Nursing School 401.

Alright, I know you're probably tired of hearing about nursing school, but for the sake of tradition, I've got to debrief my last semester (you can read about my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd semesters if you are interested). This last semester was definitely the most relaxed of any that I walked through during my 5 years in college... By the 9th and final semester of my undergraduate career, I think I finally had a thing or two figured out about time management and maintaining a healthier perspective. I mean, I was still pretty busy, but in comparison to my previous semesters, it was a breeze and I did a better job of having a life outside of my studies! I had four classes this semester:

Senior Nursing Capstone
Psychiatric Nursing Didactic
Psychiatric Nursing Clinical
Nursing Leadership & Management

-Psychiatric Nursing-
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Nurse Ratched. That's what everyone's mind jumps to when they think of psychiatric nursing. My experience (both last summer and this semester) with psychiatric nursing has been far from the horrific scenes depicted in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I do recognize that psychiatric patients have a long history of being very poorly treated in the medical world, but things have improved by leaps and bounds since that time. I won't go into great detail about my experience as I have already written a lot about psych through my summer at the Mayo Clinic. One thing is for sure, I continue to grow to be more and more fond of working with this patient population. I love the counseling role that psych nursing affords and hope that it is part of my nursing career someday!

-Senior Capstone-
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You may remember my not-so-little quandary a few months back when I was trying to decide where I wanted to invest my time during my final semester of nursing school. After wrestling with the decision, I went with a little (and I do mean little) hunch and requested a placement on Bone Marrow Transplant. I have not been very consistent in writing about it, mostly because I'm still processing a lot of the things I walked through over the course of the past 5 months. Let me tell you, dear readers,
it absolutely rocked my little world!

I spent the majority of my time this semester on my capstone, putting in about 30 hours a week on the unit. My experience on BMT was nothing short of wonderful! Not only did I have an amazing preceptor, but I absolutely fell in love with oncology nursing. Oncology patients are truly some of the most beautiful people I have had the privilege of knowing. Whenever I tell people about this new found passion, I always seem to get the same response... "Why in the world would you want to work with cancer? It has to be SO sad!!!" Well, the reality is, there are some really sad things in the oncology world. I cannot even count the number of days I went home from the hospital with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes. But what I've discovered through it is that, though it can be incredibly heart wrenching and difficult, it is also an overwhelmingly profound and beautiful thing to be a part of. I didn't go into nursing to remove myself from hurt and pain in the world... I went into nursing to look some of the deepest pain and grief straight in the eye and seek to deliver grace, peace, hope and love in the messiness and suffering.

There is so much more that I could say about my experience, but the phrase "Le laid peut être beau" really sums it up better that I ever could... it's a French phrase meaning...
the ugly can be beautiful
the dark can give birth to life
suffering can deliver grace

And that is precisely why I want to work with cancer patients.

-What's next?-

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It is crazy to think that I am done with the long journey of nursing school. It has been quite the adventure... at times I swore it would kill me, but I made it in one piece. Now all I have to do is pass that big beast-of-a-test known as the NCLEX! As I am in this job searching season as a new graduate, I have my sights set on the oncology world. I am praying that God will bring me to the perfect job - whether that's in Utah or North Carolina or some place I haven't even dreamed of yet - I trust his heart and his plan. Whatever adventure awaits, I am beyond excited!!!