So today has been a bit of a last minute panic with a rush to get outfits while still not knowing for definite that it would actually be happening.

As anyone who reads my blog regularly will know, I have been studying to complete a foundation degree to become a Nurse Associate.
This is a new position created by the government to bridge the gap between Band 2 support workers and Band 5 fully qualified nurses and it was initially offered across the country to existing support workers with varying years of experience.

The first wave started in the Autumn of 2016 and I was part of the second wave in March 2017.

The course has been tough. It’s had it’s ups and downs. I refuse to tell anyone it’s been great and that you should ‘go for it’ without telling them about the commitment they will be making to literally ‘give up’ their days off for two whole years!

I was lucky enough to have a two week holiday in the first year for my Brother’s wedding in Italy, but it came at the expense of having to submit an essay 2 weeks early, and it ‘did’ effect my mark. Still passed it though, so can’t complain!
Apart from that though, no day off was had without thinking about essays, reports and projects. Even when you sneak in an actual day off, you’re thinking about what you ‘could’ be doing for Uni. There’s no ‘switching off’.

Anyway, for two years I didn’t do too bad. I got predominantly ‘A’ and ‘B’ grades and things were going great. The final piece of work had to be submitted in January and then it was time to start thinking about graduation.
I confirmed my attendance and bought guest tickets before they ran out.

And then……..

I got my final piece of work back, only to find that I had ‘FAILED’
I was devastated.
I don’t know what went wrong.
Had I become a little too complacent?
Had I just read the brief wrong and taken it in the wrong direction?

Things went from bad to worse as I then found out that the re-submission date wouldn’t be until 20th March, which meant the result probably wouldn’t be in until ‘AFTER’ my cohort graduates.
The next opportunity for graduation wouldn’t be until June/July time.

So I resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be able to graduate with the rest of my cohort. I re-worked my final piece of work, submitted it and waited.

I don’t know what made me do it, but I logged onto my results last Thursday and discovered that I had passed!
GREAT!!
Except that it still needed to go to panel to be finalised.

So I sent an email to the faculty office to see where I stood with Graduation.
I wasn’t holding out much hope because I had previously been told that the next panel wasn’t until May.
I explained that it would be nice to graduate with my cohort, what were my chances?

So, Friday was spent taking a trip into Milton Keynes for an outfit and Ian needed a new suit.
It wouldn’t be a wasted trip because we’d need them for graduation ‘at some point’ anyway.

On Monday I got two emails back from the faculty office.
The first said, ‘it still needed to go through two processes so don’t hold out much hope. They’ll do what they can and let me know’.
The second said, ‘I could attend my graduation with my cohort. I will only receive a blank envelope as my certificate would not be ready’, but at least I would be graduating with the rest of my team!!

So today is the day.
Long story short, after two years of hard work, major up’s and down’s and tons of worrying, I’m finally graduating.

I’m actually feeling a bit sick!!