So next term I definitaly will be loving Community Health Nursing. So I can not wait. I got peds also and heard thats one clinical with alot of down time oh brother. Oh yeah and of course Adult II, its cool with me as long as I got stuff to do which makes the time go by fast. We can not forget our beloved Pharmacology II.

So this is my week off meaning =SLEEP,FUN,SLEEP,NO SCHOOL STUFF,SLEEP,FUN until April 2 when I get back on the grind.


I MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

Finals week

Nuff Said.

Tuesday evening with no clinical prep, whoohooo!!!

Well since I didnt have to go to the hospital to prep on my patient and come home late due to traffic and stay up till 2 doing a damn care plan with 1o medications=blog entry time. lol. Anyhoo, tomorrow I'm going into the OR, I'm excited but I think moreso because I wont have to be on the floor. Last week went pretty fast in medsurg, I was giving meds, charting like crazy and I got myself a lucky patient who was a teacher/baseball coach in his previous life who questioned me on everything and gave me tips. He pretty much grilled me in front of my professor, but I can tell it was good natured so I didnt get any hard feelings. It actually kept me on my toes. So thus far I've given two insulin & one heparin subcut, filgrastim subcut(stimulates neutrophils), and a whole bunch of po meds. Oh yeah I started a IV piggyback med.

And guess what last week in maternity was so amazing, finally was able to see a vaginal delivery. The last time I saw one was like 6ys ago, in high school where they had us do an internship in our career interest(always knew I wanted to deliver babies). Anyhoo, I really forgot how big the coochie(yes I call it coochie) got, it was humungous. What made it so interesting was that I was assigned to a lesbian couple. You're probably like so what its 2007, but that's big relative to being in a posh posh maternity unit, all pregancies are planed, all pregnant women that I have encountered are in the mid-30s, all are married with hubby right there, very typical "American TV" nuclear family. So when I was assigned this couple I was pretty psyched. I even asked how did they decide who would carry. They were very nice and I thanked them for letting me take part in their bithing experience. Oh yeah I also did the first apgar check on the baby(I'm cheesing b/c I felt real comfortable), vitamin K shot, and erythromyocin on the baby's eyes. All in all it was awesome and she pushed like four times with no screaming or grunting and the baby was out. The labor went pretty fast, not even 4 hrs I was very impressed.

Okay next topic, my pharm professor has been removed due to student complaints of her teaching incapabilities. We freakin got two weeks left, sheesh they should have just let her finish. Guess what? The prof replacing her is mad hard based on the info from the grapevine, supposedly she had to do a big curve last time. So we just went to worse to worser(I know thats not a word but it just needed to be there). that freakin suck, no really. Oh well this means pharm will be my best friend for the next two weeks its worth 40% of my grade. Pray for me.:)

By the way, why am I already applying to grad school? I would like to start next summer. My maternity clinical instructor said she would do a recommendation letter for me. So that's one down two to go. I'm thinking of asking my psych or adult1 prof. We'll see! I think I would like the last one from community health next quater since thats going to be my focus when I start working in the field. Alrighty that's it much love.

Raheem DeVaughn - You (Video)

Grade Change

So here goes my week. On monday, our professor went over our women's health midterm exams. Mind you after taking that exam, I walked out feeling pretty good thinking I most likely got my 'A'. So when I saw that I received a 'B' I was a little taken aback. I mean a 'B' is great and everything but I really wanted an 'A' seemingly this is my interest as far as furthering my nursing career. So shes going over the exam in class and we could hardly hear her, I sit right in the front so obviously those in the back definitely couldnt hear her. So someone kindlyask if she could speak up, can you tell me why she pursed her lips and got lower. Anyhoo, all I could do is just laugh thinking "is she serious?". Some people got up and left, which I dont blame them. Anyhoo, the little bits that I could catch I believed I got them correct. SO afterwards a couple of students approached her kindly asking how was it graded b/c they were kinda suprised about their grades. She got very defensive stating she herself and our other professor who's also c0-teaching graded each exam by hand and all the grades are correct yada yada and they gave everybody 2pts for a question. Ask me why? Especially when it was scantroned. So she turns to me and I'm like "I'll just email you to schedule an appt." b/c I really wasnt in the mood for someone to get flipped with me. So later on that afternoon, our other professor(who's a CNM she's real sweet and a great instructor) emailed us informing she will have available our exams if we would like to go over our scantrons ourself.

So here's the good news, after going over my exam I went from a 'B' to an 'A'. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyy! Could you imagine if I didnt question my exam or didnt go to that review. Another classmate went from pretty much failing to a 'B". That in itself is very alarming. This makes my question my other 'B" that I received in pharm b/c she said there was some problems with some individuals who utilized mechanical pencils. Of course I used a mechanical pencil so I emailed her also to schedule an appt to go over my scantron.Anyhoo the moral of the story, if you question ur grade dont hesitate to politely request to go over it. Plus its great to know what da hell you got wrong so next time you'll know the correct respoonse because you will definitely see it again. Especially in this program I want every point I earned, even if there's a possible discrepancy for 2 pts. b/c you never know in the end you might just have need those exactly 2 pts to pass that class. So midterm grades are as follows Adult I-A, Matrnity-A heeeeeeeeeeeyyy, Psych-A, and beloved Pharm-B. Alrighty until next time. Much love.

I WILL SURVIVE THIS PROGRAM

Okay I just made it thru this programs second midterm. Brain exhaustion should be a diagnosis for nursing students especially at this fast pace. Well after taking my last midterm this morning I came home crashed on the floor and woke up at 2. Not bad considering I had only 4hrs of sleep, which I found out from my A&P professor that's the minimum you need to functionally do well on an exam. I think I did well. I ended the week with Psych, which I feel the exam was very fair. It could have been worst.

I got my grade back for pharm, maternity, and Adult 1. Pharm-B, Adult I-A, and Maternity-B. Still waiting on Psych to post. I love Maternity but because of this fast pace program I really don't have the time to really really enjoy it. I guess I'll have the time when I enter my dream school midwifery program. Plus I plan on doing it part-time while working full-time.

My main goal is to address the lack of prenatal care in under served communities. I really want to focus on my black people because the numbers are alarming. Most likely upon graduating from my dream CNM school which is forecasted to be in 4yrs I would like to start practicing in a community health center. I would like to also do some research and a whole bunch of other stuff which I will get into in upcoming posts.

For now I am happy that I'm doing pretty well in a quarter that usually weeds out people. In the name of Jesus I will make it thru this quarter.