The horror, the horror

Thank God that NS20 classes are over. Charlene was doing 2 care plans a week for months and it was driving her crazy. Morning, noon and night it was study, study, study and when the weekends hit, more study, 8 hour shifts as a CNA at CMH (don't you just love all those initials that stand for something...). About the beginning of November, it was time to prepare for the final. Whew! Talk about stress. In the old days, we'd both read the Sunday paper for an hour or two, relaxing with fresh brewed coffee and enjoying CBS Sunday Morning. This quarter of Nursing College, no way - no time. There was one time that she put her foot down and just plain relaxed with the Sunday paper. For a whole 30 minutes. I was so amazed that I grabbed the camera and snapped a photo. A real rarity. Then, back to the books. She passed the main portion of NS20 with a 'B"and then was thrown into a 4 week crash course of OB/GYN. Very intense (read a 100 pages and have a quiz the next day type of stuff). Nic, Trav and I noticed the stress building and sort of kept our distance to help out. I did a lot of cooking for us and she was very grateful. But the course got more intense, the stress increase and we kind of stayed out of her way. I'd come home from work and hide in the closet with Nic and Trav until it was time for me to go to work again. Well, it wasn't that bad but almost. Then, after the first week of December, it was time for the OB/GYN final. The bad thing was that no matter how great you did in the main portion of NS20, including the final, if you flunked OB/GYN, you flunked the entire semester of NS20 and had to redo it. Even more stress. A day or two before that final she had a great study partner come over and for hours they both crammed. Did I forget to mention that they both had the 2 week killer cold that's gong around. I just stayed in the background or on the back porch or in the closet. Once, I was checking my e-mail and looked at both and giggled to myself. They both had a roll of toilet paper to blow their noses on. Her study partner, Christine, had brought one and Charlene had her own. I snapped a picture and ran like hell.

The end result was they both passed OB/GYN with a very good grade and NS20 was a done deal. Now, she's enjoying almost 4 weeks off before NS30 starts. It's the toughest of all the Nursing courses. The one where the dropout rate is the highest. You either make it, flunk out or end up in the looney bin. So, come January 11, 2009, Nic, Trav and I will be in the closet with some food, water and the telephone. Wish us (and her) luck.