Riding the Tsunami

At one point, I thought I was going to write monthly posts on this blog. Ha. ha. At one point I also thought letting 2 thin pieces of hair always hang in my eyes looked cool. Turns out, it doesn't look cool. And it turns out it's really hard to do nursing school and keep a consistent blog. But finally, the moment has come! A pocket of time for a single update. So to briefly bring things up to speed...

I had to think of where I left off and it's funny kinda funny now to remember life at the time of my last blog post. I remember I was one month into nursing school and I just wanted so badly to finally feel a little nurse-y. The whole 2 years of prerequisites were beneficial, even educational (shocking?), but they weren't super nurse-y. Meanwhile just uttering the words "nursing school" was inspiring people to show me all their weird bumps, rashes, cuts and deformities and ask,  "Does this look like cancer?" "Should I be concerned about this?" "What would you recommend I treat this with?" and "Should I go see a doctor for this?"
And I didn't have an answer because all I'd been studying was the name of that muscle or even things that were not directly medical in nature like Government and Politics and Intro to Humanities. And voice lessons. I felt like maybe I wasn't nurse material because 2 years into the nurse journey I still wasn't nurse-y.

Well I would say that has now changed. Nursing school, no surprise here, is really nurse-y. I can stand here today with only 5 months between me and graduation and tell you, no that bump doesn't look like cancer it looks like acne, that's not a rash that's dirt - go take a shower, let me help dress that cut, and if you're concerned and think you should go see a doctor, I won't tell you not to do so (#liability). 

School has been demanding. 16 credits plus clinicals every semester. I don't remember how many clinical hours we did in first semester, but second and third semester had at least 150 clinical hours. I once heard someone say that you should expect to study three hours a week for every credit you're taking. In community college that was definitely an overstatement. In nursing school it might be an understatement. haha Just kidding. But seriously... 

On top of that, I've continued to work. "Whaaa???" some have said. And I reply, "I know, right??" I've always maintained that the moment it becomes too much, I'll quit my job. But I also had this goal of getting through nursing school debt free and those two ideas are contradictory. So, I'm sure if I didn't mind getting a bit of debt there would have been some hectic moments when I would've quit and instead I decided to try and ride the tsunami and see where I land. I'm not recommending that strategy, but I am here to tell you it can be done. One of the things I think that has made it possible for me to work and be a full time student is actually that I am a sub at my job. I say "actually" because many of my friends will remember how concerned I was what I went from part-time to sub. It wasn't really my choice and I was worried about whether I would get enough hours as a sub. But it turned out that just the opposite was true. The hours have been plentiful enough so that I've been able to basically pick the hours that accommodate each week's unique load of homework and ever-changing clinical schedule. On top of that, when I work overnight shifts I get to do homework after my clients go to sleep and I can sleep a bit as well - and I do! And then I'm able to get 16 hours in one go. It's been such a sweet sweet set up.

But probably more than being sub, what made work work has been my living arrangement. There's supportive family and then there's what I got. My family rocks. It's been such a blessing to have a place in my sister's home where my contribution to the cost of living is based on what I can afford. And when I'm too poor to contribute financially, I can nanny or help with laundry or clean to help contribute. Most landlords don't go for that. ;) To call this a huge blessing would be another understatement.

I think I've now blown past the "brief" mark for this post and so I'd better wrap this up. I normally post about what God's been teaching me, but this requires a post of it's own this time. I don't want to abbreviate the valuable things being impressed on my heart right now. So look forward to that post soon ;)

For my Pennsylvanian friends - I'll be home for Christmas! Hit me up if you want catch up while I'm in town:)
For my friends not in Pennsylvania - deuces, losers! Just kidding :p But seriously...

Comments

  1. Love ya sis! See ya before long!

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  2. You are an inspiration to many of us, Jessie. I am thrilled to see the way you have found ways to be creative in making your education happen. Hug your sister Laura for me. She and Ben have been terrific in their support of your goals. Love ya, and see ya soon.

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