Good-Bye College, Hello Freedom!

We are finally done with school, and we couldn't have had a better celebration! My family came up for both of our graduations, and between our two families, it was a blast! After my graduation on Thursday (May 5th) we went to THE PIE to celebrate the same way that we did when I got into nursing school. I have to admit, this is a pretty great tradition because you can't get better pizza anywhwere else! Then, later on that night, Josh and I went country dancing with my sister, her boyfriend, and Wrandi. As always, that was a ton of fun and we were very worn out by midnight.

The next day was a sister day. Briana and I went shopping and of course had to stop by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a Chocolate covered frozen cheesecake (to die for). Later that night we went to The Olive Garden with both of our families and basically had a whole section of the restaurant to ourselves because our group was so big! It was fun eating and laughing with all the people we love...good times. Then, to add to the eating, we went to my Aunt and Uncles house in West Jordan because they had bought us a graduation cake! It was so nice to relax and talk. I've really missed my family and I loved every minute of them being here.

Saturday (May 7th) was Josh's official graduation day. So we got up early and headed over to the Maverick Center where we continued with the endless array of pictures. There was some confusion with the location, but luckily everyone made it and we had a really great time. Yes, one graduation is boring and two makes it painful, but I am so proud of Josh and we were all so happy to be there celebrating his huge achievement. On our way home some guy rear ended us but luckily it's not too noticeable and there weren't any injuries. The weather was beautiful that day so we made a picnic and ate our lunch outside on the grass in front of our apartment. That relaxing moment was very short lived, however, because within the next hour we were all onto our next adventure..... Ice Skating! We had so much fun and I was surprised at how well we all picked up on it after not going ice skating in years. Sadly, this must have been the day of bad luck because my mom ended up falling and seriously hurting her knee. They're still trying to figure out what's wrong, so for now, she's on crutches. What a great way to practice my nursing skills eh?!

Sunday was mothers day and we had a big breakfast for all the moms at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Surprisingly the food was really good because it was prepared by all the men and you just never know what you're going to get when that happens. Then we said goodbye and everyone headed back to Nevada :(. I couldn't have asked for a better Graduation celebration and I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful family who loves us and is always there for support and a good time :). THANKS EVERYONE!!!

Now, it is time to start preparing for the NCLEX (Licensing Exam) and begin finding a job. Both will be very difficult but I am so happy that this time has finally come! I keep telling myself I'm done with school but it still doesn't seem real or even possible. There were so many days when I felt like the torment was never going to end and now, suddenly, it's over! As for Josh, he is still working for the University of Phoenix and trying to decide what direction he wants to take next. He got a job offer in Phoenix two days ago but he ended up turning it down. We really want to stay in Utah if at all possible so we are crossing our fingers that "the perfect job" will appear.

Seizures...

I've always wondered what it would be like to actually be the person in that hospital bed and not the person running around it all the time. Well, I got my chance. Two days ago, I wasn't feeling exactly normal all day (I don't know how to better describe that) and Josh and I decided to go to bed early to get some much needed sleep (supposing that was the problem). Well, the next thing I know, I'm waking up in an ambulance. I don't remember anything leading up to that point and Josh says that my eyes were open but I was totally non-responsive. I had had a seizure while we were sleeping. It was beyond scary being in the back of an ambulance with men I didn't know and having no clue how I got there or why I was even there! I kept asking where Josh was and they told me he was following behind the ambulance so that gave me a little peace of mind. After that, my memory is a complete blur of doctors, CT Scan, lab tests, Urinalysis, and anything else they could do to poke and prod me. I was beyond relieved to have Josh right there by my side because I still had no clue why I was there. Later, the doctor came in and told me that the labs showed that I had definately had a seizure and they were putting me on medication to keep it from happening again and some Zofran to keep the nausea at a minimum. This was all such a shock to me. How in the world could I have had a seizure? ME?!!! I'm always the healthy one! We spent the rest of the night in the hospital and I was discharged later the next afternoon. There's still a lot more testing that has to happen before they can officially diagnose me with Epilepsy or not and until then, my driving priviledges have been taken away and I am one sad, dizzy little person. This medication causes the dizziness and it's no fun. So that's the story. I must say that being the nurse is a million times better than being the patient and I will never doubt that again! I just hope and pray that they figure everything out soon so that I can drive again. You don't know how nice it is to have freedom until it's taken away from you.

And The Countdown Begins

I am not going to even try and hide my joy that we are down to the last 5 weeks of school! I have officially finished my 225 hours of Capstone at Primary Children's Hospital and as incredible of an experience it was to be independently working as a nurse, the fact that I was doing another persons job and not getting paid for it made it really hard to keep getting up at five in the morning and not coming home until 8:30 at night. However, I learned more than I have ever learned in any other clinical setting and I am so glad that I chose Infant Med/Surg as my Capstone. Now, what am I to do with myself now that I actually have free time?! My list begins with:

1. Establish a regular exercise routine again (Marriage + Too tired to care = Excess poundage that I would rather not see during swimsuit season).


2. Study, Study, Study!! (My comprehensive ATI exam is next week and I was supposed to have been studying all semester for it......I'm sure you can guess what I was really doing. Plus finals are coming up and so is the NCLEX).


3. Deep clean our apartment. (I've always been big on spring cleaning and now I'm just waiting for the weather to realize that it should be spring!).


4. Socialize and find my friends again! (Nursing school really kills your social life).

That is just the beginning of the list. I'll stick with those things and see how it goes. As you can probably tell, I'm having a really hard time wanting to study when the end is so close! I'm still in awe that I've made it this far. It has been quite the adventure!