Our Family on a Blog: Steve RN

After Steve graduated we knew that he had two huge goals for the summer:
1. Take and pass the NCLEX (national nursing test to get his nursing license)
2. Find an RN job

Fortunately the job thing worked out pretty quick. He was offered a job as an RN at his current job. So training began for that. One goal accomplished.

After weeks of preparation and prayers and a weekend full of stress and anxiety, Monday June 18th arrived -- the day of the big test. I had never known Steve to be so stressed and worried about anything in the seven years I've known him. He was so nervous and was full of anxiety. Poor guy. He knew we had a lot depending on this test -- nothing short of our future. No stress right? With me going part time, we knew that in August we would need to start depending on a higher paying job for Steve. But keeping his higher paying job wasn't possible unless he passed this test. Also, just to top things off, our family car is totally on its last leg (last tire?) and we know that we need to buy a car really soon. As much as I tried to reassure him that everything would be okay no matter the outcome, his stress couldn't be eased. Finally, he headed up to the testing center.

I knew a few basic things about the test:
-it was super hard
-it could have anywhere from 75 to 265 questions
-it could take anywhere from a couple hours to six hours
-depending on your level, questions continue until they decide whether you "know your stuff" or not

We were both hoping Steve could go in, answer 75 questions, and be done. They say that if your test shuts off at 75 questions you have something like a 97% chance of passing. One can hope, right?

So when Steve called me a little over two hours later, I was hoping that meant his test had stopped at 75 questions. I was expecting relief in his voice but instead there was more worry and panic than before.

His test had stopped at 75 questions.
But he said he knew he failed because it was so hard.
He only felt 100% "sure" about 7 questions during the whole test.
Steve was convinced he was in the 3% of people who get 75 questions and fail.
He felt like after 75 questions, the computer had realized he hadn't known anything and shut off.

So we waited and waited. Steve worried and doubted. I reassured and tried to make everything okay.
Needless to say it was a long night.
The next day to get his mind off of waiting for results, we spent the day at Seven Peaks.
We had a great time but Steve was still worried. His friends had found out their results at 1130 PM the day after their test so he was hoping for the same.
Once the kids were in bed, we watched the clock. In between episodes of "How I Met Your Mother" we'd check the state licensing website. Nothing.
Then at 11:06, Steve paused the episode and said "Okay let's check."
As he opened the website our heart rates sped up.
Then as the page loaded we saw it:

Steven Esplin Registered Nurse License # Active

I screamed, he breathed for the first time in a minute and together we shared in the relief of knowing that Steve had in fact passed and was now a licensed Registered Nurse for the state of Utah.