Once a nurse, will always be a nurse

[mominurse]

I was an active Registered Nurse in the PH couple years ago.When I moved here in CA got married and had kids having a US RN license has always been my dream up to now.4 years ago when I got here I immediately applied to take the NCLEX RN exam,but sadly I was denied because they said that I needed to take a couple of concepts,and that my dates( for our clinicals during my nursing days) was not" concurrent" having the said term,that day I got the letter from the Board of RN.My husband and I inquired a lot of nursing schools here in Ca,community or even private just to take that certain concepts that I lacked according to the BRN,but nobody wants to take me,they wanted me to be in the program,enroll and do the whole thing again,in short start all over again.

I couldn't do it,first and foremost its gonna take long,not to mention the amount of money that we needed to spend,and I was in my last trimester of pregnancy with our first child.I got disappointed,lost hope even depressed,i had to set aside my career and be a mom first because my daughter needs me.

Fast forward to the present,we now have 2 children,we have a girl and a boy,i am so lucky to have a very supportive husband,i did the CNA got a license,i did tried to work weekends but it didn't last,i wont lie being a CNA is hard.It takes a lot of courage and techniques to master it all.While I was working those times I noticed the LVN's job are kinda light compared to CNA,they just pass meds,interact with the patient,documentation.But during those times I didn't see them touch a patient to give oral care,bed bath,change position,all of those were assigned to the CNA's.I am talking about the Long term care facilities,Skilled nursing care facilities.

So I told myself what have I done I could have be one of this lvn's or even their RN's,this isn't me,I meant I didn't have any problem doing my job,being a nurse has always been my goal eversince,i didnt see myself in any other career except being a nurse,this has always been my calling.So during those times that I was pregnant with our second child,i did made an effort to try to challenge the Board of Vocational,i was ready to submit my application but got stock with this "equivalency method",i know I my formal nursing training in the Philippines can be considered to be part of that,but I don't understand about the paid experienced,it says you have to have paid bedside experience,now my question is that,will that short CNA job that I did will considered as paid experience?cause I really don't know,until now I am still puzzling,confused.

And again me and my husband didnt wanna deal with our school again in the Philippines,especially if you mention to them that your in the US and that you needed certain school documents,they would think youre a big shot here,living a fabulous life were in fact not.Sad to say I didnt pursue it.But now,im thinking of challenging the Board of vocational again,this time I wanna pursue it,but I don't know where to start first.And this means that I will have to contact my school soon if I needed those documents.But for the heck of it,i will try to do it.I just wanna get this done,and continue my profession here.I know I am not alone in this dilemma,i know there are some who also experiencing the way I am feeling right now.

Struggling,confused,dont know what to do.If you guys are experiencing the same,please let me know we can help each other achieve our goal.To be a US RN!