Knit Jones, MSN, FNP

Yes indeedy, I passed the boards! I was soooo relieved and am really enjoying rejoining my life, already in progress.

The exam was a challenge especially at the beginning. I had heard that they will stack harder questions at the beginning, I guess to just shake your confidence? Anyway, I found that to be true. The first 20 questions were hard and I felt like I was getting most of them wrong. Then I regained my confidence and stride and hit lots of questions which were really obvious and I started to feel a little better. I decided to go through all the questions and go with my gut and then go back through and review all the questions. Some of the ones I was stuck on, I read with a clearer head the second time through and would notice a word or phrase that helped me decide on an answer with a clearer rationale for choosing it.

I was surprised to see very few medication questions, I had thoroughly reviewed antibiotics and their coverage and didn't get a single question about them. I can't say that I felt like I got a lot of questions in one particular area...a few thyroid questions, a few cardiac murmur questions, some growth and development, some female GYN, headaches, abdominal pain. There were also some on follow up...what interval would you follow up, would you follow up or should you refer? I would say the difficulty was on par with the reveiw questions I had done but there were a few that I had not encountered any of the terms and really had to guess including one about identifying a breast mass. The choices were fibroadenoma, papillomatosis, mammary ductal etresia, and ductal papilloma. I had no clue at the time but looked it up when I got home and the correct answer would have been fibroadenoma.

Even after the secondary review, I finished with about an hour to spare, luckily test taking time frames have never been an issue for me. I was so so happy to see that I had passed, I started shaking and my eyes welled up with tears. This is truly the end of a very very long road. I was emotional for the rest of the day, I am back to my mantra of 'I can't believe it's over'.

I can finally focus on the remainder of my pregnancy and getting things ready for baby Y. I hope she gives me a little time to enjoy my new found freedom!

Day of Reckoning

Tomorrow's the big day...the day my entire graduate education comes down to but...no pressure or anything.

I am taking the FNP certifying exam tomorrow, 9am sharp. Just got the confirmation email so it must be happening. I'm surprisingly calm, although, as I'm writing this post I do feel like I have butterflies in my stomach..or is that the baby kicking?

I have extensively studied for this exam, I go overboard when it comes to things like this. I started reviewing during the last semester of grad school. I have listened the Fitzgerald review cds many times over. I have used about 5-6 review books, read umpteen sets of guidelins and have done 4500 review questions. I have to keep in mind that this exam is to determine the safety of an entry level nurse practitioner, I'm not supposed to know everything about everything.

But like I said, I'm actually very calm about the whole thing, relatively speaking I'm sure. I have devoted basically 2 days every week to studying for the entire day and as the day approached I began studying on lunch hours at work as well as evenings and weekends.

Wish me luck Knit Jones-ers....here's to hoping I can help my school keep their 100% passing rate!

Post Grad School/Pre Baby BBQ

M and I are hosting a BBQ at our house this weekend. I have sequestered myself away from most of my friends for the last year to finish up the hell that was/is/forever shall be called grad school and would like to see them before Baby Y makes her debut. As a result, I convinced M that we needed to host a BBQ, some of friends haven't even seen the new house yet.

At the time I planned the BBQ, I was thinking that most of my studying for the boards would be done, and in reality it probably is. I have done just about 4000 test questions and read about 4 review books in addition to listening to review cds (over and over and over). I apparently didn't recall the feeling I had before NCLEX when I was planning a day of frivolity; that I could never amass all of this knowledge before the test and that there was always more studying that could or should be done. But alas, the party will go on and it will be a nice forced study break. I'm on information over load right now and can't think about fixed S2s or DRSP risk anymore. I wake up asking myself questions about the appropriate time to screen a DM1 vs a DM2 for microalbuminuria (5 years vs at dx) and I'm really looking forward to the test being done.

Anyway, I got sidetracked there. Tomorrow I will need to spend most of the day cleaning and reorganizing the rooms upstairs to make it moderately eye appealing for our party guests. I have most of the supplies but forgot a few things (ice, hotdog buns, relish). We asked people to bring their beverage of choice and a dish to share, we're supplying the meat and then I'm making a Mediterranean pizza I found in the latest edition of Bon Apetit (made with phyllo dough to test my patience).

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and being able to enjoy our deck, patio set, and back yard. And no studying for an entire day!

Friday Happenings

Today's plans include:

• Not working!
• Sleeping in (only till 745a but that's what happens when you can't make it up past 10)
• Treadmill (done!)
• Listen to diabetes review podcast
• Meet S and S for lunch
• Study
• Call Costco to see where M's birthday gift is....I ordered him a composter on 5/9 and recieved an email saying it went to 'fulfillment' and have heard nothing since

Examination Eligibility

I'm confused...I previously applied to the AANP to sit for the exam. My impression was that they wouldn't fully process my application until they had a copy of my final official transcripts showing the last course was completed and I could send my official official transcript with the degree conferred date after I sat for the exam.

Yesterday, I received a pdf file of a letter that is also being sent to me in the mail telling me that I am eligible for the test and that I'll be receiving a letter from the testing center within 5-7 business days. When I get the letter, I'm supposed to call and pick a date to test. What happened to waiting till I completed the course? Maybe I can book the test while I'm still completing the course but can't actually take the exam till the course is done?

I guess I'll wait and see if there is more information with the letter....

It Must Be Happening.....

There is outside evidence that I really am graduating in a few short weeks. Before I get into Exhibit A, I would like to take this chance on Marathon Monday to compare my grad school program to a marathon. At first, I was going along just fine, not really realizing what I had gotten myself into but knowing that I just had to keep going. I don't quit something once I've started it.

It was ok in the beginning, not overly time consuming and just required some slight finagling with regular life. This was the situation until halfway through the program when clinical's started. At that point, the intensity cranked up. I like to think of this part as the Heartbreak Hill of grad school. At this point, your mentally tapped because you are seeing patient's for the first time pretending you know what you are doing. In addition to the clinical hours, there is time spent in the classroom and in lab. There are now two days that I had to finagle my schedule at work.

Then, I hit last semester...2 full days of clinical in addition to about 6 hours of class each week (3 in person and 3 online). Presentations galore. Major rescheduling at work. During this semester, there was an upheavel at my clinical site and I had to find random people to precept me until I could find something more permanent. Semester ended, I didn't die but I really thought I was not going to make it to the end of the semester. Even though I had only one semester left, it felt so far away and that I was really far from graduating.

Fast forward to this semester, same schedule as last semester. Minor upheavel a few weeks ago with my clinical site because I wasn't seeing enough pediatric patients but I got moved to a far less stressful environment. The assignments were roughly the same as last semester with the addition of finishing up a major project. Class schedules were the same as last time. I began to think that there really was a light at the end of the tunnel....I had hit the runner's high. Formal count downs of classes began, talk of taking the boards began, letters about graduation fees were sent to my home. I wasn't being delusional, the finish line was near! Other people were noticing this!

This brings me to today, I'm on autopilot and I'm in the last three miles of the finish line. After you've done 23 miles, what's a few more! I can do this, and I did do it for the past three years! Since January 2007! I'm now starting to think of myself as a superstar, it's so close I feel like I'm starting to glimpse life without school. I listen to other people talk about their grad school programs and it's very different than mine. I was not paid a stipend to be a student, I did not get the luxury of making my own schedule and could not afford time away from clinicals and studying to become someone's research assistant or TA. This program was grueling and not for the weak! This is why I feel like a superstar....I did it and lived to tell!

As promised, the evidence that I really am graduating!

• Letter from Citibank telling me my previous loan is coming out of deferment with a 'seperation from school' date of 5/21/10.
• Letter from the government telling me about grad school student loans pay back options
• Letter from AANP confirming that they have recieved my transcripts and are just waiting for my final transcripts which will trigger them to send me a testing date window
• Graduation gift from my inlaws! Pregnancy massage(s) here I come.

The proof is in the pudding...hopefully my running shoes last till the end!

School Minutae

Here's the latest:

• I finished my second of three presentations. I haven't even started the assignment for the third presentation, but it's not due till 4/27.
• I have one more test and one final for the online class
• The instructor for the in person class is going to see about cancelling the last class which would mean 4/27 is the end. I'm not holding my breath, I could not really see my advisor (the one who has to ok this) being good with that. Even if we don't get to cancel it, we have only 3 more classes!
• I have an almost finalized version of the paper about project I did last semester
• Once that's finalized I have to create an abstract and then refine that into a poster for presentation on 5/14
• I learned that there is a slim chance I could take the boards before I give birth. I have heard you can sit for the exam with your final official transcript without the degree conferred date listed on it, they just won't pass your scores on to the state until you send them a copy with your degree conferred date
• Next week is school vacation week so I have no peds clinical so I'm squeezing in some extra hours at OB. I should be able to finish both the week of May 10, worst case would be the week of May 17.

To Do List

This weekend I accomplished a lot on my abstract/final paper. I have to get the abstract ok'd before I can design the poster for my presentation on research day at school so I had to make it a priority, the end is nigh after all! I spent more time on that than I thought I would need to but my advisor kept emailing back with further suggestions. As a result, my to do list is growing...

Non School Related List
I need to:
1. Pick up the bridesmaids dress from David's Bridal
2. Take my car in for th 60k tune up
3. Find time to go to Ikea with M to pick up baby furniture

School Related List
1. Finish Abstract
2. Begin layout for poster and complete by 5/7
3. Do Symptom Analysis paper
4. One test
5. One final
6. Talk to registrar about releasing transcripts ASAP
7. Continuing studying for boards

A Likely Snafu

This is out of my hands so I'm not really going to dwell on it, or try not to.

I have heard from fellow colleagues at school that the earliest the University can guarantee sending out our official final transcripts is July 1st. This throws off my whole plan of taking the boards before the baby because of the following cascade of events...

1. Preliminary application can be processed to a point by using official transcripts through the end of last semester
2. Final official transcipts must be sent in
3. Upon receipt of final transcripts, I will receive a letter from the certifying body stating that my application is now being processed
4. After the application is processed, I will recieve another letter with my testing window
5. In about 2 weeks, I will receive a letter from Prometric inviting me to sit for the exam.

I can't see this feasibly happening before the baby is born...this should prove interesting. I'm hoping that I can sweet talk someone in the Registrar's office to process my final transcript way before July 1. Technically, our graduating date is May25, but the degree is not conferred until June 4. At that point, the University manually audits each graduate to make sure all requirements for their particular program were met. Then they send it. Hopefully I can tell them the situation and someone will be nice to this pregnant lady....I'm not holding my breath though.

Let the Review Begin

I decided to go with the Margaret Fitzgerald FNP review course. $455 dollars worth of cds, I'm on my way. I promptly converted all of them to mp3s, they are a little behind in the times and don't actually offer these as mp3s. I asked them when they would and they were iffy on the date so I decided to just order the cds so I could get started. The other kind of annoying thing is that when converting them to MP3s, each the cd track labelling method is varying from cd to cd so then I have to go back and make them uniform so that when I'm searching for them in my library the tag makes sense.

So far I've gotten through the first cd and a half and it's been helpful in terms of what to expect on the exam, the differences between the two exams, the content, passing scores etc. My plan for now is just to listen when I can without really focusing on it, just have it in the background to hopefully absorb some of it. When school's done I will start the real nitty gritty studying. She recommends doing the review course when you have at least 4-6 weeks before you take the test, so I'm good to go since I'm not planning on taking it until June/July.

So far, I joined the AANP at the student rate which will give me a discount on the test. I then formally changed my name with the school and am waiting for that to kick in at which point I'll order my official transcripts and send in the application. That way, after finishing the semester, I only have to update them with my current semesters grade and the official sign off that I did complete the program.