Nursing School Update

I've been checking my mailbox recently with a little extra spring in my step. I know the nursing school I applied to said that I'd hear by March "at the latest", and it is only December, but I don't know, I just hoped that I would hear something significant sooner.

About a week ago, after having sort of a crummy day at work, I got home, opened my mailbox and....there was an envelope inside with return address "Nursing Admissions" and the logo of the school I am applying to. I practically danced inside. I was so excited, and certain that the news would be wonderful, and was already planning when to share it with my family.

Inside, it read (roughly): Thank you for your application to blah-di-blah school of nursing. Your application is complete and your admission score was an 85. You will hear from us by March. Please do not call the nursing department for your admission results as we cannot give these out over the phone. Now is the time to start applying for financial aid and scholarships.... etc, etc.

So... not the big whooping news I was hoping for. But at least it's not a big denied stamp. I've already known what my admissions score was since I took the TEAS test, so that was no surprise.

There are all sorts of rumors that circulate around town about the nursing program I am applying to. During my phlebotomy externship, one girl told me that her friend who had an 85 admission score was 5th on the wait list to get in during her year (eep!). Another told me that she had a score "in the low 90s" which shot my confidence down a little further. Some say that you have to know someone in the administration in order to get in. I ran into my 5th grade teacher at Costco the other day, and when I told her I was trying to get into nursing, and about the admission process, she said "shouldn't teaching college biology count for something?!" I sure think so. She told me her sister in law is the assistant Dean (or something) of the program. I wonder if she'll put in a good word for me, and if it would matter if she did.

Someone told me recently that although the school I'm applying to doesn't put any time limit on how long ago you took your prerequisites, when you apply for your nursing license at graduation it matters. I took microbiology ten years ago. I hope that person was misinformed.

Another woman, someone I know well, told me that she was sure that nutrition class is required for getting your license. I looked at all of the state licensing web pages and school requirement pages I had the patience for, and didn't see anything about that. Not that it wouldn't be a good idea to take some nutrition.

So, I'm still waiting. And wishing. And Hoping.

Phlebotomy update

With my crazy schedule over the last couple of months I haven't written an update on my phlebotomy class recently.

So...it's done. I got the highest score in the class on the in-class written exam. I finished all the required clinical hours (40.5), and got about 105 successful draws (only 50 were required). I took the computer-administered, proctored, national exam a couple of weeks ago, and got a 91 on it, well above passing. I barely studied, because, again...way too much going on. Only one person in the class did better than me on it; she got a 92.

My friend and carpool buddy unfortunately didn't pass the national. She got a 68 (passing would have been 70). She had stayed out way too late the night before at a birthday celebration...like 2am late...and then the morning of the exam found out her father in the Phillipines was having some serious health issues. Plus, test taking is not her best skill; this was already her second time through the course. I'm sad for her.

Everyone else from my class section passed. I think most scored somewhere in the 80s, but there was at least one who only passed by a point or two.

We all went (except my carpool buddy, who was too distraught) out for late lunch and drinks afterward downtown. I had two good buddies in that class, my carpool partner and one other woman who lived in north county. I hope I can stay in touch with both. We were always a little separate from the rest of the class.

I have to wait, now, for my teacher to send me some forms, and then I can apply to the state for a phlebotomy license. I did really well in my externship, but I don't think that's a valid job opportunity for me, given my past history (see January '11 posts) with that lab. I didn't know really, that it was going to be set up such that there were 2 phlebotomy sections well connected with that lab, and one section connected to the local hospital. I was just grateful to get into the class, and have it work out with my crazy schedule this fall.

So it might not be as direct a job in as I had hoped for, but who knows, I may have a chance. Or, it may help me later on when I am a nurse.

...no consequences to work gutsiness.

(At least I tried)

I'm still at 19 hours per week at the retirement home and there wasn't any further discussion of full time or more hours or benefits. I haven't been reappointed at the university for Winter quarter (they use way less part-timers in Winter, and were able to cover all needs with graduate students). So here I am again, working half time, no benefits...closing out 2011 and the last few days of my COBRA insurance coverage.

But something better has got to be right around the corner.

Speaking of, I got about $620 worth of holiday bonus between the residents at the retirement home (the larger portion) and the company I work for (a measly portion). And, I should have another bonus coming to me just next week, for "recruiting" another employee and having them last 3 months. Doesn't change my current financial straits, but it will help at least.

Got a little gutsy at work.

I've been a bit irked about my job at the retirement home. It is a "receptionist" job, but when I describe what I do there to people, that isn't the title anyone would give it. There are some office duties, but there are also many, many more responsibilities, having to do with security, safety, responding to emergencies, apartment manager type duties, etc, etc, etc. A friend of mine who has been a receptionist her whole life recently joined our team there, and she is seriously struggling to keep up with it all and get with the routine.

They pay me 20% below the average *receptionist* wage for the county I live in. And they had me work 3 months of full time hours without ever switching my status over to full time, so I never got benefits. And, I am pretty sure that I heard my boss saying that she didn't see me making a fuss over it, because of my "sweet little voice". I didn't hear the whole conversation, and she could have been talking about someone else. But grrrrrr.

Last week, my more immediate supervisor asked me if I knew yet if I'd be teaching next quarter (no, I don't), and what kind of hours I wanted for December. I told her that unless they were going to raise me to full time status, that I didn't want to work any more than 20 or 25 hours per week anymore, that I was no longer willing to work 40 and not be given the same full time benefits that other employees get.

She went and had a discussion with our boss in the back after that. Later that day she also asked me if I would be willing to work christmas. It's on a weekend this year, and I am not currently scheduled to work weekends. I told her I would have to check with my family. It would be time and a half pay, but time and a half of almost nothing is still almost nothing, and family is just more important. Pooey on them. Someone has to do it though.

I think I won't hear anything more about the hours and full time status until we see if my friend stays or not. Even then they might stiff me. However...if she does stay a full 3 months, even if she quits the next day, they are supposed to give me significant monetary award for her recruitment.

I've been trying to pay down my debt in preparation for nursing school. Getting the second job teaching at a college has helped, but I still had to buy new tires for my car (tread was unsafe), pay for dental work without insurance, etc.

Things are going to move up soon, I think. Things seem to be getting better.

Sick day...

On Friday, I came into work feeling a little queasy; had thrown up several times that morning, but took a few tums. Was hoping I could come into work early, talk to my boss about my insurance situation (lack thereof) and have a mellow day.

My boss wasn't there... Friday is her day off right now, I guess I'd forgotten.

I started feeling worse and worse. My coworker left for her lunch break and I was at the desk alone. Tweny-five minutes into my shift, mid-interaction with a resident, I had to excuse myself quickly to go throw up in the bathroom. Repeatedly. And then, with the heaves of my stomach, the runs came out the backside too, without warning.

There I am, in the restroom, puking my guts out and trying to make my way to the toilet and finagle my soiled underpants off without soiling my office clothes as well, dripping various bodily fluids on the clean tile, still someone waiting to finish a transaction at the front desk....

People ask sometimes, "What has been your most humiliating moment so far?"

I want to say this is close to the top.

I had to send a runner up to the dining room to tell my coworker I needed help, have the bus driver cover the desk in the mean time, and attempt to clean myself up and wipe up the sh*t on the floor with paper towels.

I was clocked out about 10 minutes later, told my coworker to wipe *everything* down with disinfectant, and she called the housekeeping to sterilize the bathroom.

The rest of that day, I spent in bed, and well into today. I had a fever that made me so dizzy and week I felt like I couldn't even roll over in bed. Sometime in the night, my fever broke, and I started feeling a little better.

Today my throat is sore, I'm congested. I pooped my pants again, without warning. But no vomiting anymore. Ugh.

I was supposed to work the 7:30-4 shift today, which my coworker is now covering. I'm sure she's not happy about that, but I know the residents where I work don't need to catch this stuff. A friend of mine who used to work eldercare told me that under similar circumstances, her company made their caregivers come in anyway, and wear adult diapers. Yuck.

I feel like I really shouldn't go in tomorrow, either. I am going to wait and see how I feel in the morning.

Now that my fever has passed, I feel strong enough to get out of bed and get some low-key house chores done, so I've been doing laundry, washing dishes, watering plants. Cleaning the algae covered walls on my aquaria. Things I haven't had time for recently. I've only been up out of bed for 4 hours and I feel like it's probably time for a nap again. Whew.

Two more weeks until I get a day off

Next week I'm finishing my last two weeks of classroom training for phlebotomy, so I'll have two more class sessions and then be out at my externship site (still to be determined) possibly as soon as next Thursday. Boy that's scary. I've only done 2 live draws so far, and that's better than most of my classmates. Hopefully I'll be feeling more confident by the end of the week.

Teaching is going well, but I'm way behind on grading because I feel like I just don't have time. I have two assignments (x 50 students) that I'd like to turn back next week. Maybe at least one of them.

My coworker at the retirement home who's been off on maternity leave is coming back in about two weeks, so I'll have weekends off again, can stop trying to find subs for my hospital volunteer work, and will actually have my Sundays back again. Whew.

This week in lab they are giving presentations of their group research project ideas. I usually observe another teacher on Tuesday mornings, so hopefully I can go for the first hour of that and then use the rest of the time to grade instead of watching them all.

One of the friendly seniors at the retirement home who's always been very kind and polite to me woke up a couple days ago and couldn't walk. He's at the hospital having tests now. He was very private about it. He called his family (his son is a doctor) to come help him instead of calling or paging the front desk for help. I hope it turns out alright.

I'm at work right now (in a lull between handling an emergency and starting lock-up), and there's a guy from the power company in the lobby. I guess he's been trying to get through to one of our residents on the phone and she hasn't been taking his calls or returning them. He wants to buy some land she owns up north somewhere, to run a power line through. I've called the lady up in her apartment and she said she would come down but it's been a while and she isn't here yet. I hope she's with it enough to deal with this kind of thing on her own. It's independent living here, and all of our residents are supposed to fall under that category of self-care, but several of them really don't. I think I may have been a little bitchy to the power company guy. He was trying to be friendly and conversational, and I don't know, I am feeling protective of our residents.

The other day a 80-something lady that I don't know well yet came to the front desk and said that she and her husband had been gone for a few hours and that a purse with valuables in it had been stolen from a shelf in her closet. I was doubtful, but called the police for her like she asked. I figure it's better to be safe than sorry in that instance. But then I listened to her talking to the other residents in the living room, having trouble finding her words, talking very slowly...I was doubtful enough that I figured I'd better call her husband. He knew nothing of the purse and told me not to call the cops, that he'd come down and get her. I called the police back and canceled the request. Ugh. Tough judgement call. I wouldn't want to ignore her issue if it was by any chance real.

I am listening to the power guy talk with the resident now, and it sounds like she's sticking up for herself alright. She told him she's not interested in selling the property, and he's talking about getting some sort of "easement" instead to put the line in.

I feel like I just want to curl up in bed for the next week. Too much going on, too much to think about. I didn't have to be to work until noon today, and I thought I'd get up and get a bunch done (laundry, dishes, garden, etc) but I basically stayed in bed until I had to get up for work.

I think I'm going to find out where my phlebotomy externship is tomorrow night.

Worn out :(

I haven't had a day off in 6 weeks now...

I am tired all of the time.
The food is getting moldy in my refrigerator because I don't have the energy to cook.
My house is a mess. Cat hair tumbleweeds blow by, my dishes from days ago sit by the sink.
There are piles of leaves in front of my house, smothering the plants below. I don't have time or energy to rake.
I have canvases that I bought to paint for a show next month that are still sitting blank in their plastic wrapper.
Sometimes I am lecturing the class I teach and I lose my train of thought.
I am supposed to be finding subs all this month to cover my volunteer shift at the hospital (so I can work at my retirement home job) but I'm running out of willing volunteers.
A couple days ago, one of the residents at the retirement home made a nasty remark to me during lunch and I was in tears for half an hour and distracted all afternoon.

I'm burnt out.

Next month, my coworker at the retirement home is going to be back from maternity leave, and my hours there are being cut from 38 down to 20. I am so relieved. I'll be able to go back to hospital volunteering and still have an entire weekend day off.