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My love for all things medical began in early childhood.
I grew up in Germany as my mother was from Vienna, Austria and my father an officer in the USAF himself who eventually retired in Germany.
In 1970 I came to the US on my own, felt like a fish out of water, and decided to join the USAF as a medical service specialist (medic), and I was stationed right back to Wiesbaden, Germany.. the very place where I had grown up.
Spent two years active and working in the major USAF hopital there, then did 2 years reserves where I specialized my training in medical air evac.
Began preparing for nursing school twice after returning to civilian life, but both times I became pg with my two now "grown and gone" children. Didn't want to juggle children and schooling so I put the latter on "hold".
Raised my family while remaining in the medical field in various positions, from EMT, 911 Senior Dispatcher, Medical Receptionist and Secretary, PCT and later Crisis Intake Counselor at a chemical dependency faciltiy ...and eventually PCT at an outpatient hemodialysis clinic where I remained for nearly ten years.
While there I persued my lifelong dream and goal of obtaining my RN. Worked dialysis fulltime and spent the rest of my time studying through distance learning.
Graduated from Excelsior College in 2002, stayed on at dialysis another three years as an RN, then decided it was time for a change of scenery. Home Health nursing had always appealed to me, and in 2005 I made the switch.
Am currently still enjoying every minute of Home Health.
Nursemike is a 51 y.o. male nurse. Sometimes I think of myself as a carpenter who planned really poorly for retirement, but I'm loving my new career. I started in healthcare 9 years ago, pushing people around, and have been an RN on the same neurosciences unit for 2.5 years. I'm an avid birder with 4 cats and some serious emotional conflicts. I am currently pursuing my BSN, quitting smoking, and working on losing weight--mostly in the sense of thinking I should probably consider working on actually getting started on one or more of these goals, someday. It has been said I have a tendency to procrastinate, but you can't believe everything you hear.