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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Nursing Student Journey: Round 2

My journey first began with a virgin mind and blind eyes. I was accepted into the program and I ended up having to withdraw because I received a "D" on my first nursing test. In order for me to be allowed to continue again, I had to take a mandatory TABE test and get a 12th grade reading level score, plus an SLS1501 College Study Skills course. I completed everything and now I'm on round two. Not to mention, paying financial aid back because I missed the first deadline for my refund, so I took a (W)--withdraw. I've been given hell about: a misdemeanor (it was cleared by the board), no income/single mother (FASFA--counselors constantly questioning), etc. I don't know why they don't make SLS1501 College Study Skills mandatory for all college students, especially nursing students. It's been difficult, but I believe that this study course has helped me understand how to be more prepared for nursing. Pharmacology is like another language, even if you read the book. A surgery tech told me that categorizing everything helped her. Dosage calculations is a little tough. Just get a tutor immediately for everything! Many people have told me that there is no way to learn everything.  My study course seems to be based that way. We learned: if you understand the SQ3R method, you're only picking out main ideas and bold/italic/boxed info type of concepts, also Cornell notes would be just making your own questions from this stuff and your notes. I even remember reading an article similar to this standpoint. This is the article. http://allnurses.com/nursing-student-assistance/my-guide-making-593251.html During my study course, my professor posted a video by this guy that seemed to be really intelligent. I followed this video to YouTube. I found out that this guy was a doctor and owned an entire site where he tutored and posted hundreds of videos for nursing students for a fee.  I just bought an account through his site called www.simplenursing.com account, which will help me as I get further into the program. It comes with a tutor and hundreds of nursing, ob, pharmacology, peds, etc. videos. I also found this site has audio of the fundamentals nursing textbook, http://student-nurse-tutorials.blogspot.com/2009/01/links-to-fundamentals-of-nursing-audio.html I'm going to keep blogging about my new nursing experience. I believe I start on the around 8/25/2014. I was told that it isn't recommend to take summer courses, of course after the fact, is when I find this out. The courses are fast paced and condensed, during summer. 
Just look at how excited I was! 
Update: My puppy Coco, soon didn't recognize me, a few weeks later. Ha ha ha! I lived in the nursing lab. No matter what, my studying and reading had a huge separation, which caused me a ton of anxiety. None my preparation was up to par because I didn't understand the tools needed for nursing school. I just left the counselors office for the third time this month. I keep getting the impression that they don't want me to receive financial aid. The counselor told me to put like $8,000 for my annual income. I don't even get that much!! Why the hell would I lie and jeopardize myself. I won't! My appointments always seem like a setup to get me alone, but my boyfriend is always with me. I have nothing to hide. I have no income, I'm not married,  and I have a child through another relationship. Today they told me that the Pell grant now has a cut off date of like 6 years or something. Every time I turn around I have something new to check on my college site, accept, flagged, or missing information that is needed at the last minute or I won't get my FASFA aid. Really?! So, I finally believe I have no fees, no flags, etc. Although, I was told to keep checking to make sure nothing changes from now, until the the 25th. I was told that I could register. Although, I was told nursing that the Dean was the only one who could do it, being that I withdrew. My grades finally went in and I passed the course with an A. My professor sent the study course grade to him for me. After 48 hours of waiting, I'm going to contact the college, nursing center, and the Dean. I have to make sure all my bases are covered, until the last minute. This just blows my mind that this is all so complicated. Maybe even a video. The journey begins! I will keep you posted on my journey!! :) In the end, I hope I can help someone understand this difficult process.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Seborrheic Dermatitis: SKIN FROM HELL!!!

I longed for the day that I could be normal! My day may finally be on its way. I have had an issue with my skin, since I was 13. At least, that's when I noticed my skin was dryer than usual. I remember thinking that people with my skin tone have uneven skin moisture, maybe. Not the case with me.
So, here's how it started. Dry and flaky around my eyebrows and an extremely dry scalp. No it wasn't dandruff! That's what most people thought, including my hair stylist. As I got older, my scalp needed to be washed sometimes 3 times a week or more, just to give it relief from being flaky and dry. My skin cleared up a little and my scalp did, too, depending on the weather. If I relaxed my hair, it would cause my scalp to dry out again, so eventually I went natural.
Here's the hell part! Just recently over the past few years I had a flare up. I call it this because my skin has it good days and it has its bad days. For months my scalp got really dry and irritated and my skin started to get itchy and red on my forehead, under my eyes, on my cheeks, and around my ears. Eventually, where my skin was itchy, it got raw, red, and patchy. I felt like a shedding lizard! Talk about painful and unattractive! I started to hate water on my skin because it would burn and just dry out my skin even more. So, I would only have these flare ups when I would get nervous or upset. I felt like my body was on the attack! I found WEN for my hair. It's a leave-in conditioner. I sometimes would put a little it on my face, too. This stuff saved me for a few months. I still use it. I can't even where makeup or lotion.
It was so hard for me to be in college with this issue because every time I had a test it would show throughout my skin. Very difficult to hide. It made me feel so insecure. I made it, though. At some point, in the middle of all that, my doctor prescribed me some medicine for my face and scalp. This helped me, for a while. I used it when I didn't want to have a flare up. It wasn't a cure for all and that's what I've always wanted. Or, at least, a non-flare up for a longer period, other than a week or two.
So, my dreams came true few days ago! I finally made an appointment to see a dermatologist! I hope that something new will be done, that won't affect my organs. Some of those meds can be too strong for your organs to handle. You need a prescription to see a dermatologist, my prescription stated that I may have Seborrheic dermatitis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001959/#adam_000963.disease.prognosis