I was hired into a medical/surgical unit at a hospital on the North side and I am thrilled. It is a really tough market for new graduates. Despite a nationwide nursing shortage, it is difficult for new RNs, which require a significant investment of time and money, to compete with experienced nurses. I am extremely fortunate to have gotten this position.

And that's it. Fears: explored. Life: shared. LCD television: purchased. Rectal suppositories: inserted. Pigeons: admired. Manikins: respected. IVs: started. Patient death: experienced. Colostomy bags: emptied. Medications: administered. Babies: held. Bedsores: gross. Patients: cared for. People: helped.

Blog: completed.

Matthew Meador, RN

We are the fourth (and best) cohort of students to go through our program. I made a lot of good friends over the past year plus. With minimal sentimentality, I will say that I'll miss everyone, and trust that we are going to do some amazing things for the people we serve.


I take the NCLEX on June 24th, the final hurdle to overcome. The woman who taught the Kaplan review course called it "the ultimate feel bad experience". Awesome, can't wait.

We had our RN Licensure Completion Program today. Can't rightly call it a graduation, as no actual degree was conferred. But as I said in the welcome message (I was asked to emcee the event; I give myself a B- for this assignment), "today is a rite of passage more important than the degrees that come later". Now I just have to pass a test that will determine if I am competent enough to care for your loved ones.

We have a nursing museum on the fourth floor of the College of Nursing, complete with old uniforms, photos, a couple letters written by Florence Nightingale, and trashy nurse romance novels. The place is creepy and awesome.

Ugh, I did so well on this blog for a good amount of time. Then I got busy, and got bored with it, and my life was kind of weird for a while, and keeping up on this was the last thing I felt like doing. But it would be shameful for me not to bring closure to something that I had promised myself I would finish. So here is the abruptly constructed, somewhat disappointing and anticlimactic third act and denouement of the last 16 months of my life.


Unrelated to anything, we decided to be Three Men and a Baby for Halloween 1998. This picture was recently sent to me, and it seemed a shame not to share it.

The graffitist added more credentials.

Probably the best book cover I've ever seen, although most people would consider a lightning bug about to devour their eardrum a major emergency.

We took a class picture today to be hung on the wall of the College of Nursing. I was asked my opinion about which of the ten photos should be selected, and while the one with Joanna grabbing Katy's boob was hilarious, I didn't think it appropriate for posterity.

We tested the slipperiness of a banana peel during lunch. Some slippage, but definitely not enough for a serious pratfall.

I found this Mini-Breast in a College of Nursing closet. It has little lumps in it to teach people how to give themselves breast examinations. This picture doesn't give much scale; it is about the size of an Oreo.

We have a graffitist in the ER who likes to mess with the flyers in the employee bathrooms.

Even though I stopped watching ER after Mark Green died, I felt I owed it to the show to tune in for the finale. Now that I know a thing or two, I have to say that the medical language they use is pretty accurate.

These wooden flowers totally faked me out today. The false lily and bird of paradise led me to believe that Spring was really here.

After a grueling twelve hour shift, I stopped by Arnie and Sarah's new place to find everyone playing Mall Madness. What a dumb game.

Mike Pitts at the Capitol. He has given me a lot of shit recently about not updating my blog. Maybe this will shut him up.

A busload of nursing students went to Springfield today for Nursing Political Action Day. Every year student nurses from all over the state gather to listen to nurse leaders and learn about our responsibilities to our profession, then march to the Capitol building.

During the lunch break, Jenny and I visited Abraham Lincoln's house. I definitely appreciated the history more than I did in seventh grade, when I was more concerned about a chaperone finding out about the Bowie knife I bought at the New Salem Historic Site and confiscating it. Seriously, who sells a knife to 12 year old?

I wonder if the passenger who sat here completed the sudoku before or after urinating everywhere.

Draft Day. Kuta hoists the Jeremy Hernandez Memorial League trophy above the city. He threepeated this year, much to the annoyance of the nine other general managers. Bastard.

Every year me and Bill and Trupe and Nick get together for ribs flown up from Rendezvous, a famous rib joint in Memphis. Vivian joined us this year, and as it would be irresponsible to let a one year old chew on a rib bone, she ate fruit and cheerios as we dined on our annual delicacy.