Today was the deadline for this years nursing program application. It's been a long week getting all of their required elements finished. Today at noon I walked into the nursing department and handed it all in, for better or worse, it's out of my hands now.

I feel I have a fair chance at being advanced to the interview stage. I think my personal statements were well written, and expressed my point of view well. My letters of recommendation should be good. Everyone knows and loves the person I had write my personal letter, and the instructor that wrote my professional letter is highly respected. It could have been worse for sure.

I should receive word by late September if I have made it to the interviews. Assuming I do make it to the interview, I will have a hopeful letter of acceptance late October/early November.

Now it's time to kick back and relax. Or, get caught up on my summer classes that suffered this last week.

I knew eventually I would hit a roadblock that I would have to find a way to overcome and the time has come. I scheduled an appointment with my doctor to receive a hep b vaccine, and to set up a schedule to get the rest of my vaccines. Once my doctor went over my previous reaction and my chart she decided she was not comfortable giving me any vaccines. Ever. Ok, that leaves me with some not so great options. First, my doctor has scheduled me an appointment with an allergist. She feels that the allergist should be able to run some tests and determine the safest way to get these vaccines into me. This option requires the nursing program to allow me to have a waiver during the application process. Normally if you don't have proof of your hep b shot your application is dismissed. The nursing director at my school is talking over my situation with their clinical hospital and may issue me a waiver for the vaccines, but this is done on a case by case basis and I would have no guarantee of a clinical placement all the way through the program. Thus, I could get through 5 of the 6 quarters of the program and then not have a clinical spot for the 6th quarter and have to drop out.

My second option is to find another dr's office that accepts my insurance and just not mention my previous reaction. This is by far the most dangerous. I have scar tissue surrounding my brain from the first reaction. And we don't really know what caused the first reaction. It is very possible that an exposure to more vaccines could cause an immune reaction which could lead to anaphalactic shock, or the scar tissue swelling causing increased intercranial pressure... possibly death. It is my dr's opinion that any vaccine given to me must be done in the presence of a medical team and medical equipment ready to support me through a major reaction.

My third option would be to decide I'm not going into the medical field afterall. This is not an option I'm willing to consider. I will get my RN, one way or another.

So, I've got a lot to think about over the next few days. I am really hoping that the nursing director will call me back and say we have the green light from the clinical hospital for me to attent clinicals on a vaccine waiver and I can work with my allergist to slowly get these vaccines in as soon as possible. I still need to complete my functional resume and my personal statement. I've booked the babysitter to be spending a full long day with the kids and I should be able to knock these out durring that time.

Everybody cross your fingers for me!

Tomorrow marks the first day of summer quarter. When I signed up for classes I was looking forward to a nice relaxing quarter. All of my heavy science classes are behind me, what would I have to worry about? Um, my sociology class seems to have an excessive workload. We are talking DVD's to watch weekly, along with essays and a couple other assignments... weekly!! Oh well, it will be over soon. And, as disappointed as I would be to knock down my GPA, most nursing programs figure your GPA only from your pre-req classes. So, I can lower my standards for this class. Yeah right.

I'm only a couple weeks away from having to turn in my nursing school application. Exciting! Scary! I am not looking forward to this. Logically I know that I have a good chance of getting in. And if I don't get in at my first choice, I have even better odds at my second choice. But still, it's hard putting yourself out there for others to accept... or reject. I've looked through the application packet, found myself overwhelmed and put it away again. So much is riding on these next few weeks!

Back to summer quarter. I will be enjoying the sun while studying sociology, medical terminology 2 and 2 typing classes. Hopefully this quarter will go smoothly, and I'll just be killing time until I get my acceptance letter!

Wahoo, another quarter down. And I'm expecting good grades too! I'm starting to feel nervous at the idea that in one more quarter I will be applying to nursing programs. I'm so ready, and yet not, all at the same time.

As silly as it sounds, I couldn't bring myself to sell back my A&P book or lab manual. I'm telling myself that it will be a good reference while I am in nursing school. I think part of it is that I've never put as much effort into any class before. I'm happy it's over, and yet, find myself also wishing A&P was a 3 quarter class. It feels like there is still so much we didn't cover.

Nutrition is over, and I am quite tickled to have walked out of that class with the highest grade. It was fund having Woods for an instructor again, and I allowed myself to come out of my shell and be more outspoken in that class than I am in my others. He is writing me a letter of recommendation for my nursing applications.

I'm so happy to be on spring break! The house will get cleaned, and I will take naps. And I need to work on memorizing the functional groups for organic chemistry. Other than that, I'm making no promises.

Next quarter is Microbiology, Organic Chemistry and Keyboarding.

I guess I somehow forgot to update here with my winter quarter schedule. So far this quarter has been a breath of fresh air and I can see this being my favorite quarter... so long as my A&P instructor gets well and comes back! I anticipate the quarter taking a much different direction should she decide she is not well enough to continue the quarter and we are stuck with the boob that took over our last lecture. For now, let's think positive.

This quarter I'm not on campus nearly as much, and I'm loving it! I have A&P Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 to 9:10. Half of that is lecture and the other half is down in the lab. The instructor is fabulous! I love her teaching style, I walk away from class feeling like I've learned a ton and not feeling like I need to go home and attempt to muddle through the text alone. She also give the impression of truly caring about her students and being invested in each student learning as much as they possibly can. Then I have a class on Saturday from 8:30 to 1:00. Everyone I tell about my nutrition class seems to think it's horrible to have to go to school on a Saturday, but I find it very peaceful. The class is filled with people who are there to learn instead of the random mix of people filling their time until they grow up. Plus the instructor is the same instructor I had in biology and we get along swimmingly. As an entry level class (that also gets me extra points on my nursing application, bonus!) the material is not very challenging. And since it's such a long class the instructor has decided that it would be best for us all if he limited his lecture time and gave us time to complete our homework with our peers.

All in all, I have little to complain about. I can't believe it's almost time to submit my nursing school applications! I have been spending time reviewing each schools requirements to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. It's a little scary and overwhelming, to tell you the truth.

Oh, I made the dean's list! Exciting! Wish I knew more about the significance of this.