Presenting.....Ms. JellyBelly, RN

Yes siree...

I am now a REGISTERED NURSE!!

Can you believe it? I sure can't. I came home from walking Brandon and checked my cell phone. I saw this message from one of my classmates (A. Bernado): "hey we passed thanks joyce for the talk and support enjoy your wedding take care and keep in touch B".

Huh??? What? Really?

I tried calling him back as I was turning on my computer. He didn't answer. Ah crap. I looked my name up on the state boards website and there it was. My name, in black and white. Next to it: "Registered Nurse". WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT!!!

I called Mr. JB and of course, he wasn't there. I tried calling my mom too and she didn't answer the phone either. What the heck was going on?

I checked my email and found this message from L.W. and the subject was "Congrats to you Ms. RN!" and she wrote: "I knew you would pass! Yeah!"

Mr. JB returned my call and I said, "honey, guess what?" And he said, "no way! let me guess." I said "yeap, I passed". He was so excited. He said "I knew you'd pass. You're a smart cookie!" Aww..shucks!

I called my dad and he was so excited. He said, I knew you can do it. He was really excited for me. He said.."wow, I don't believe it." I said, "no daddy, really, I'm a registered nurse now". And then he paused and said "I'm very proud of you. You did really good. Congrats." And he asked what I was going to do celebrate. I said, "I have to take Bash to the doctor's". =)

Sigh.. I'm so excited! I have been waiting for two years for this moment. I didn't know if I would make it or not. Okay, that moment of doubt didn't come to me until last Thursday when I took the test.

Here's a breakdown of what happened on Thursday:

Mr. JB and I went to the test center together. He had to be there with me because we both knew I'd get lost if he wasn't there. He's my TomTom. ;) Even with a GPS, I get lost. So, it was good for me to have Mr. JB there. It eased my mind to know that I will get there on time and at the right spot. I parked at the garage and the attendant asked how long I was going to be. I said "Hopefully less than 2 hours but it can be as long as 6 hours." Mr. JB kissed and hugged me and wished me luck. I walked to the testing center. I was nervous as heck. Do I have all my paperwork with me? ID? Check. ATT? Check. Okay. I'm ready.

It was around 7:30 a.m. There were a few more people there waiting for the testing center to be opened. Okay. Let me use the bathroom really quick. WHen I came out of the bathroom, I saw that the testing center had opened and people were taking numbers already. I was #6. The girl at the site gave me two pieces of paper to read. Then, she started calling people one at a time to register. Okay. #4 was checked in and I thought to myself. Oh no. I have to use the bathroom again. I did. Then I sat down and then she called me. My heart started pounding. Holy moly. Okay. I was breathing through my mouth. Breathe in, breathe out. I sat down after the girl registered me. Put my things away, minus my ID card, in locker number 8. I need a drink. I drank a little bit of water. I felt my heart pounding and I took my own pulse. It was over 130. Eeek.. My normal heart beat is around 70. Oh boy. I'm nervous.

Another lady called me and another test taker into her station and went over the testing center rules with us -- how we can get breaks if we needed to by raising our hands but it will count against our time and how we can use the ear plugs as well. She gave us a erasable pad with marker. Okay. This is REAL. Heart pounding...

The lady put me in cubicle number 10. I put my ear plugs in and had to tweak it a little since O've never gotten a chance to use ear plugs before. The clock started as soon as I started the tutorial. And I started to take my test. Question #1, 2, 3, 4,...why am I getting all of these questions? Are the questions getting harder or easier? What's going on? Next thing I know, I was at question #50. Holy Moly. Question #50 already? How in the heck am I doing? All the damn questions. Ahhh.. I told myself: try to remember your questions #75 and try to answer it right. By this time, I was at question #74. What? Already? I selected an answer. Then moved on to question #75. Please please please..let me have more questions. Please please please. Then I hit next. The screen went blank! WHATTTTT!! No..I'm not ready! Please give me some more. I put my head down on the table and wanted to bang on it. OMG.

I came out of that testing room with a lot of anxiety. What was I studying all of this time? How come everything I was studying for isn't on there? What the heck? A waste of 2 years in college and a waste of another 6 weeks of studying. For nothing? Shit!

I walked to my car and tried to call Mr. JB. Of course, he left his cell phone at home. I tried calling one of my classmates S.B. and she wasn't answering either. I saw the attendant and said "oh..that's my car." He smiled at me with that "oohh...less than 2 hours..you must have done good" look. I just wanted to hug him and cry. I didn't. I got the car, and make a right turn on to the street and starting crying. It was horrible. I cried my way home. I didn't know what to say or do. I kept asking myself: did I even know any of those questions? What the heck is going on?

Sigh..

All I could do was just to wait and see my results. I was able to talk to Mr. JB and S.B. and vented out. They were all supportive. S.B. was so funny. She said, if you don't pass, I'll give you my left nipple. I said, alright. I'm coming for it.

My mom called and asked how I did. I said, I have no idea. Then Friday came. I was feeling much better. I was able to finish some wedding related things on that Thursday and also on Friday. Then on Saturday, I saw my dad and he asked how it was. I told him how I was feeling. He said, I'm sure you passed. Sunday, I told my sister in law about the test and she was certain I passed too. Monday, kept myself busy with last minute wedding stuff. Then today, I found out the good news.

Sigh...two years of waiting for this moment ....