It's All About the "C" (30/30)

     What a month.

     May has simply flown by, which I suppose is not very surprising considering all the big events it included. In this month I've attended four graduations, taken one 3-day review class, summitted two mountains on a 4.5 mile hike, visited three states, helped coordinate one very big surprise, and taken one 6-hour exam. In between all that I used every spare moment to study for the Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE). I attempted to use my study breaks to finish a post on my final rotation, but that one still needs a bit of work so today I'm skipping ahead to the milestones I hit this month. To start at the beginning: I GRADUATED!

     I finished my final rotation on April 27th, had my final graduate seminar and End of Rotation Exam the next two days, and then spent the beginning of the next week taking a 3-day day PANCE review class, before it was finally time to walk across the stage and end my time in PA school, officially. My graduation happened to fall on the exact same day as my sister's (she earned her Master's in Education), so my family not only endured the bitter cold and drizzly rain of a May morning at Gillette stadium, but they also drove straight from my commencement to arrive just in time to sit through a second outdoor ceremony in Quincy. My Californian aunt and uncle had to stock up on some extra layers, but they joined my parents and roommate in enduring the weather to show their love and support for us. There were cheers and pictures and hugs and toasts and celebratory feasts and everything one could need to feel loved and encouraged. As an added bonus, MCPHS actually had diplomas ready for graduates on the day of graduation so, rather than having to wait a few weeks for it to arrive in the mail, I left Gillette with proof that I had, in fact, completed PA school.

My cold, but wonderful, uncle and aunt

My long-suffering, and always encouraging, roommate

My parents, who have supported me in every imaginable way

My brother in-law and sister, both of whom completed their Master's this month

Mother's Day hike to Mt. Welch and Mt. Dickey

     After graduation I took a well-deserved, though brief, break to celebrate Mother's Day with mine and my brother in-law's families, and then it was back to studying. The NCCPA requires that PAs wait at least 7-10 days after graduating before they attempt to take the PANCE, but otherwise the choice of when you take the exam is up to you. Seeing as my brother in-law was about to graduate with his Master's on the 22nd, and his thesis art show was on the 20th, I scheduled my exam for the 19th. I wanted time to study, but I also didn't want to have the exam hanging over my head while I tried to participate in the upcoming celebrations and family time. So, from May 9th until the 19th, it was non-stop studying, with few exceptions. My roommate needed to calm me down on the 17th, when I suddenly became convinced that I must be woefully unprepared for the exam, but after some

Studying at my friend's graduation

reassurance, and a massage on the 18th to help relax me (thanks parents!), I entered the testing room on the 19th feeling surprisingly calm and ready to tackle the PANCE. The exam can take up to 6 hours (there are five 1-hour blocks, and 45 minutes of break time), but thankfully I was able to finish up at least an hour ahead of time, even with the breaks I took mid-exam to do some deep breathing. Even though traffic on the drive home was horrendous, it was such a relief to be done. Plus, I knew that my roommate and friends from the coffee shop were waiting to hang out and celebrate with me. All these people deserve a shoutout and a huge debt of gratitude for all the support they have given me over the years, not to mention all the times they've cheered me up, made me laugh, switched shifts with me, and even helped me study. They belong to the very long list of people I couldn't have made it through PA school without.

     My classmates and I had been informed that it would take 2 weeks to get our PANCE results, so it was with some surprise that, a few hours short of one week after I'd taken my exam, I received an email informing me that my results were ready. To be completely honest, I got this email early in the morning and actually fell back asleep briefly, only to be haunted by a nightmare in which I was told I had failed, so it was with some trepidation that I longed onto the NCCPA site when I woke up again. Before I could even get to the page with my exam results though, I knew. There, underneath my name on my profile page, was a bright and shiny:

Obviously after my nightmare I needed confirmation, so I quickly clicked on the Exams tab to find:

     Just like that, ladies and gentlemen, I am official. I am a certified PA and, while I still need my state and drug license before I can actually start working, those licenses are simply a matter of paperwork and time. The hard part is over. I am a really and truly Physician Assistant at last.

     There are more people who deserve gratitude for getting me to this point, and trying to list all of them would take too long (though I did try in my last Thanksgiving post), but for now let me once again give a shout out to some of the people I haven't already mentioned in this post: my older sister, who sadly couldn't make it to my graduation, but was able to celebrate belatedly when she came for my brother in-law's; my grandparents, my aunt and uncle in Seattle, my cousins, and all my extended family who couldn't come to the graduations but were there in spirit; the friends who have mentored me throughout these years and guided me not just through my studies, but through the emotional, spiritual, and psychological trials I've encountered; the health care professionals who gave me advice, encouragement, and sometimes a necessary push; and last, but certainly not least, my Bible study girls, who supported and encouraged me every week, not just with prayers, but by always going above and beyond (e.g. offering to run errands for me when rotations made me insanely busy and buying me an ice cream cake to celebrate the last day of my final rotation). I do not have the words to adequately express my gratitude, so I shall simply say: thank you from the bottom of my heart.

     At some point I will actually finish my post on my final rotation, and I'll probably write a short one on the PANCE (just a few tips for anyone studying for it), but for right now I'm going to bask a little in the fact that I am not simply a PA, but a PA-C, and that I am well and truly done with PA school.