One More Step Forward

I know I’m supposed to be taking a break from the blogging thing…

And I am. Seriously.

Okay, cut a girl some slack.  It’s a Sunday night.  The Super Bowl is on for crying out loud.  I know I’m not the only student out there who put their big red book down in order to watch some football! (Or to write a quick post while watching some football…  GO SAINTS, btw.)

Friday was a big day.  Friday was the day our class (as well as half the company who happens to own my school), tested out for ACLS.  Not such a big deal for them, hell, they’ve been there before.  Some of them several times.

For us, for the students, it was a biggish thing.  It was a milestone.

The class started with a handout.

Yikes. As if I wasn’t nervous enough already. (Excellent article btw!  I highly recommend it.  I’m working on locating it online.)

It continued with me several times forgetting the importance of ventilation.    At one point I was ordered to “exhale” by a classmate because I was “paler than usual”. My hands shook, my stomach hurt, and basically, I was a train wreck.

I stumbled through my practice run.  I didn’t make any critical mistakes, but I did have issues with the print button on the LP resulting in a few two foot long strips. I was a little slow on one of the rhythms that I would have known without thinking about it any other day.

I feel like I’m right where I was the last time I did this, minus the dislocated and fractured bones.

I headed out for lunch on my own, just needing some time to clear my head and give myself a little pep talk. I thought back to a classmate who just three days before had slid a note in front of me that said “YOU GOT THIS!”

And all of a sudden, I realized that I did.

I got this.

**********

The switch was flipped.

No shaky hands, no forgetting to breathe.  (I was still a little pale though.)

My point is, I was focused, I wasn’t nervous, and *this girl* emerged with a card.  (And for my old school Medics out there, I realize what ACLS has turned into, but at this point I have to take every step forward as a victory.  I reject your reality and substitute my own!)

For those of you who coached me, or studied with me, or maybe a little bit of both, Thank you.

One more step forward.