Adventures in GPC Nursing School - First Semester Fundamentals

Ok I went to bed early Thurs because I had YET another headache. I think it's from the BP meds. Since I knew my dr was going to be taking me off of the Atenolol and Diovan to put me on something else, I didn't bother refilling my Diovan. When I was at the dr my bp was 140/80 I think. No wonder I get headaches at night. So anyways, I got to bed early.

When I woke up it was raining pretty bad and there were lots of accidents on my path to school. Plus I own ONE umbrella so I wanted to drive Cody to the bus stop, so I got up and got ready right away.

While sitting in traffic listening to "Better in Time" by Leona Lewis on STAR 94 I just got to thinking. Pretty soon there wouldn't be these drives to GPC in the morning anymore. The drive I once cursed was going to be something I kinda missed.

So rather than sitting there getting frustrated at the severely backed up traffic I decided to take a trip down memory lane and think about my Adventures in GPC Nursing School.

First thing I thought sitting in this auditorium of 20,000 students (it seemed) was that "They say the people you meet in nursing school become your friends for a lifetime". Yeah whatever. There's no way I'm getting to know all these people LOL

I remember on the first day Ms. Crawford coming in dressed up like Florence Nightingale. That was so cute. I LOVE the story of Florence and this just really helped put a visual to it LOL

Then I remember being scared to death of Ms. Miller. I didn't know how to take her. All the instructors seemed so mean. Wow. Another year of this. It's like boot camp. Did I sign a contract?

I remember doing horribly on my first check off. Nerves. I failed it. I was like "I failed this one, then I'll fail the next one, and then I'll freak on the last one and then I'll be kicked out!!" (I passed the second time around)

Oh and then there was the issue of my first clinical. I was so excited to get clinical at Rockdale. I mean, I love that hospital and I live near it and they said they always try getting you at a hospital close to where you live. Then I found out that Rockdale was only an option for one of the other campuses. WTF?! I remember filling out a transfer sheet and taking it up to Renee. "I want to be at that other campus" LMAO. Request denied. That's when I found out that I was assigned to Dekalb Medical. WTF?! Where in the hell is Dekalb Medical?! Ok, let me just say that I'm not from Georgia and I get really nervous about driving to places I don't know. I'm so afraid of getting lost. Plus I just had a really bad car accident a few weeks before so driving just wasn't my thing.

I got to see a different side of another instructor. One that I could never figure out. She seemed so quiet. Actually I don't know what ever happened to her. I was up on the nursing floor taking paperwork to Ms. Read. She started asking me what I thought of nursing school. Wow. Someone cares? LOL I told her it was scary and stressful. Then she started giving me some good advice and talking with me a little bit. I always looked forward to seeing her around. She was quiet, but she was a real sweetheart.

I remember being so scared and so overwhelmed that first month that at one point I had N&V and severe stomach pain that went on for about 4 days. I couldn't keep anything down. And the pain was unreal. One day I paid a visit to the ER at Rockdale Medical Center. And I'm the type that NEVER goes to the ER. Anyways, they thought it was pancreatitis. Fortunately it wasn't. It was actually an ulcer! Figures.

My salvation to the clinical phobia came as an instructor named Ms. Buchholz. Right away I felt so at ease with her. She had a way of making people laugh and had a personality that reminded me of myself at times. I learned so much from her. She had a way of taking information and making it understandable. Kinda like insulin getting glucose into the cell (my brain being the cell, glucose being the information, and Ms. B as insulin. "Ms. B the Insulin Molecule") Soon I began to love clinical.

It took a couple of months to really get at ease with everything and to learn the whole process of nursing and school. I had no clue what a "nursing process" was and I certainly didn't know a thing about critical thinking.

As time went on I started to see some personalities coming out of the instructors. Ms. Miller was actually a really friendly and hilarious woman. I wasn't so afraid of her anymore! She actually teases me to this day about my first checkoff and how I really came far from there.

So I passed Fundamentals. I'd be surprised at how much I could probably pick up on the material now that my nerves aren't insane LOL And I made some wonderful friends :-) I about got teary eyed thinking about all the people in my class and all my instructors that I just love to death!