Have I Destroyed My Career?

[westieluv]

I am really getting depressed. I have been an RN for almost 26 years and always been competent at my work, never had a legal issue, never been let go, and never gotten a bad performance review.

Background: I went into inpatient acute care nursing right out of school and worked at a hospital for three years, took four years off when our kids were small, then went back to the same hospital for an additional four years. I had a great reputation there, did good work, got commendations from patients and doctors, etc.

After the second stint at that hospital, I again took time off, this time seven years, to be a SAHM. I went back to work about six years ago, and that is when my trouble started. I don't know if it was because I had only really done inpatient acute care and wanted to "find my niche", if my expectations were too high, or if I just had the luxury of job hopping because my husband carried our benefits and took advantage of it, or what, but I have had six different jobs since 2010. I thought I had settled into my current job and had planned to stay to build up some longevity on my resume, but suddenly my family is without healthcare benefits and I am having to look, AGAIN, for a job with benefits, which my current postion doesn't offer. We cannot afford a COBRA or Obamacare (NOT affordable at all, in case anyone is still wondering), so until my husband can find something else, we need benefits ASAP and I'm going to have to be it.

I have applied at at least half a dozen jobs; acute care, hospice, telephone triage, and sub-acute rehab/LTC (all of which I have experience in). I did have an interview for sub-acute rehab/LTC at a nice facility yesterday, but I felt so insecure during the interview because of my job hopper resume that I'm afraid it came through and they will pass me over too. I have had a few other calls, emails, etc. from travel companies, but I cannot travel at this time. I have not heard back from 95% of the jobs I have applied for.

Have I effectively destroyed my career with my job hopping? I left those jobs for legitimate reasons (end of life care for family member that consumed my time, being forced to work up to twenty hours a day, having to cover seven huge counties as an on call nurse and patients having to subsequently wait hours sometimes for visits, even though it was out of my hands, etc.), but all I can think of is that even though I have done an excellent job everywhere and never put any patient in danger through incompetence or stupidity, and had an excellent attendance record except for one job where I was dealing with a medical condition, I will never be seriously considered for employment again. My current employer loves me and my work, but again, I can't stay.

What can I do to fix this? Anything? I feel like I will have to seek the crappiest jobs at the most desperate facilities just to get work, even though I am an otherwise excellent nurse who, unfortunately, made some bad career choices.