Probation

[hddavidson1028]

I need help. I got a drug conviction for meth in 2013. I was not practicing at that time. I did not self report. Idfpr didn't find out until 2015. My license was somehow still active but I wasn't practicing. It got suspended in 2016, expired 2017. In 2020 I got a lawyer to help me get my license back. We came up with an agreement between idfpr and the nursing board. My lawyer and I understood it that I would be able to get back to work immediately and I would be on probation for a min of 2 years and during that 2 years I would complete a refresher course along with doing random drug screens and reporting to the idfpr probation until. After the consent agreement was signed in June 2020 I checked my license online and it still said expired so I thought OK, I misunderstood and I need to get this refresher course done first and then show then I've done it. I was working 50 plus hours a week 3rd shift with 3 kids at home because of the pandemic so it took me way longer to complete it but I did complete it in Jan 2022. I had no time limit to complete it either. I just needed to enroll within 6 months, which I did. So I emailed my probation officer to ask what forms I need to complete and he never answered. I made several attempts. So then I called idfpr and they emailed me the forms. I completed them and sent in all documents they may need. They received them Feb 7th 2022. Fast forward to today, I received my entire application back in the mail along with a restoration packet. In the restoration packet it asks for proof that I've worked within the last 5 years and if I cannot prove it I must take the NCLEX again. Now I'm so confused because my license shows restored to probation July 2020. So what happend? Did it expire 5 months later in Jan 2021? If so, I did not know that would happen.  I thought it would expire at the end of the probation. I called my lawyer and he said he understood I shouldve been able to start practicing right away in July 2020. I told him no, my license never showed active at any point. I checked and checked. I'm waiting on a call back from idfpr but in the mean time I'm stressing. I was supposed to be restored to probation and I thought I would be able to start working again once I showed proof I completed the course. Now I'm afraid my license was active on probation from July 2020 to Jan 2021 and now I'll have to take the NCLEX because I let it expire and now I have to file a to restore and I can't prove I have work experience within the last 5 years. That was not part of our agreement. We agreed I would do a refresher course and comply with probation. Has anyone ever let their license expire after a suspension like I did and then petition to reinstate and then get restored to probation? Did you have to renew at the regular time or did you file for restoration at the end of your probation? Has anyone been able to restore to unencumbered status after more than 5 years without having to take the NCLEX? I thought that was the purpose of me doing the refresher course. The problem is the lawyer was a free lawyer through a grant in my area so he is unable to help me with this again. I'm on my own now. I think I missed something important and now I'm screwed. I still have not had any correspondence with my probation officer at idfpr either. It's been 1 year since I've heard from him. I have been sending my quarterly reports to him though and I have been complying with my monthly random drug screens. I fee as though he should've been able to guide me through this process. He should've been my advocate. I also should've called idfpr as soon as I saw my license said not renewed way back in 2020 when we signed the agreement but I thought I just had to show proof of completion of the refresher course and I'd be good to go after paying the renewal fees. I'm so stressed out. I just want to be able to get back to work and make a living wage for my family. I moved passed my wrongdoings and they just keep forever haunting me. To make matters worse, I quit my full-time job in retail so I could finish the refresher course. Now I can't even get full time employment anywhere ( not as a nurse) because I have to be able to leave to drive an hour to do my drug screen. Nobody wants to hire someone that has to take time off once a month with just 1 day notice. The only way I could make it work is if I went back to work 3rd shift somewhere. That does not work well for me and my family. We really struggled when I was on 3rd. I got really depressed and I was so unhappy.