wileyc

I've had an interest in health care ever since I was young. At one point I thought I wanted to go to medical school, but soon decided that wasn't the path for me. When I was in the Army (I wasn't a medic), I took every medically related class I could find, but that wasn't enough. Later I thought about becoming a paramedic, but life kept getting in the way. My mother had a long list of medical problems that often kept my focus away from my studies (and led to a difficult to overcome GPA). No excuses, that was just the way things were. I eventually lost her to Cancer a few years ago. Last winter my brother-in-law, and my best friend, finished his fight with Cancer. The one constant through both of their battles was the unbelievably high quality of their nurses. There were so many times Matt (my BIL) and I would talk, after his nurses left the room, and I'd say something like "I think I could do that." and he'd always reply "I think you should!" After almost 30 years, I finally decided it was time to get off the bench and get into the fight. Not long after Matt's death I enrolled in a CNA program and began my journey. I'm about as non-traditional a student as you'll ever find. I'm a 47 year-old man, never married, with no kids; who now has dreams of becoming an oncology nurse. I've spent a lot of time on this board over the last year lurking; silently drawing advice and encouragement from all of you. And now it's time to put up, or shut up...I went ahead and put in the time retaking various prereq's (that I took long ago) and applied to Nursing School...even if the reply was "Thanks, but you're just not good enough..." This last weekend was rough. On Thursday I received word that I had just missed the cut, and was first on the waiting list at the school I really wanted to go to. Trust me, there was some soul searching--Is this for me? Is it really meant to be? What really IS God's plan? ...I just got off the phone with the Admissions Director at the (preferred) school I had applied to. One of the applicants in front of me had declined their offer, and was I still interested? Yes! Of course! Absolutely! Affirmative! Should I drive down there right now to sign something! (I didn't want there to be any misunderstanding...I WANT IN!) And so begins my journey. I feel no shame at having been a "second choice"; it'll make it all the more satisfying when I finish at the top of my class :-) Hopefully, I'll make it a point to update this from time to time. While I'm not enough of an egotist to believe anybody really cares about my journey (after all, they're all tough), I'd like to think that maybe somewhere out there is a burgeoning nurse-to-be that can benefit from my struggle. And maybe, just maybe, will take the plunge. Besides, if my time with the Ranger Battalion taught me anything, "The only easy day was yesterday"...