Tandy Larson, RN!

That's me!

Okay. Now that THAT is over. Phew!

Life is good. No, it's great. :)

I took the NCLEX on the 22nd of January. My anxiety level was through the roof! I studied, took practice tests, and prayed. The prayers were more for calm and clarity and peace - not so much for passing. I knew that was on me. The anxiety part was what I needed help with. It was horrible. When I scheduled the test, Aaron suggested I stay in a hotel the night before so I could have some time to myself prior to the big day.

I took the test in Ogden. I drove up early in the afternoon the day before and met up with some friends that live in Northern Utah for dinner at Maddox. I went to the grocery store to get some snacks for that night and the next morning at the testing center. I decided to rent a PPV movie at the hotel and relax in my pj's. It was a good thing to do. I knew I was as prepared as I was going to be, so I opted not to study that day at all. I went to bed around 10:30 with some help from melatonin.

I woke up at 6:00 Friday morning - not so happy about that. One of the few times no one has been around to wake me up and I had to get up anyway! I had breakfast at a place right next to the hotel and drove to the testing center that was only a few minutes away. The parking lot had a few cars in it with people that were looking through notecards and different study materials. I saw someone walk into the building so I went inside too. I have never liked waiting to test, I didn't want to be the last one in out of a group of us. I was second in line and got through the verification process pretty quickly. I was feeling oddly calm. I sat down to take the test and started clicking through the questions. I made a conscious effort not to pay much attention to what question I was on, there's a minimum of 75 and a maximum of 265 - I didn't want to get discouraged if the test kept going past 75. Most of the questions weren't too bad. I was taking about one minute per question. At question 72 I needed a calculator. I clicked through 3 more questions after that and the screen went blank. Just like that. 75 questions is most often a good sign, and I was relieved. I felt like I had done well. I cannot put into words the peace I felt about it all, and I knew that my prayers had been answered.

I tried the "Pearson trick" as soon as I had internet access and I got the good pop-up. I was encouraged. Sunday morning I checked the Pearson website and my results were available for $7.95. I decided to check so I would know for sure. That's when I saw PASS. Ahhhhh. Relief. Freedom. Success. Pride. Joy!

I have spent the last 12 days enjoying the fact that studying is not a part of my daily routine. It's not a nagging thought at the back of my mind. It doesn't take priority over being a mom, a wife, cleaning the house, reading a book for fun, or taking time to take care of myself. I hardly know what to do with all of this free time!

I have started working officially as an RN and will be orienting with a preceptor for the next two weeks or more. I am really excited about all of this but being the nurse is an intimidating place to be!