RMA Exam

Today, after weeks of anxiety and hesitation, I have taken the RMA exam and....

PASSED!

It is a 2 hour exam containing 200+ questions and it is scored from 0-99; you have to get above a 70 to pass.

I was lucky enough to get a 99.

Phew!

Now, onto the job search...

My Home Away From Home

 

 So far, 2012 has been a wonderful year filled with wonderful things...

Nature's beauty.

Quality time with family.

Navigating life's ever-winding path.

Idaho is full of such tremendous beauty.

I've lived here for over two years and have come to know and love Idaho.

Every so often, the scenery which surrounds me will catch me off guard...

Farmland for nearly far as the eye can see.

Seemingly endless mountain ranges.

Roads that stretch on for miles and miles and miles.

The occasional tumbleweed.

Part of me will always be a New England girl, I think. A girl who loves...

The Red Sox and the Patriots.

The beautiful yellows, oranges and reds that fall inevitably brings

Being able to drive an hour and get to the coast.

Being surrounded by history.

The convenience of small states.

The comfort and familiarity that spending 18 years in one locations brings.

But, at the same time, Idaho now holds a piece of my heart, too.

A pretty big piece.

These pictures were taken over the course of the last two years.

  

P.S. I <3 Idaho.

Oh, on a side note... I went snowboarding for the first time on February 4 - AWESOME.

School is over!

I am officially done with school!

Well, for now at least.

Tuesday was our last day - final exam (97.2% - woo!) and pot luck. Overall, I enjoyed my time in school. I learned more than I ever expected to and was able to push myself outside of my comfort zone over and over again. I start my clinicals on this upcoming Monday and am hoping to have them finished before January of next year is through. Half of me excited to be almost through wearing these maroon scrubs but the other half is wondering if I'll miss them once they're gone...

 

 I guess we will see!

On a side note, we have moved into our house! It is so wonderful but is still feeling slightly surreal. I wonder if that feeling will ever go away, hm. I will post pictures of it soon!

A Vacant House...

And it is almost ours!

We are due to close in a week or so.

We did our final walk-through a couple of days ago so I snapped a few pictures while we were there. It is 1562 sqft, has 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths.

More to come soon!

Phlebotomy

This past week I had my first try with phlebotomy - the act or, more accurately, the art of drawing blood. I was most certainly nervous. Very, very nervous. Also, excited.

No amount of studying can prepare you mentally for drawing blood for the first time, in my opinion. You get your little tray full of syringes, winged infusion sets and evacuated tubes, take a deep breath and hope desperately that you won't be the one who needs the smelling salts.

Syringe, antecubital fossa, median cephalic vein. Textbook says: "Easy." Reality says: "Ha! Good luck." I do everything, step by step, like we've went over in class a 1,000+ times. "Okay, very good... now uncap and inspect the needle and go into the vein.", says my instructor calmly. Anchoring - check. Bevel up - check. 15 to 30 degree angle - check. I have to remind myself to breathe. And then I inserted the needle into the vein.

To my utter surprise, I see the flash of blood in the hub of the syringe. I couldn't believe it. I pull up on the plunger, fill the barrel to the predetermined mark and finish up the procedure.

An awesome feeling. Confidence builder, as well. I am so grateful that my partner for the first day had beautiful, easily palpable veins.


Less than a month left of school and onto clinicals we go. Can't wait.

I really, really, REALLY can't believe it.

Our offer on the house got accepted today. SUCH good news. Especially 2 days before our first anniversary!

We only have one picture at the moment -

But I will add more as soon as I get them.

AH! :)

Taken May 22, 2011