An Old Nurse's Journal

[Davey Do]

April 16, 1989, the  second semester of the RN program:

"Now I lay me down to rest,
A stack of books upon my chest.
If I should die before I wake,
That's one less test I'll have to take."

[Davey Do]

Circa September 1987, probably from a Pre-Req Class:

 

 

 

 

 

[kgordon91]

Can anyone out there relate to me? Im 62 and Ill be 65 when I graduate my RN associates degree. Im looking for ANY words of enlightenment, encouragement or anything positive that can help me keep going. Im making A's in my coursework now so have a 3.4 GPA  and working toward being accepted into the class of 2023.  I use to be a massage therapist until my thumb joints went bad, I do miss patient care.

[Davey Do]

1 hour ago, kgordon91 said:

Can anyone out there relate to me? Im 62 and Ill be 65 when I graduate my RN associates degree. Im looking for ANY words of enlightenment, encouragement or anything positive that can help me keep going.

Well, I'm 65 and retired from nursing at the age of 62 plus 13 & 1/2 months.

"Words of... encouragement". Hmmm... Lessee.

Nursing was a calling for me. I breathed, ate, and slept nursing for over 40 years. I was a nurse 24/7, and a PT artist. When I retired, I became an artist 24/7 and am loving it. During the Winter months, I've done art up to 14 hours/day. Art is now my calling, and I am no longer a nurse.

Which could mean, kgordon, that nursing could be your calling, if you so choose. Obviously, you have the energy and the wherewithal to be a good nurse, age aside. As long as we have the energy and inspiration to do anything, then The Fates are guiding us to pursue our wanted endeavors.

We need to listen to The Fates, for as Seneca said, "The fates lead those who will. Those who won't, they drag".

Good luck and the very best to you, kgordon!

[Davey Do]

Nurses still wore whites back in the 80's when I became an LPN, and I really tried to fit in. 

I went so far as to wear a white ball cap with my class pin on it:

 

 

Maybe some of my attire went a bit too far:

 

[Ado Annie, ASN, RN]

2 hours ago, kgordon91 said:

Can anyone out there relate to me? Im 62 and Ill be 65 when I graduate my RN associates degree. Im looking for ANY words of enlightenment, encouragement or anything positive that can help me keep going. Im making A's in my coursework now so have a 3.4 GPA  and working toward being accepted into the class of 2023.  I use to be a massage therapist until my thumb joints went bad, I do miss patient care.

I graduated at 48 and I'm 59 now. Wouldn't change a thing. You're doing great in school and you'll be fine. I did recently take a more administrative job and always thought I should have a plan for when my knees or something else made it too hard to work the floor. But I'm not there yet. I don't do things I might do if I were in my 20s -- like work a ridiculous amount of overtime

[Davey Do]

51 minutes ago, Ado Annie said:

I graduated at 48 and I'm 59 now.

Eleven years ago... 2013, I had been working at Wrongway Regional Medical Center for 10 years and had been in the field for over 30 years.

That was a year that was! My Dad died in June, older brother in November, and I was in an MVA where my truck slid on the ice, careened 10-15 foot in the air over a concrete guardrail, rowed over 3 or 4 times (according to bystanders), and came to rest upright with me virtually uninjured.

This was drawn in an old nurse's journal of a nurse coworker in July 2013:

 

 

Excuse me. I'm having a Senior Moment. This was NINE years ago!

Oh well- it's a good post so I'll let it stay.

I'll find something from ELEVEN years ago which was 2011.

 

 

[Davey Do]

On 7/8/2022 at 11:22 AM, Davey Do said:

I'll find something from ELEVEN years ago which was 2011.

 

 

Wrongway went to computer charting in the Summer of '12 and the transition was a Fubar.

[Davey Do]

I just found this pic in an old journal from a 1983 hospital newsletter of a program, "Feeling Smurfy" that the LPN students were involved in for Hospital Week.

 

L to R: Dietitian, me, two first grade students, another student, PR Manager.