hello my fellow classmates. i have missed seeing you on a regular basis. you guys were my family in utah for a while. i just thought i would let you all know that i finally passed the NCLEX in october after only the 5th attempt. and i would let you all know that utah has changed it's laws so you can no longer take the NCLEX as many times as you want. you now have 3 years, or 4 attempts to take it or you have to go back to school. i took my 4th attempt on the day they changed the rules so only by the grace of god i was able to slip through the cracks, but i took a course by hurst and it was totally worth it cause the 5th time i got 75 questions. i am so glad it is behind me so i can now move forward!!! hope all is going well for you all!!

.one year.

this marks the one year mark...how does it feel? everyone says the first year as a new nurse is the worst..i'm lucky mine has been awesome! how do you all feel about the first big milestone?

Hey Jake, I am glad you are doing great and Noah is adorable. Good luck on the new house. When did you start ICU? I have toyed with the idea, but not quite ready for it yet. I am still in womens services. Med/Surg tele. and with be tele certified and chemo certified shortly. I love it but they are short staffed and I have had to relief charge a couple of times and it scares me to death. I think you are so smart to continue with school. I wish I would have just kept going, now I think it will really be a struggle to go back. My work does not offer part-time and until they do, there is no way I can throw school on top of work. Maybe next year when we move back. I still hope to get my masters some day. It is so good to hear everyone is doing well and enjoying there jobs, it is still amazing that we are done and working nurses. And we started Ameritech off with a bang thats for sure. I think having hard working nurses to start with allows the next classes more job opportunities. Anyways the best thing about Vegas is the unions, I am not a member but they keep salaries up with great yearly raises. We have a few nurses who make around $42.00 and with the offered overtime and incentives they can make $80 an hour. It is sickening thats for sure, but hey if you ever want a change you can contract as a traveler for 13weeks make a ton of money and go partying at night. Good luck with everything and keep in touch

Good to hear from Everyone!

Paula I am glad they finally excepted you down south! I was getting a bit worried that you might have taken up pole dancing or some other exotic profession. J/k. Well I am glad that everybody is doing so well. I little bit about me since the last time we chatted. I am still doing my BSN through BYU-I on line. I want to shoot my brains out because it is so much busy work and paper after paper, but don't let that deter any of you from going on. I am glad I choose to keep going, it will all be worth it in the end right? (at least that is what I keep telling myself) I am working in the ICU at TRH in Orem and I love it. I am toying with the idea of applying to CRNA school next year. Yeah I know you are all thinking typical male nurse, what a dork! I want to go on to get a MSN before I choose to never go back. My son Noah will be turning two in august crazy huh! Enjoy the picture of us hiking. My wife and I put an offer on a home in Spanish Fork so we are crossing our fingers. Well I hope everybody is doing well. take care until next time.
Jake Hunsaker

.update.

well hello everyone! i thought i'd just drop in and see what everyone is doing now?? anyone doing something fun and exciting? i'm still just here in the PACU at intermountain medical center (also known as the death star). my job is pretty sweet because i work 3 twelves and no nights or weekends. i love the people i work with and am learning tons and tons. i have seen kristy bentley a few times, she works in the neuro icu. tell us what you're up to!

ashley owens

Hey everyone, my license officially transferred to Nevada. yippee!! So we are staying for another school year. We are loving it down here. I love my job but hate the drug addicts that are frequent flyers with "abd pain" and take enough narcotics to kill a giant elephant. But its all good. I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying there work.

Home at last!!

Here is the latest!!!!
Hey everyone, We are home and doing well. We got home late on wednesday. Everything is going well. Christine is having some pain from the surgery on monday, but otherwise is feeling okay. Today is Randy's birthday so he is having a good birthday. Yeah we are home!!! Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers, Randy and Sarah Phillips

some better news

Here is Sarah's update.
Hello Everybody, Just a quick update. We are still in LA. Christine is off ECMO and should be off the ventilator in a few hours. She is responding and can recognize me and Randy. She is answering yes and no questions and she is very mad that she can't talk. They are having to keep her restraints right now because she keeps trying to pull out her vent. I can't really blame her. Right now our problem is, our insurance won't approve transfering back to Utah. So she is going to surgery for a pacemaker/defibulator on Monday morning and then hopefully discharge on wednesday. Then we'll either fly or drive her home ourselves. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. Kristy or Lupita can you please update David at work and let him know I'll call when I know we're coming home? Thanks again, Sarah Phillips

Help needed

I got this e-mail from Sarah on Friday night and feel I need to forward it to everyone. Sarah and her family needs all the love, prayers and support that we can give them.
Dear Friends, Early Thursday morning our oldest daughter Christine went into cardiac and then respiritory arrest. I was able to preform CPR within one minute and continued until Paramedics arrived. She is currently being cared for at Rady's Childrens Hospital in San Diego California as we were on a family vacation. She is currently in stable but critical condition. She is on a ventilator, ECMO, heavily sedated, and has just been started on TPN. The current plan is that she will be transfered to UCLA Medical Center tomorrow (Sat.) as they have the ability to better wean her from ECMO and possibly place her on an LVAD. This would make it easier to transport her home to Primary's. There are many people praying for our little girl and am asking for you to join us. For those of you who are LDS, our ward is starting a fast for Christine Sunday night at 8:00 if you are interested in joining us in that fast. Please let other friends know. I am only contacting people whose email addresses I have with me. Please pray for my family. Sarah Phillips

Sunny California!!

Well it is good to hear that everyone is doing so well. I want to let everyone know that your licence will officially transfer to California if need be. I just got my permanent California license in the mail yesterday!! I was a little scared for a minute because Ameritech had to write them a letter but Carla did it personnally and took care of it right away. Everyone is right that says nursing in California is totally different. Nurses always going on strike, and you would think California would be technologically advanced but hey not where I'm working the glucose monitors are the size of a shoe box and that is minor compared to other things. Hey at least it is warm upper 70's this week!! Hope everyone is good and enjoying life!

Friends in all sorts of places...

So yesterday my daughter tipped over her chair eating breakfast and cut open the back of her head on the back of the chair. I cleaned her up and then we headed over to the Instacare here in Orem. Lo and behold, Jen M. is our nurse! I love to have these connections from school and such. It's fun to see everyone practicing and doing well. Good job everybody!

hello everyone!!

Hi it has been a long time since we have all talked. Well I had my baby girl on March 8. She is beautiful and a lot of fun. She was 7lb 3oz and 20 in. We are doing great. It was funny right before I gave birth Anne H. walked in. ( It was her first day at JVH in the nursery) She was there to take care of my baby right when she was born. Thanks Anne! I hope you are all doing well.
Jessica W.

..Somos Infirmeria..

Oi, from Brazil. Melissa and I are soaking up the rays with our hubbies in Brazil for 2 weeks. We thought it would be fun to take a picture near the clinic in Foz de Iguassu, but we've all talked about how we want to be taken to the consolate and flown home should any of us find ourselves injured or ill. It has been nice to have some time off work, but look forward to getting back to the norms of everyday life. It is very weird living in a third world country for 14 days, but it has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Hope life is treating everyone well and we'll see you back in the states on March 4th.

Nurses needed!!!

Hey everyone,
Sorry I haven't been here for a while, been busy working. Good luck Jana, just keep trying, don't give up. I'm working in dialysis as before, but as a nurse now!!! and I just wanted to let you know or if you could pass it along to other nurses, or future nurses, that we are VERY short staffed in the dialysis field. The company I work for, has 3 facilities right now, and is to open 3 more in May, there are three in the valley, 1 will be in bountiful, 1 in layton, and 1 in ogden. But we can't find any nurses, we have posted in the want ads and other online stuff for months, but no luck. So if anybody's still looking for a job, or wants a change it's an awesome field I promise. we do 3 12's, pay starts at $21, (they might negotiate at this point), health, dental, 401k, blah, blah, blah! all of that stuff too. If you get into it, later on you could do acutes which is at the hospital, or work in the home department, which is kinda really easy for the most part. Anyway...let me know if anyone's interested or know of anyone. Congradulations to everyone who's passed so far, and good luck to the one's who still need to take the test. my email is jenlilfoot@yahoo.com if anyone has questions directly for me.

jen t -oops now its davenport lol

strike two. third times the charm?.......failed again :(

Hello peoples!

Hey!  I just wanted to let you all know that I PASSED with 75 questions.  I am so happy about it!!!  I just moved down to Labor & Delivery at Timp last week.  Everything is going well w/ us.  My hubby just started up to school again and it is causing major scheduling stress in our household.  I am so, so, so thankful though that I am graduated and I am an RN and that I never, ever have to take that bloody test again!!!  Happy day!

Hello everybody

Life has been too crazy for me. Vacations to Florida and Tennessee and the holidays. Painting the house, new carpet and new hardwood floor. Guess I'll get serious to study:) beings I'm taking my 1st and only test at the end of January. :) Jana--you'll do fine!! Everybody have a great day and will try and check in once in awhile to see how everybody is doing!! Take care, Coretta

Hello everyone

Hello everyone. I just wanted to say congratulations to everyone who has passed and good luck to everyone who is going to re-take it or has yet to take it the first time. I just started at Intermountain Medical (the new IHC hospital) in the Neuro ICU. If anyone is in the neighborhood stop by and say hello. Take care everyone.

jan 29th 8 am

thank you all so much for your wisdom and encouragement. it means more to me than i can tell you!!! i have scheduled to take boards again on jan 29th. all prayers are appreciated. (all religions accepted :-) ) congrats to paula and her new job, and congrats to everybody who is finally getting started with their lives as new RN's. i can't believe that we made it all of the way through!!

congrats/job

Good Luck Jana, just remember you deserve to pass. Congrats to you guys (Nancy and Jen T) That is awesome, and it surely relieve a lot of stress. I just had surgery and got job while I was a patient. They interviewed me while I was in the hospital in my pajamas, with bed head and on percocet. I start Jan 21st in womens services which is a surgical and cancer wing for women (no men foley's for me). Anyways I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoy the snow.