On Thursday morning I woke up at a decent time. Not too early, not too late. I laid in bed with my furry friend and went over my flashcards one more time. I prayed. I took some deep breaths. And then I got up to face the day. After a long shower I got dressed in some very comfortable clothes and then took Copper out for a quick walk. I headed to my local Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee – Grande Vanilla Blonde Roast with extra cream and Splenda (I am officially a coffee drinker, thank you nursing school!). And then I drove about a mile to the Pearson Vue testing center in Greenwood Village to take the Nclex.
I ended up getting somewhere between 130 and 150 questions. I have no idea how many exactly because I was so engrossed in the material that when the test shot off I immediately went into tachycardia and almost passed out. I sat there as the screen turned blue and told me I was finished with the Nclex exam and didn’t know what to do. That was it. All that studying and hours of stressful days and nights….
It was very weird because I kept getting questions about isolation precautions and about HIV/Aids. I hadn’t studied a single thing on Aids in years and I bet I got more than 10 questions on the topic. But of course as we poor souls who have had to take the Nclex know, the question might seem like it’s about Aids but it might be about something totally different. Those Nclex creators are tricky people! I probably got 15 questions on isolation precautions. Airborne, Contact, Droplet, etc. So. Weird. I also got a TON of medication questions. What? Why?
In any case by Friday around lunchtime I was randomly (okay, maybe obsessively) checking the Colorado State Board of Nursing website and continued to see the same thing: Jennifer Danielle (insert last name here), NA (Nurse Assistant) Fort Collins, Colorado. And then all of a sudden something different happened when I typed in my name into the “check license” search area. All of a sudden there were two of me.
Jennifer Danielle…. NA… Colorado
Jennifer Danielle…. RN… Colorado
No exaggeration Folks – I bet I refreshed and rechecked the page fifteen times in the next half hour. I checked it again today just to make sure it hadn’t changed 😉 My full name, location and license number were still there. Thank you, Colorado, for processing my results and giving me a license number immediately. You.Are.Incredible.
For the past 9 years I’ve worked to become a nurse. No doubt I took the long way around…. from majoring in Pre-Nursing at Sonoma State to switching to Political Science my freshman year of college during the height of the 2004 presidential election to switching back to Pre-Nursing at Umass to learning that Umass closed their pre-nursing major to switching to Psychology and graduating. Whew! And then of course moving to Colorado and taking prerequisite after prerequisite to improve my GPA and finally seriously applying to nursing schools, getting accepted, getting a huge scholarship, completing Nursing School while working way too much & traveling all over the crappy state of Wyoming. What a ride it was. I’m so glad it’s over!!!!! But I’m so thankful also. For the experiences, for the diversity, for UW and the challenges and for the amazing women I met who no doubt will remain life long friends 🙂
I was all smiles Friday.
Today I applied to my dream job as a Nurse in the most perfect setting imaginable in Denver where I’d start at a great rate & work Monday through Friday. I don’t want to say where because it will give my secret find away…. but I will ask you to pray for me to at least score an interview. I know I took the long way around but there was a reason I wanted to get a Psych degree and my dream job would include both of my degrees and allow me to work in a setting where I can actually really and truly benefit the community in which I live.
I’m walking on sunshine. The only thing that can make me happier is watching my KC Chiefs stomp on the Denver Broncos tonight. And you know what? They just might 😉
P.S. Happy Birthday Dad, I love you!
| jenn at home | 