for those wanting the transcript... ;)

i've had several messages saying that people couldn't watch my pinning speech, so i thought i'd post it here for your reading pleasure.  :P

i've neglected my blog way too long.  life has just been soo crazy.  finishing the lpn program, finals, pinning, PASSING BOARDS!!!!!!, and starting back to school to finish my rn...whew.  so yeah.  i'm going to try to be back.  it may be sporadic at first.  but i've only got a little over 8 months to go and i'll be DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!!!  i'll have my LIFE back!  i'll be able to focus on something besides tests and studying.  woo hoo!!!

speaking of tests and studying...i have a really tough one tomorrow night.  i need to get back to this mess.  i'll leave you with my speech.  ps.  i told myself i wouldn't cry while i was speaking...yeah, nice try.  :P 

faculty members, fellow students, family and friends, welcome. 
    i would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow classmates for choosing me to speak tonight at our pinning.  i know it was just because i'm the only one in the class that doesn't mind speaking in public (just kidding).  i am honored and humbled to be standing here in front of you all.  :)
        you should be a nurse when you grow up...
    i heard this several times when I was younger and i always responded with a resounding NO WAY.  having been diagnosed with crohn's disease at age 13, i had spent too much of my time in hospitals, and i was not about to willingly choose a career that would place me there every day. 
    when i was first diagnosed, i had no idea the impact crohn's disease would have on my life.  i had never been hospitalized, but suddenly found myself with an IV in my arm awaiting my very first colonoscopy--um, i'm sorry--you're putting WHAT WHERE??  needless to say i was terrified. 
    after many years of doctor visits, medications, hospitalizations, and surgeries, i became bitter and angry. every day was a struggle.  but after one last life saving surgery, my outlook changed.  crohn's disease would not defeat me.  i would not let it, and i wanted to somehow help others do the same--but NOT as a nurse.  my mind was made up, and it would take something extremely significant to change it. 
              three and a half years ago, i developed fistulas in my skin in which i needed to change the dressings and repack the wounds every day in order to allow them to heal.  it was painful.  and disgusting.  but it was by far the coolest thing i'd ever done.  i cracked up when I realized, yes, i am meant to be a nurse.
    so here we are.  we are nurses.  it seems like yesterday that we were sitting in the big classroom in the other building wide eyed and freaked out.  nothing could have prepared us for the things that we would experience in the next two years.  flashcards redecorated many of our houses and even the dashboards of our cars.  we spent late study nights gulping gallons of caffeine just to try to figure out what in the heck parasympathomimetics meant.  even in our sleep we were not exempt from nightmares of writing those dreaded careplans!!!  nursing diagnosis: anxiety related to never ending tests as evidenced by nausea, tachycardia and diaphoresis.
    we all have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles.  we have become more efficient and achieved more than we ever thought we could.  and we finally figured out what parasympathomimetics are!!  in the last two years we have gone from being strangers to being a team...a family.  we have seen each other at our best, and our worst.  we have fallen apart together and picked each other back up again.  we have persevered. 
    yet, we didn't get to this moment by ourselves.  the past two years, you, our families and friends have stood by us as we stressed and worried, cried and laughed, and bailed on you yet again because we had to study.  we apologize.  but we also thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us and standing with us as we reached for our dreams.  without your sacrifice and encouragement, we would not be here.   
    i would also like to thank our instructors both in the classroom and the clinical setting for standing with us and teaching us.  you have imparted much knowledge, experience and wisdom to us and for that we are forever grateful.  you have been incredible role models and your hard work has given us a foundation in which we will continue to build on for years to come.  thank you!
    After tonight, many of us will go our separate ways.  Some of us will start new jobs, some will continue their education, one of us will even serve our country deployed overseas.  i have never been more proud of myself or my nursing buddies.  this is our night.  this is OUR night!  the night we have sacrificed and worked so tirelessly towards.  tonight, my friends, we are nurses.  congratulations!!!