December 1 update, much to tell.

To say the past 14 weeks of school have been grueling would be to understate.

This week I have three final exams and my practicum, and next week is the HESI exam.  The Pathophysiology Tuesday is in the bag-- I only have to make a 10 of 100 on the final to earn the minimum score required for the RN program for the course, so pressure is off on that one. Tomorrow morning the Data Analysis final opens and I'll do a review of materials and then take the test early to get that behind me quickly.  Intro to Nursing exam is Thursday, and my Practicum is Wednesday afternoon. I plan to exhaust all study time between now and Wednesday with preparing for the practicum. It's amazing how important rehearsal seems in this case.  I feel cautiously optimistic. Still much woodshedding to be done, but this is eminently doable. I'm meeting with my lab partner today to review practicum details, and I want to get some metrics memorized (her number of teeth and fillings, among other things-- she doesn't have a full set) so things will move more quickly at time of practicum.  I have to score 112 in order to pass, and I've already earned 9, so I have to hit 103 of 141 remaining points.  Piece of cake, right?

I quit the job at the salt mine at the end of October. The work itself was easy, but there were huge stressors that came with, plus the hour or so of the day that involved driving/gas money, it was producing too much drag on an already overburdened system.  Leaving was the sensible way forward, and I don't know how I would have endured the madness of the past 5 weeks at school if I'd been still dealing with the stress from that job - so glad I moved along.

Back in March, when recovering from my surgery, I began a job search in earnest.  Changes were happening quickly with my workplace and I knew that I'd want to move along, but only in a sensible and deliberate fashion. I could have taken a job at a nearby large hospital, but the managers expressed concern that I would find that job too challenging to do part time when I was in the throes of stress with RN school.  I acquiesced to their wisdom, as I may work with them in future as an RN and don't want to burn my bridges early. 

One job I applied for early in the year was dispatcher at the local small PD a few blocks from my house.  They went with another candidate, but called me out of the blue several weeks ago and asked if I'm still interested in part time work.  I vexed over this - I'd already made the choice to try and make ends meet, and I think it would have worked, but I'll admit the lack of a trickle income has been a bit of a challenge. (witness my shock at having recently found Top Ramen noodles at my local market for 2/.79!)  This town is small and they get very few genuine 9-1-1 calls, so it is quiet a goodly portion of the day.  I will be able to study at work.  Let me repeat: I can study at work.  That sort of tipped the scales for me.  Study at home can be challenging, depending how needy Chuy is being at any particular moment.  I'm thinking this may be the best possible move for me at this point. I'll have a minimum of 8 hours per week, but most weeks that will be all I do. Sometimes I'll fill in for others who are out, but they've committed to not having me work on Monday or Tuesday, which are my heavy school days.  The department is low-key and I already have a friend who works there, so I think this is an all-around good fit for me.  I'll be 3 blocks from the pups all day, and Himself will be doing puppy-daddy routine, so all my baby ducks will be in a row.

I can't believe how this year has flown.  In truth, the most devastating thing about the surgery in December(besides being pitiful and helpless for a few weeks afterward) was the general fog I was in for at least 6 or 7 months afterward, perhaps more.  This has been a difficult year in a great many ways, but it's been immensely rewarding.  I am so pleased I had the surgery, in spite of the after-effects, and I'm glad I didn't wait a minute longer - that's the kind of thing that's easier for a young person to recover from, I'm convinced.  Just like college - it's for the young, too. 

I'm grateful for all the good things going on, and again I'll say I'm cautiously optimistic about things.  If all goes well, two years from today I'll be composing a post saying that I'm a couple of weeks from finishing RN school, and that is dazzling to consider.  Two years seems like a long time and yet, just 11 months ago I wrote that I felt I was about to swim across an ocean.  Well, I'm a third of a way across, so, yippee.  It's going to keep getting better.