NCLEX-RN

I appologize for the lack of quality writing in advance, and hope you can forgive me.

I left Moses Lake for Spokane on Monday at about 3pm. I was nervous and excited...but it all kind of felt surreal. My moms friend manages a hotel in Spokane, and he graciously gave me a free room (the one I talked about in my last post). So after the huhbub with changing rooms (btw, it was dirty. The housekeeper thought it was a stayover and just made the beds. I am so glad that I changed rooms.) And after finding the testing site, finding something for dinner, and returning to the hotel, I got to use the Internet (as evidenced by my last post) much to my intense pleasure. And at about 9:30 I decided to take a sleeping pill in order to aid me in sleep (I haven't been sleeping well at all recently). But it took awhile to kick in, and I called a few people, who helped me calm down. I was talking to a friend when the sleeping pill kicked in, and she told me later that I was slurring and sounded so sleepy. I fell asleep quickly, and had one of the best nights sleeps I have had in awhile.

I woke up completely relaxed, and then continued to get more and more nervous as I got ready. I left the hotel at 6:30am and arrived at the testing facility at 6:50am. I was the first person waiting at the door, but the second person into the testing room (another girl read the handout faster than I did). We weren't allowed to bring anything into the testing room, and after 10 questions I was dying for a drink of water. When prepping for the test, we were told that the first question would be easy, and then if you got it right, the questions got harder. I didn't think my first question wasn't easy at all. and I thought for sure I missed every single question.

The test shut off at 75 questions, which was the minimum number you can have. It had taken me 1.5 hours to get to that point. And I was positive I had failed.

After the test I called people to tell them I was done. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and then drove home.

Then it was the long wait. Even though there was no chance I would find out the same day, I started getting a little nervous. And I started remembering some of the questions I had. And After I looked them up, I realized I had answered them wong. So I got more nervous. Wednesday morning I checked to see if the department of health had posted anything using my moms phone. And then I continued to call her every few hours to see if anything had posted. Another girl from my class had taken the test last week, and she found out the next day that she had passed, so I expected the same. But nothing. I tried to do things to pass the time, but I was still able to think too much, even when I mowed the lawn and was listening to music with the volume way up. And I pretty myluch convinced myself that I had failed. And I was totally bumbed out.

By Wednesday evening I had still not heard anything. I had the worst headache in the world, so after taking some tylenol, I just went to bed, and I was surprised that I actually fell asleep. And it was probably the most restful sleep I've had at home since moving back.

I woke up this morning at 8:30am. Super early for me. I called a friend from school because my mom wasn't answering her phone, and my friend checked the DOH website for me. And nothing. So then I asked if she would check the testing site. You see, after 48 hours you can pay a fee to the place who administers the test and see your unofficial results. She pulled up the page, and there was a link telling me That I could pay the fee to find out. But I was talking to my friend on a cell phone, and she didn't think it was smart for me to read my credit card info over the phone. So after agreeing to pay her back, she put in her info.

It was the longest two minutes of my life.

During that time I went back and forth between telling myself that I had passed, and that I had failed, but really expecting the worse.

And then it finally appeared.

I had passed. And yes, she double checked just to make sure.

You know how at the end of beauty (or scholarship pageants) the last two finalists hold hands, and then after they announce the runner up the winner starts shaking and crying and laughing all at the same time? Yeah, that's what I did. I just kept saying "are you serious?" I just couldn't believe it. I seriously thought that I had failed.

Now that it's more than 12 hours later, I am still kind of in shock. But it's a nice kind of shock. And I know that I am going to sleep well.

Thanks to everybody who has believed in me and supported me up to this point in my life. Words cannot fully express the gratitude that so feel. I don't think I could have mad it to where I am today without all of you. Sappy, I know. But I really do mean it.

Next stop is a job. And I'll wait to post about everything that has been going on with that when I can get to a real computer and I'm not trying to type on my moms iphone.

Signing off: Laska King, RN BSN