Breathe In, Breathe Out.

Overwhelmed seems to be the theme lately.  I'm sure that will be a reoccurring theme for the duration of this program!!

I spent most of my weekend sitting at the kitchen table studying.  I tried to cram in all the information I could on the GI tract, neurological disorders and the pulmonary system.  My brain is beyond capacity, but we still have three more units to cover!  Thankfully, this is our last week of lecture.  We have another exam next Monday then just our cumulative final on the following Monday.  I am not looking that far ahead yet!  I am a little discouraged (or in the midst of a complete meltdown...sorry Erin!) about my exam grade today.  I felt okay when I left the exam, no more or less confident then the previous two.  I passed the exam, but I am disappointed in my grade.  Just need to shrug it off and know I need to do more for the next exam. 

We are having a guest speaker tomorrow.  Our unit we are focusing on is oncology.  Our guest is a faculty member as well as a 10 year cancer survivor (maybe even still battling cancer).  I am looking forward to it!  Tomorrow is also the class of 2013 graduation, which I have volunteered to help out.  I am excited to help, but also am dreading the long day I have ahead of me.  It will be great to see what I have to look forward to (exactly one year from today!!).  My expected graduation date, if I make it when I make it (that was for you Erin), is July 29, 2014.  Seems so so far away, but I know it will go fast.  The weeks go by fast, but the days (in lecture mostly) drag on and on.

Tomorrow is also my little sister's birthday!  Unfortunately, I can't go celebrate with her (blame school yet again for ruining my social life!).  We have to plan a date on my break to take her out to celebrate :)  Aside from my constant studying this weekend, we had a great brunch with my brother and sister Sunday morning.  It was nice catching up with both of them.  They were gracious enough to ask about school and let me ramble on and on and on and on about it!  So great those siblings of mine are!  My brother put my fears in perfect context; now that I have a much clearer understanding of what it means to be a nurse, what it entails and what my responsibilities will include, it is normal to feel so overwhelmed and so unprepared.  BUT, I am still in the beginning of this whole process.  I am sure I have thought this, but hearing it again, from someone else, gave me a sense of calm.  Then again, it could have been the food coma I was slipping into!!

Another exciting aspect of my weekend was visiting with my fave ladies who are about to have two new little ladies in their world.  Oh how I can't wait to have baby snuggles (x2) to help calm my school stress!!

Maybe the MOST exciting part of my weekend was my wonderful wife starting the process of changing her name.  How exciting that soon we will have the same last name!!  It seems like a small milestone, but it is HUGE for us!  I feel so honored and proud that she is willing and wanting to take my last name.  My Erin is pretty special :)

Off I go, my care plan is calling my name.