I know it's been a while

But I have no excuses on why didn't write. To update:
1) Went to the Big Island. Really enjoyed myself. Ate a lot. Have mixed feelings about fancy hotels that have down bedding, which I'm allergic to. Luckily the nice housekeeping staff remade my bed without the down.
2) Had my birthday. I'm 27 now. So do I now have to say I'm in my late 20's?
3) Big news is that I may stay in Hawaii for my BSN. The local U has an accelerated BSN program, which accepts new students when they have funding. They are apparently accepting their third cohort this Summer. Changed my schedule around and cross my fingers, cross my toes, I'll get in.
4)Started classes. Think I will survive if I don't fall asleep in stats.

Do you sleep in during vacation?

I’ll actually have to contemplate this coming up a week from now. I was supposed to work over the break, but then I looked at the calendar and realized that I will only have a week before classes start again. Then back to school with microbiology to look forward too.

So do I wake up early to fully enjoy my vacation, or do I sleep in to catch up. I’m thinking a little bit of both. During the week I plan to sleep as much as possible. Then the weekend before classes start I’m going to the Big Island with my parents.

I can’t decide whether we should try to squeeze in as much as possible on vacation. Dad wants to go to Kona Brewing Co and see the volcanoes. Mom wants to sit on the beach or by the pool when she’s not teaching. I’m concentrating on what restaurants I want to try. We’re only there for 3 days so I don’t know if I want do much sightseeing. Anyway, we’re staying at the Hilton Waikoloa, so we probably could spend the whole vacation exploring the hotel.

Testes Dissection

For those who are squeamish, this is a warning.

So we got to dissect bull testes in lab yesterday. It was an all-girl group so we got a little enthusiastic. I pulled out a testis to dissect from the bag which was rejected by my lab partners as being too small. Apparently they come in different sizes. You should have seen us hacking away at it. That was partly my fault for picking dull tools. I seem to have a knack at doing that. And to better illustrate the different parts, I would hold it up by the seminal cord and let it dangle. It was our last dissection.

Note to Myself

Do you ever get that feeling when you wonder what in the world you’re thinking? Why am I still in school? What was I thinking committing myself to take all these classes? Why didn’t I just finish that master’s degree and become a librarian?

Then I remember what I wanted. I wanted a more interesting (to me) career. I wanted something where I didn’t sit all day at the computer. I wanted to someday make enough money to buy a home. (Librarians make ok money, but not as much as nurses.) I wanted a job where I could chose where I wanted to live rather than moving for the job.

And then I remember how much I’ve been enjoying anatomy and physiology (well mostly physiology.) I especially enjoy lab and yes I include the smelly dissections. In fact I think it would be cool to do more dissections with a whole human cadaver.

I remember how I went to class everyday. It wasn’t necessarily the idea that I had to go to pass the test (though some days that was all I got up for), but because it was an actually interesting. I now know more about how mononucleosis works on your immune system and have my own epidemiological theory that mono is not common in Hawaii.

So I remember this when I’m bored in class and wonder what I’m doing.

Why I want to be a RN

I know I want to be a mid-level provider. So why don’t I just go straight to PA school or a masters-entry NP program?

1) I don’t know what area of healthcare I’m interested in. I originally decided to go into health because of my good primary care experiences with 2 different NPs. I even saw a PA once when I was in Indiana, though I didn’t know what she did at that time. But as I’ve done more research, I find what they do in hospitals, particularly critical care, fascinating. If I become a nurse first, I will have time to explore before choosing an area.

2) I want to travel a bit. See where I want to settle down. Particularly want to see if there is anywhere that suits my health. Recently, in the past few years, have been diagnosed with adult onset asthma. Personally, I’m starting to think there is no place in particular that would be better than others.

3) I’m enamored with the nursing model. I like the idea of holistic care, taking care of the whole person, as opposed to the medical model, which can focus on the disease. I may still change my mind about this, after actually taking nursing classes.

4) Related to the previous reason, direct patient care (other than cleaning up poop) is a big reason for me. Can’t articulate exactly what I mean, but it’s definitely floating in my mind.

5) I could use the money. All the previous education I have – a BA in American Studies and I came this close to getting my Masters in Library and Information Science. Ugh. Can’t believe I owe this much to the government. And can’t believe how hard it was to get money to go to school. And I can’t rely on my parents for whatever the next degree is because dad’s threatening to retire.

6) And I can finish a RN a lot faster than a NP or PA. I plan to go to a Accelerated BSN program which will take 12-18 months as opposed to 2-3 years to become a NP or PA.

7) Direct patient care experience under my belt will help me get into NP or PA school and help when I become a NP or PA.

There are other reasons, but thought I would post this with what I have thought of so far.