That butterfly feeling

"When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way."

Paulo Coelho

Every time I start thinking about what this August is going to hold, I get physically sick on my stomach. Seriously. Like I did when I was pregnant with all three boys. I'm trying to figure out if this is normal or not. In my heart of hearts, I think I believe it is normal, but it's really freaking me out.

In a former life, I was an on-air personality at a well-respected, top 40 radio station. When I first started, I was really nervous, but eventually I got to the place that I could be talking to you in my studio, ask you to "hold that thought" , and go into my spiel. When the weather, or commercial was over, I could pick up exactly where I left off. My oldest brother was in the control room when I did this once, and he was amazed. My question is: is it like that in nursing school where you can get over the butterflies and do what you need to do without being scared to death?
Have any of you nursing students felt that way? And when did it get easier?

Happiness is Getting Your First Nursing Book!

I'll admit it....I'm a planner. I hate last minute ANYTHING. Am I a control freak? No, I'm thinking I'm not. Most control freaks like to control EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY. I am way too flawed for that. But, being that everything hinges on Pharmacology in nursing school, I felt the need to investigate the HOW. How do you "study" ahead for a course you haven't had yet and will determine whether or not you have the moxie to see it through the end? Here's what I've discovered, anyway, on how to study for Pharm:
1. Learn starting from category of drugs. (Seems logical)
a. side effects
b. toxicity
c. action
d. contra
e. endings names of drugs

2. Mnemonics is a good way to study, too. I found a cool site to start with: Medical Mnemonics.

3. I have found that doing a simple search on Google can be a great asset. Apparently, real teachers don't care who they teach as long as someone out there learns. You can find Power Points for lectures on any subject under the sun. And teachers love to have students learn at home, so do some research. If you want to dig into Pharmacology, this teacher, Jerry Carley, RN, MSN, MA, CNE, has this great nursing info site, including pharm. Click on his name and check it out. He's brilliant!

4. Allnurses.com is a great tool to find tips on how to study pharm, vent or just about anything else nurse related.

5. Networking. Don't underestimate the power of networking. I have found that most people have knowledge and experience that they are willing to share if you just ask. This past semester, I became friends with the most wonderful lady who just happened to be an LPN. (She had to take A & P again because of a technicality) And she was a wealth of information and mostly, inspiration. She made me believe I had a shot at being a nurse. I will forever be grateful to her. We studied our hearts out for that demanding class. A study partner is going to be your ACE in the hole.