Keep on moving forward

On days like today, I wonder if I'm going to be able to work this job throughout my pre-reqs until I'm able to start a full time program and just live off student loans. "Black Friday"(what an annoying name!) is one of the busiest days of the year at my job. Most of the accounts that we answer for are closed, and so we get all the calls. While there's not a ton of clinical work to do (all the lonely people called in yesterday), the call volume is really intense. I worked for 8 hours and unless I was on one of my breaks or lunch, I was non-stop answering the phone.

When there are calls waiting to be answered because there isn't a counselor available, a little light flashes on our phones and sometimes there's a bell that rings. The bell part all depends on who the supervisor is at the time. So I can be talking to someone and I keep seeing the little light flashing telling me that when I get off that call, that I'll be expected to very quickly answer another one because someone, or several someones, are waiting on hold. It makes a stressful job even more stressful.

While my employer in some ways tries to really appreciate the employees, there is still an unspoken pressure to take more calls, often at the expense of the counselors' mental health. I mean like yesterday they brought in Thanksgiving day dinner for everyone and then today they had pizza. But there was barely enough time to eat the pizza today with the phones ringing off the hook like they were. Luckily I signed up for my lunch at the time the pizza arrived so I got a nice hot slice.

The more I think about it, the more I think that I'll be starting school full time in 2011. This means that I'll be at my job for like 2 years before I'm able to quit, and this thought is kind of freaking me out these days. On the one hand this is a good job in many ways for a student, especially since I don't have to take my work home like I have in other mental health/ counseling jobs. But on the other, hearing so much misery day in and day out is taking its toll. Not to mention the ergonomic issues that pop up after typing like crazy 32 hours/week. When I worked there 10 years ago, one of the main reasons that I left was due to developing carpal tunnel, which miraculously (I'm being sarcastic here) went away shortly after I quit.

I try to remind myself that at least I have a job, which is a lot more than a lot of people have these days. And there is relative job security where I am as well. The pay is decent for the type of work that it is and I can pick up extra shifts to make more money pretty much whenever I want to. I'm trying my hardest to think positive, but it sure is hard to do some days. Especially Black Friday.

Registration time

You would think that during the most stressful time of the semester, the lead up to finals, that the school would do what it can to ease the stress level of its students. But no, of course it can't be that way and they have to throw in registration for next semester in on top of all of the preparations for final exams.

Why is registration so stressful you might wonder? I mean it is a LOT easier than it used to be when I was first in undergrad. I remember going into this giant gymnasium filled with tables that all had signs and lists. You had to wander around, find the list of the class that you wanted to take and hope that the list was not filled up. There were long lines, lots of waiting around, as well as just general chaos and confusion. Now of course with the internet it's a lot easier, but it's not without frustration.

Portland Community College does its registration on a seniority kind of basis, in 4 groups. The groups can sign up at 4 starting points on registration day: 8AM, 10AM, 12PM and 2PM. If you have an associates from PCC or have taken a ton of credits, you can sign up for the next semester at 8AM. The other time slots are all based on how many credits you have taken at PCC. If you have taken 9 credits or less, you get the last time slot. I have 9 credits, so I was 1 credit shy of getting into the 3rd group. So I got online right at 2PM, went to sign up for the Nutrition class and was denied for every single section. All the waiting lists were full and closed as well.

With the economy being what it is and so many people trying to get into the healthcare field, as well as many healthcare programs having the same pre-requisites, there is some competition to get into these classes. I managed to get signed up for my Anatomy and Physiology class ok, but I tried signing up for nutrition last semester and this semester with the same results.

So what to do? Well I have a couple of options. One is that I went ahead and registered for Microbiology. I don't really want to take that together with another science class, but figured it would be good to have a backup. I may try to take the nutrition class at another community college that has less enrollment. The other 2 community colleges are out in the suburbs, but the course is online, so I don't physically have to go anywhere to attend class. Or I might go and beg an advisor to see if there is anything that can be done. Perhaps I should show up to the orientation session for the online class and beg the teacher to let me in? I'm not sure what I'll do, but I've got to do something because I REALLY don't want to take Micro with A&P. I need to get A's in my pre-reqs and taking 2 intensive science classes in the same semester is not the way to reach that goal.

So we'll see what happens...I'm sure it will all work out. I just have to take a deep breath and not get frustrated by the obstacles because this journey sure is full of them. Is it worth it? Only time will tell.

Study time

In the class syllabus that I got, my Anatomy and Physiology teacher said the following:

"It is important that you maximize your study time. It is common for a person to put in 2 hours of studying for every hour of class time."

So I have class Tue/Thu from 6PM-9PM (approximately, there are breaks in there between lab and lecture). That's 3 hours per day, 6 hours per week. Per my teacher's advice, I should be studying 12 hours/week. How much am I really studying?

I would say that I put in at least 20 hours of studying per week for my A&P class, sometimes up to 30 hours per week. Luckily my Human Development class doesn't require a lot of work, so my homework time is minimal. This, on top of 32 hours/week of working adds up to a lot of my time being occupied.

Today for example, I've put in at least 6 hours of studying. Tomorrow I plan to put in another 5-6. I have a lecture and a lab quiz tomorrow and need to get A's in both. This means lots of studying. I sure am looking forward to Christmas break when I'll just have work and no studying during my off time!

Sleep deprivation

This term has been particularly challenging not only because of the subject material in my Anatomy class, but also because of my work and school schedules not meshing very well. I work as a telephone crisis counselor Wednesday-Saturday early bird shift. The starting times on my shifts change a bit, but on the days after I have my evening classes I have to be at work at either 4:30 or 5AM. I get out of class at 8:50PM Tue/Thu and 9:30PM Wed. To say that I walk around in a zombie-like daze Wednesday-Friday is somewhat of an understatement. It's very difficult to operate on a semi-normal level with only 4-5 hours of sleep under your belt.

Last week I had an exam on Tuesday night and was so wired up from being worried about it that I had total insomnia that night. I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep and then had to be ready to go and talk with suicidal and/or crazy people for 8 hours. Nothing like trying to talk down a suicidal person at 4:30AM, sleep or no sleep. Plus I'm trying to cut down on coffee because it was increasing my anxiety. I'm drinking mate instead which still has some juice to it, but it doesn't give that kick like a cup of good ol' joe. Sometimes I break down and have a latte if it's the day after a night with less sleep than usual or if I'm particularly stressed out at work.

Next semester will be better. I plan to take a class that only meets once/week in the evening for the lecture, and then will take the lab once/week during one of my days off from work. My other class will be online and so I can do it on my timeline. I know that everyone prepping for nursing school and in nursing school has their own version of tough times, but I can't help but think that this semester has got to be up there in the top ten as far as rough ones go.

Technology and me

Something that's been really interesting for me has been being a student in the year 2009 and what that means technologically. The last time that I was in school was 1993-1995 when I was in graduate school and while I actually did have an email and did chat rooms the last year of school, the internet was just beginning back then and was nothing like it is today. I'm finding that while I'm somewhat of a technological idiot, that the internet especially is really helpful in learning Anatomy and Physiology.

First of all my textbook has a companion website. I credit my A in my first term of A&P to that website. Each chapter has labeling exercises, an MP3 lecture that you can listen to and put on your Ipod, and a myriad of quizzes along with an end of the chapter test. The lab book has pictures of the models and cadavers and such that we need to look at and also has quizzes and reviews. It's very helpful in preparing for the tests and quizzes to do these exercises.

Another thing that I'm really digging on is the PCC website. Each instructor has a course website where they post the power points, handouts, and other documents as well as have an area for discussion, like an online bulletin board for the class. In my cell biology class my teacher assigned us to respond to 5 online discussion questions over the course of the term. It was cool because then you could also see what everyone else was writing about. My teacher this term posts our grades online (it's not a public posting, just you can see it) so that you can keep track of how you are doing class by class. And the PCC site also gives access to the library, including being able to read articles and stuff in the comfort of your own home. You don't have to actually go to the library to do research anymore!

Finally, there are so many sites that have really helpful information that help you study. One of my favorites is Web Anatomy from the University of Minnesota: http://msjensen.cehd.umn.edu/Webanatomy/
This site rocks because there are all kinds of self quizzes with pictures where you have to choose the correct names of things. I found this really helpful for learning the bones and muscles.

Anyway, it's a different world now for the student and tomorrow I'm going to take it to another level. I went to the Apple store yesterday and the guy said that I can use Garage Band on my laptop to record the lecture, that I don't have to buy one of those recorder things. I'm totally going to check it out!!!

New blog

Well I had fun with my Brazilian blog and have kind of missed blogging so figured I would devote some time (what little I have) to writing about my experience of taking pre-requisites in preparation for either nursing school or physician's assistant school. I'm leaning more towards nursing at this time, but have not ruled out PA.

So what's happened since I left Brazil? Well I got back to the US in March 2009 and kind of spontaneously decided to start taking cell biology, which is the pre-req for Anatomy and Physiology at Portland Community College. I met up with my friend Dave, who had started pre-reqs in the winter term and as I had been pondering a career change and a move in the direction of medicine, I decided to take the leap and start taking class. It also gave me something to do since I was unemployed and had some time to study.

Coincidentally I had 2 friends in the class who I knew from before and a friend of a friend who I quickly became close to. We formed a study group fondly called "Team Mitochondria" and proceeded to kick some cell biology ass. I hadn't taken any sciences since high school (with the exception of geology in undergrad that I didn't really apply myself to and got a C in) and was nervous about diving into the world of definitive answers, but after a lot of studying, and one crying breakdown in the coffee shop in front of my study group, I managed to get an A in the course. It also helped that my teacher was AWESOME and really wanted her students to learn. It was a nice introduction into this journey that I'm on now.

Summer term was my introduction to Anatomy and Physiology and it was a rough one. Summer term is 12 weeks of material crammed into 8 weeks and my teacher was a horrible lecturer. I have her for lab this term and have come to appreciate her in lab, but I had to basically teach myself the material and had to study absolutely everything to be prepared for the exams. I somehow managed to pull off an A, but it was really hard.

This term has been my most challenging one yet for a number of reasons. First of all I work early bird shift Wednesday-Saturday. This means I start work at 4:30AM on Wednesday and Thursday and at 5AM on Friday. Saturday I get to "sleep in" and start at 6:30AM. I have class until 8:50PM on Tue/Thu and 9:30PM on Wednesdays. I'm lucky if I get 5 hours of sleep Tue-Thu nights. I find myself walking around in a zombie like state just doing the bare minimum on those days and then recovering and studying the rest of the week.

I'm taking 2 classes this term, my first term with 2, and one of them is REALLY difficult. I'm taking the 2nd term of Anatomy with a different teacher than I took over the summer. While I think she's a really good teacher, she's also really, REALLY hard. I don't have that nice cushion I had at over the summer term of being able to go into the final exam with a solid A. I'm fighting for every point that I can get and it's a lot of stress. Luckily my Human Development class on Wednesdays is interesting and easy.

Well, I actually need to get studying so will sign off for now, but look forward to writing more about my experiences. I also would love to hear from any readers of suggestions for passing A&P with a good grade and also about nursing school vs. PA school. Or should I take the big leap and try for medical school?! It might be fun to have 2 doctors in the family (my dad is a pediatrician)!!