diagonistic

I called out of work today because i felt so sick and nauseated this morning that i had to lay in my car for a while before driving home. i took 2 extra strength tylenol before going to bed but i woke up with the headache (much better than before) and nausea. i really wanted to work this 3 day weekend simply for the fact that it would be a "full weekend pay" and also i'm saving my sick time for later. Could i ran around at work for 5 hours nonstop this evening? i don't think so. i've been sitting here and already the headache is starting to worsen.

On the bright side, i read over the verbal mastery book and i feel it helped me with the 4 practice passages i did this evening. i think it's better than the painless reading comprehension in that it's more curtailed to the college person who doesn't have time to look up too much words in a dictionary and need to know the need-to stuff. although painless reading has the same thing in it. thing is i did see some improvement today.

On a more gloomy note, i finally mustered the courage to take the kaplan diagnostic and i had a 53%. I did great in verbal, i seem to always to great in kaplans verbal but i heard they're a lot more easier than the real things so i'm not too excited. Bio had stuff on genetics and stuff that made me go HUH? and ochem had stuff on aromatics. Since i didn't read the chapter on aromatics, i bombed that part. My stereochemistry is solid so that's reassuring. Without going into details, let's just say i bombed the ps section. My brain is too tired to microanalyze the results to i'll do that later. Thaat said, i need to review hit the books because i've not been able to do any studing the last 2 days. i have a FL coming up and the recent diagnostic results is equally pathetic and scary. The only thing about the diagnostic is that it doesn't give you a raw score.
God, the more the day draws near, the more i feel i need a miracle greater than heaven and earth. Part of me feels like dump this, take the GRE and refocus in the fall. God knows i've invested soo much time, soo much energy and the opportunity costs is too enormous to just give up. Plus, i'm not a quitter. If it's bad on the day, i guess i can void or retake. Plus, who's to say i'll have the time in fall to invest in this when i've classes, work with lots of competencies and what nots to do.
So all things considered, this is my one good chance to hit it and hit it hard. I'm going to have stop slacking, and study hard.

post gym strategy

Back from the gym. i was on the threadmill for 15minutes and i've decided that i need to do countless number of problems in TPR and the kaplan topicals in addition to doing the questions in nova again. So, i'll go over nova twice. The other thing is that i need to think like i did in nursing school, in a 3D fashion not in 1D just so if they throw a question at me that incorporates different sujbects, i can answer it. These are just what i think. The important thing here is that i ask for God's blessings

Equally nervous and discouraged

So i did the nova physics and that brought my confidence up. i felt i finally understand the concepts and i do. i did 3 passages in TBR physics (phase I) and i feel pretty violated. So one, i forgot that something being thrown horizontally means vertical velocity is zero. Nova taught me that, how did i forget? i need to add that to my wall poster (Yep, i've posters on my wall now with facts i think i'm likely to forget, formulas and what nots. i'm starting to think i may need 2 for physics alone.)

Needless to say, TBR questions are pretty convulated.The only thing that compares are Dr Poyss' questions for adult health which makes me think i should've taken this exam right after nursing school simply cuz i knew how to think through convuluted stuff then and spot every trick. I guess i need to stimulate that part of my brain to wake up.

Anyway, i just got home. i'm equally depressed and nervous. I've decided to hit the gym after a 5 month hiatus and think up a strategy on the threadmill. Never in my life have i felt i need a complete miracle to pass an exam than now. Christ have mercy because i'm gonna need a little bit more than his help, i'm gonna need his doing, a complete miracle to pass this. off to the gym i go

Panicking

So i just took a TPR passage and got 3/7. That just sent me into panic mode. Christe Eleison for i can't do this bad on the test day. I've already completed a month's worth of intensive review and didn't do much of problems doing those times except for a few passages in TBR. Anyhoo, first thing i did was boot up this laptop and go the TPR website to see if they have any classes in july just in case. first time at content review as pretty much learning the stuff. So i decided to make these 2 weeks before july a quick review for gen chem and phys. The passage i did was on solutions so maybe the fact that i haven't reviewed solutions 2x may be part of the deal but for those questions that required reasoning, i'm worried about.
so i went to SDN and i read posts about people who've prepped for a month and are getting 20-something on their practice tests. I'm just afraid to hit any practice tests now till i master fluids.

so far, the 2nd go around for physics has been a joke as i've been very lazy lately but tonite's wake of panic has made reality set in and i'm going to bust my behind. I did master the last contents of phys from waves, E&M, sound, light and optics. basic mechanics and work i need a quick review and for fluids, i need a 2nd detailed review. gen chem i seem to be working a lot more on all i have to finish is solutions, thermodynamics, acid bases and redox.I haven't done the 2nd go around for ochem. I have to work tomorrow and i really need to work tomorrow. i've been cancelled every week the past 2 weeks and i can't afford to be cancelled again. Prior to that i was on (unpaid)vacation. God help me finish up gen chem tonight. it's 1:30 AM. i'll do couple passages till 2 and then do solutions, passages, acid bases, passages and finish the rest of chem tomorrow. We'll see.

The case of the maggot infested foot

God being so kind, yesterday was good. ER sent a patient up. As most times, report was shady but the nurse mentioned that the patient, who presented with blisters on bilateral feet that was infested with maggots, was all cleaned up and they'd gotten rid of the maggots. YAY or so i thought.
So up came the guy, btw, he is one of the sweet homeless folks ( i need to blog about the kinds of homeless folks who come to the hospital one of these days) but anyway, after getting him settled, i proceeded to do a skin assessment. when he walked in, i noticed an open wound, from a blister that had burst, on the plantar surface of his left foot. my goal was to figure out the length, breath and depth of it so i can apply an appropriate dressing. In so doing, i noticed something black between his great toe and 2nd toe so i went ahead to take a better look thinking it was gangrene. I mean with all the diabetics in bmore, i see gangrenous toes so often it almost looks like a normal variation of the foot and toes. Anyhoo, i open up the toes and out comes MAGGOTS!!! I freaked silently because i'd hate to have the patient think whatever. Anyway, i say maggots and the nurse doing the validation with me goes "let me see.
" Seriously?! if i was doing a skin validation with someone and they said maggots, i don't think i'd be so quick to see although on second thought, i'm soo nozy when it comes to medical stuff. Tell me a patient in room so and so has this and i'll make sure that even though i've no business in that room, i'll see it. So in hindsight, that would have been my reaction as well. Anyhoo, i call the resident asking if she'll like to order something for me to use to get rid of the maggots because i was told the ER had the guy soak his foot in something. The nurse wasn't sure what.
She turns around and asks me what would you like for me to order? I find it wierd that after 4 years of medical school, you expect a nurse to make a medical judgement for you. So i tell her i think the ED used betadine and she says i'll order it and she never does.

Anyway, the thing here is that there are tons of homeless people here who live in terrible conditions and go through awful things that Christe Eleison! makes my heart ache at times when i see them. To come to the point where maggots feed on you feet? boy, i thought the dead were the ones who had those little creatures feed on them. Are you better off than the dead or not? i mean the only difference is that you breathe but like the corpse underground, you're organic matter.

Another whew and the importance of practice.

ochem is done. I think i've been speeding through my last bits of reading just so i can get done. i think i want to see myself doing practice questions. i've been thinking lately, actually just yesterday and today, about the importance of practice. I thought about the nclex. i really didn't study for the exam during the 3-months post school that i took it. Even the last quarter of school, i didn't study for the HESIs i took because i'd done so much practice i knew the stuff by heart. I mean between the reviews and rationales i did along with nclex 3500 and other CDs i had, i'd gone through tons of questions. i did most of the nclex 3500 in review mode but did some few in test mode. So come test day, i remember when i sat in front of the computer to take the exam, it seemed like me sitting in front of my laptop in the library tyring to do some practice questions in test mode, except this time i can't review right after i'm done.

Likewise in Ghana, i knew my physics, chem and math so much because it was all "solve questions, solve questions, solve questions". Mr Brew used to say that about math. He said math can be taught in an hour. The rest comes from "solving questions". So i practiced, practiced and practiced. i had the 1001 book for physics and i think i had other physcis books. i went through KOVs soo many times for chemistry. And it's no surprise that after doing one year of high school at Blake and another year without chemistry, i was able to take chem 1 withiut studying for it 2 years later and then tutor chemistry 3 years later because i remembered the stuff. I mean now i've forgotten.

So in both instances, i practiced a lot and that's what me better. I've been reading posts from sdn i saved and each one of these 40+ scorers practiced, practiced and practice. For the nclex, i was able to think like the testmakers because after doing all those questions i knew how they tested. Someone on SDN mentioned by taking practice tests, you get to know how the testmakers think. i couldn't agree more.

So, point here is that i should be lots of practice questions. i started EK 1001s for some of the chapters but laziness ....
So, beginning today, i'm going to practice, practice and practice. All i have left now is physics so i think i'll work hard on these last chapters and then practice. i've soo much study material with lots of practice. Aside from that, i think i need a break from studying before my brain gets into overload mode. I'm just glad i've gone through my first cycle of studying. I still feel that i need serious prayers and the love of God to make it through.

Another whew

I'm done with bio. Took me forever cuz i wasn't focusing and i think i spent 30% tops fo the last 6hrs studying or maybe less. Part of me wished i'd taken bio II this past semester but i still remembered most of the stuff. Now i need to finish ochem and then do EM. I'm not sleepy. i hate it when my sleep schedule is messed up. I'll try to sleep anyway and see if i can get up in the afternoon and get back on schedule.