Chiquita’s Blog

Hello Everyone!!!

It’s good to talk to you all again. This semester is about to come to an end in just 3 days!!! I must say this has been the hardest semester of my life. I have had to pull multiple all nighters and drink tons of cappucino but I have made it through. My last clinical was over last friday and its hard to believe that I won’t be seeing my patients anymore. Clinicals were definitely the most fun this semester. We got the chance to experience so many things. My very first patient was someone who was fed through a peg tube. So I learned how to hook up her feedings and turn them off. I learned how to clean around her peg tube and I also learned how to aspirate for any residual. If you future nursing students don’t know what any of that means don’t worry you will!! She was one of the sweetest patients in the nursing home, even though she wasn’t too happy when we had to wake her up and give her a bath at 7:00am..=(.

My second patient was a little bit different than my first. She was a little more independent. Although she could not bathe herself, she could feed herself and she was able to be in a wheelchair for half the day. She probably loved bananas more than anyone I have ever met. And of course they were “Chiquita” bananas. =)). I wouldn’t allow her to eat any other type! My partner Millie (who is also a blogger!) had a patient who was definitely a character. She knew what she wanted and if you were doing something wrong she had no problem expressing it vocally. She also loved to grab people but she could say the sweetest things at times. I will definitely miss her outgoing personality.

While we were in the nursing home we learned how to give medications properly, give insulin shots, and we learned how to bathe our patients. I can’t even count how many baths we did. On the second day of clinical we gave each other intramuscular shots and boy was I pretty much the worst shot giver to ever hit the nursing program!! Poor Millie was my victim and she was so sweet about it but I knew that she was hurting a little bit. I was just sooooooooo nervous! I had never given a shot before and I didn’t want to hurt Millie so I tried to be as gentle as possible. But when I went to put the needle in I was too gentle so I didn’t even break her skin so pretty much i just pricked her, finally I was able to break the skin but the needle kept almost coming out and my hand was shaking, trust me it was like a horror film. Thankfully my clinical group was all able to laugh about it but it was definitely a terrifying moment. Before I ever started the nursing program, shots were the only thing I was really scared about doing. So actually doing it was pretty terrifying but I’m glad I got it over with and I’m confident I will do much better next time!!=)). I will at least penetrate the skin the first time!

Overall, I would have to say that this semster has definitely been a good one. The classes were hard and the tests even harder but trust me, If I can do it working 3 other jobs then you all can do it too!!!! I would advise you future nursing students to cut back on whatever you can because you will have to dedicate alot of time to the program but it is well worth it!! And if you don’t know anyone in the nursing program..don’t worry!!! You will make so many friends once you start. Everyone is so sweet and understanding…it’ll be like a little family. So have fun and enjoy every minute of it!!! It will go by fast!!! If you have any questions or want to know more just let me know!!! I will try to keep you updated!!!

Hey Everybody!!

Hope everyone is enjoying the year so far. I’m just glad it’s finally starting to get warm around here. This semester has went by unbelievably fast. It’s really hard for me to believe that I am about to finish my first semester of nursing school. It has definitely been tough and I have felt overwhelmed nearly every day of it but I have really enjoyed it. I start my clinicals this upcoming friday in a nursing home so I’m really excited about that. I’m pretty nervous too but hopefully after going a few times I will start to get the hang of it. I’m also really excited that my sister will be graduating from high school on May 24th. She’ll be joining me at APSU. I’m going to really enjoy showing her the ropes around here. She does not know what she wants to major in yet but I know it will eventually come to her. The next few months of this semester are going to be both exciting and a little stressful but I am ready for them and I think I can make it!! Stay tuned for my next blog!

Hello Everyone!!!

I hope you all are enjoying the new year and had a good Valentine’s Day. The year 2008 has definitely started out more stressful than I thought it would. I had no idea that nursing school would be so hard!!! Yes, I heard the stories about how tough it is but I guess I never fully grasped how much work would have to be put into being successful in this program. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying every minute of it, but the amount of studying you have to do can be very overwhelming at times. For example, next week I have a test Monday and Wednesday, AND I have a 5-8 page paper due that Thursday!! So as you can imagine I’m about 95% bald right now…=(. It doesn’t help that I’m the biggest procrastinator known to planet Earth either. I’m finding out very quickly that procrastinating and nursing school do not go together at all!!! So I’m really hoping I get my stuff together before the end of this semester.

The things I like most about the nursing program so far are the teachers and my classmates. ALL the teachers are wonderful. They all really want to see you succeed and they love for you to ask questions. They’re there for you anytime you need them and they understand the stress we’re going through so it’s really easy to talk to them. Now there are a few instructors who scare me a little bit…they’re not terribly mean or anything, it’s just that they like to quiz you on the stuff you should know and they like to do it on the spot so you have to be prepared. This is hard for lil ol’ Chiquita because she gets nervous when asked questions on the spot so she usually comes out looking like a studdering fool…=(…but you can best believe I hit the books after that and made sure I knew my stuff! I know their toughness will pay off in the end.

Now when it comes to my classmates, you couldn’t ask for a more diverse group. We each are unique in our own ways and we all have different experiences to bring to the table.The love we all have for each other is amazing. We all want to see each other graduate the program and we’re all willing to go above and beyond for each other to make sure that happens. We’re no longer competing to get in the program, we’re all just trying to make it through together. I honestly don’t think I would be able to make it through without the amazing friends I have around me. When a due date is coming up…they remind me, when a new assignment is posted…they let me know, if i haven’t printed my slides out…they print a copy for me, nursing students are some of the most caring people you will ever meet. I love everyone of them and I know we will all make it out!!

So all you pre-nursing students have plenty to look forward to!! You will get the opportunity to meet so many people and the hands-on labs you get to do are a lot of fun as well. Just yesterday we got to examine each other’s abdomens for any signs of enlarged organs or abnormal bowel sounds. Me and my partner were EXTREMELY hungry that day so our bowel sounds were very active…=). Well I guess that concludes my blog for today…please feel free to ask me any questions or give me any advice on how not to go bald in nursing school!! Hope to hear from you soon!!

Hello all!! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy shopping schedules to read my blog!!!! I want to start out by wishing everyone a very joyous holiday season and I hope you get everything you wished for!!! I must say that I am definitely enjoying this Christmas break! This past semester was a lot of work but I got it done and I’m ready for nursing!! I’m embarassed to say I haven’t did any Christmas shopping though…=’(…i guess i’m going to be dealing with some big crowds this weekend….wish me luck!! If anyone has any good gift ideas please let me know because I could use some for my family!! Well I’m going to keep this one short and sweet….be safe and eat well!!!!

p.s. Have a Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!!

Hello buddies!! I’m back again with some good news! Chiquita Jackson is officially in the nursing program! It has been quite a journey getting there but I am hoping the pay off will be well worth the trouble. I’m very nervous about starting the program. I’m sure you’ve all heard the horror stories about how stressful the program is and how you practically have no life for two years…i’m hoping there’s happiness somewhere in there. It was a big decision for me to stick with nursing because i’ve been contemplating majoring in health for some time now. I love learning about how to keep the body healthy and i’m really fascinated by the fitness world. But I figured I would have more opportunities and security with a nursing degree rather than a health one. And if I make it through the nursing program and find that it’s not for me, i’m sure I can still do something health related. It’s really amazing how much you find yourself in college. You go through so many experiences and meet so many new people and through it all you start to discover who you really are. I look forward to discovering whether nursing is really for me. I’m definitely interested in it but next semester will let me know whether it’s really something I can see my self doing for a while. Wish me luck!!!