Talk about being in the right place at the right time: One of my good friends is the DON at the nursing home where I worked several years ago (and loved it, till my hours were cut due to chronic low census) and where my sister is currently a patient. They had no RN openings until just yesterday, when one was created that had my name on it. :)
Folks, I'm going "home". To the place where I was most content as a floor nurse and never would have left if I'd had my druthers. To the place where the staff still remember me fondly, even three years after I left. To the place where they know me and my foibles, even my struggles with mental illness.......and they love me anyway.
I'm starting off as very part-time, on-call, mostly for weekends; however there won't be any nights, nor will there be back-to-back evenings/day shifts. Besides, weekends don't matter anyway because my hubby is retired and we have no kids in school. (And I'll still be able to go to Mass most Sundays because many of my shifts will be 3-11's.) But this will get my foot back in the door, and since I'll be a "utility player", I'll be able to regain my actual nursing skills. What a concept!
The only major concerns are my bipolar and my bad knee, but that's just a chance I'll have to take. I'm stable now and doing better than I have in a couple of years; I'm also considerably lighter than I was the last time I worked the floor, so the first couple of weeks I'll feel like I'm dying, and then I'll be fine. (Besides, I always drop 10-15 lbs. automatically when I go from basically sedentary to very active, so that'll help.)
So, it's not only possible to recover from being Fired After Fifty, it IS possible to go home again. Let the new adventure begin!
