My life as a wife, mother, and nurse.I'm a BAAAADDDDD blogger....
I've been so busy. You'd think working 3 days a week would give me all sorts of time free. Hah!
About a month ago, I switched over to nights. Which I like. I like the not so crazy atmosphere, and the night shift nurses are pretty cool. However, I feel that for every shift I work, I lose two days. What with all the sleeping, and simply the fact that I go into work on one day, and come out the next. Then the sleeping, again.
Working with the kids is great. I enjoy it. It is a bit of a challenge trying to figure out the babies. And all the stuff I am supposed to remember. The parents can really be challenging. But overall, I don't regret my decision to go peds.
Over the past two days I got my PALS certification, which a nice thing to have. Doing the certification was a bit crazy, because I am the newest nurse there, and I got made team leader more than anyone. (Hello!?!?! I don't know anything!)
Today is my last day of orientation. I am hoping to get a full load of 5 patients. And now that I have my own pyxsis access, and access to the computers, I hope to run my team my way, since I won't have to wait for my preceptor for everything. Nice.
Then tomorrow is sink or swim day. I am terrified. But I think I should be ok. I am just really worried, since my preceptor is a charge nurse, she kept getting put in charge or we would get acute kids, so I have not had the chance to work a full team very well. I haven't had a chance to see what I can really do.
I miss my co-workers from VEU. I go by and visit from time to time. I talk to my BFF every day, and see her a few times a week. (a sharp decrease) And my best school friend every few days. So I have some support from friends, because I am having a bit of culture shock. I am at least 10 years older than all the nurses I work with. So, I feel quite lonely at work sometimes.
I have developed a huge love of Starbucks. Not the coffee, but they have really good sandwiches. And the vanilla bean frappucino. YUMMMM!!!!
I am going to register for class on Monday to start working toward my BSN. Because, yes, I am a sucker for punishment. But it will be nice to take classes that have nothing to do with nursing for a while. I have a lot of basic requirements to fill in before I will be ready for the nursing programs.
So, that's what's going on. Still alive. Still kicking. Just adjusting, still.
W. :o)
posted by Wendy, R.N. @ 3:08 AM
6 Comments:
Congrats to you. Last year at this time, I was just finishing my hospital orientation in Labor and Delivery. I graduated in January 2006 at the age of 56. I love my job!
You make me all excited about my own graduation and being a "real" nurse. Since I'm older than almost everyone in my class, one of my clinical instructor keeps telling me I'm the exact age of the average nurse. I'm glad you like it. I love the babies, but can't deal with the kids. I don't like making kids cry. It just kills me.
yea! sounds like you are off to a good start in peds. if i can't get inot OB i have thought of going that route. i am also taking classes towards my BSN so i understand being self-afflicting. good for you!
I havent had starbukc sanwiches-hm! Good for you for working on your BSN--my teachers keep telling me not to take too much of a break because I won't go back--the statistics prove it. I am so glad you like what you are doing, you have really crossed over! :)
Hi,
I couldn't find your e-mail address so I hope this post is ok. I was wondering if you'd be interested in posting any articles from the Nursezone.com website. There are lots of relevant articles for todays nurse. The great news is that using nursezone content on your site is no cost. We'd just like to have a link back to our site for those of your bloggers interested in finding a community of nurses, CE opportunities, travel nursing and other relevant nurse aids. A partial example of a nursing article is below:
Nurse Overcomes Cancer—Twice—to Provide Care to Others
By Nancy Deutsch, RN, contributor
Many people yearn to make nursing their career, but few have to battle the odds like Valerie Bush.
The Independence, Kentucky, woman, who was a medical technician for six years and a nurse’s aide “on and off forever,” waited until her children were raised to return to nursing school. When she finally entered the Gateway Community and Technical College, it was unbelievably stressful. Not only was the single mother dealing with her course work, but her father died, and her youngest daughter was dealing with medical problems, including bipolar disease.
Bush, now 42 years old, was “disgustingly healthy when I started” school in 2004, but quite overweight, and she started to lose a lot of the extra girth.
“I lost massive amounts of weight in just a few months,” she recalled. “I was a pretty big girl. I lost 100 pounds.”
At first, Bush chalked up the weight loss and constant belching to stress, but when she shed all the weight, she found a lump in her breast. “I decided to see a doctor over break.”
Bush was diagnosed with DCIS, and beneath that, metastatic breast cancer.
“I lost everything in a week,” Bush said. The diagnosis sent her daughter off the deep end, upset her boyfriend, and meant she had to stop the classes she had waited so long to take.
“As a nurse, you think you know what a cancer diagnosis entails,” she said. “But you don’t. It affects every single thing in your life.” … (more article to come)
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Let me know what you think.
Tracy (nursezoneportal@earthlink.net)
Good for you for going back to school!! And I hear you about Starbucks. Great sandwhiches, scones and coffee! I could so spend my paycheck eating there every day.
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