D Parnell, CNA <----how I chart now :)

Oh yeah. I passed! :)

When we got there Friday morning I was about ready to pass out I was so danged nervous! I didn't eat in the morning because my stomach was so yucky and by mid-afternoon I thought I was gonna pass out!

Angela was a little late getting me so we weren't able to stop at Starbucks, I have a thing for their Pumpkin Spice Steamer (Steamer=steamed milk, no coffee in this drink, oh and it's AWESOME.) So off we went to school...ready to take our test!

We got there and 25 of us were waiting for our testers to come and introduce themselves. Our lecture instructor, Jan, came and tried to calm us all down and go over some last minute things with us. Finally, the testers from Los Angeles, for the Red Cross, showed up and we were on our way!

They had us come up one by one with all of our documents and checked us in for the test. The lady who took my information saw that I was born in Torrance, CA and she is from there! I think later on, I got better marks from her from being from Torrance...LOL!

One lady in our class, a little older than most of us (50's), had a very old social security card and they weren't able to read her number clearly and so she was not able to test. I felt terrible for her, she was so upset, she quickly left.

Then, SURPRISINGLY, they started from the END of the alphabet with skills! I'm kinda middle-ish, but I got to go with the first group. We went to the skills lab and prepared to test on our skills first. I got paired with a girl from my class named Peggy.

First, I got the lady from Torrance, and I went first, while Peggy was my patient. I drew respirations. Resps are EASY, count how many times someone breaths in ONE minute. I've got that under control! Too bad Peggy was VERY nervous and was shaking in the bed while I was trying to watch her breath! LOL She was trying to calm herself and so her breathing was so slow I had to say I would report an abnormal vital sign to the nurse because her breathing is just too slow! The lady from Torrance also passed me off on handwashing...which I was worried about because I'm short and have a hard time reaching without letting my uniform touch the sink. Peggy measured my height (thank goodness she didn't draw weight!) and we were off to the next station.

Second, we were tested by an older woman on personal care. I ran for the wristband and peggy had to go first. She drew brush the resident's teeth and so she had to pretend to brush my teeth. Then, the lady took out all of the oral care related skills and only four were left for me to choose from. The one I really didn't want was perineal care (brief changing) because it's awkward to simulate on a classmate! LOL I drew nail care. Whew! I washed Peggy's hands and pretended to clean under her nails and trim them (pretend) and the lady kept interrupting me to ask me questions, snapped at me when I responded and overall I started to feel like I was a complete idiot and not ready for this at all!

The third round Peggy beat me to the bracelet so I chose first. I drew change resident to the side lying position. Yay! LOL So I rolled Peggy onto her side and stuck some pillows behind her and between her legs and viola! Done! At one point my tester got really upset and ran out of the room and yelled for me to go stand against a wall, come to find out she was getting a parking ticket while I was testing...LOL! Overall, I felt confident in my skill. Peggy drew range of motion exercises and she did a great job.

The older lady gave us our scores and surprisingly she wrote the NICEST things on my test papers! After all the yelling, being sharp and critical, and all of that, she was NICE! LOL I passed with no problems and got my card for the skills part of the test.

I took my registration papers back to the classroom and took the written exam. I think I missed four because that's how many times I saw her mark my paper, but they don't tell you, it's just pass or fail. I was the first in my class to get my certificate because it took me very little time to do the test.

I waited for Jennifer and Angela to be done. Jennifer's last name starts with a V so she was in my group but Angela's last name starts with an A and she was doing her skills. Jennifer and I went and ate some lunch and when we came back Angela had been given her certificate and we were all OFFICIAL CNA'S!

So it's official, I passed the class! Got my certification! Now to get to work! But I think I've got that one covered... :)