Countdown begins!

It's T minus 27 days until the nursing program begins. I feel that I have most of my shit together: bought the required (OVERPRICED) white scrubs and textbooks (used from amazon.com sellers), registered for classes, and got fingerprinted and an official student nurse name badge. The summer was spent getting all of my medical history together. Cuesta requires proof that you are immune to diptheria, tetanus, pertussis,measles, mumps, rubella, varicella, hepatitis B and the flu (shot still to come in the fall!). In addition, you must get a 2 step TB test to prove you're not infected. I was happy to see that this was wicked cheap at the County Health Department *be sure to mention you're entering nursing school and you'll get it for that discounted price--approx $18 per stick. Basically, the 2-step test meant that I went in, got the intradermal injection, came back a week later to get a second injection and then the nurse read that second test 48 hours later. Yes, I passed.
The immunity proof went fairly smoothly, as I had record of a recent DTaP shot and titer reports from the lab on Hep B. I figured I'd do the same for my MMR and varicella. I got my blood drawn and varicella antibodies were great, as were measles and rubella. However: I found out I am not 'immune' to mumps. Very weird. Cuesta requires proof of antibody titers or 2 MMR shots. I have record of at least 2 MMR boosters in the military, and by my count I've had at least 6 lifetime MMR shots. But the titer was still not high enough to pass. After discussing it with the nurse at public health, I decided to go ahead and get another booster--just to be safe. She gave me a discount, since it's for nursing school: $24 (normally $75, plus some more fees!). I got a helluva discount on CPR training with Steph Ponti, who runs hearthero.org. She's great! Finally, I had a physical with drug testing performed at Med Stop in San Luis Obispo. These guys really were terrific. No appointment, but I had to wait no longer than 20 minutes.

Our nursing school class has a facebook page and I am enjoying getting to know the online personalities of everyone that's posted so far. I think we have a great group of people--varied ages and life experiences. It should be fascinating to work with these folks!