Edeninthetrees

Thanks for your response and perspective. I CAN write, hold things, and do most everything I normally do (I just washed the dishes!) but there is an intermittent, underlying dull pain and the movement in one of my fingers is slightly limited due to the swelling which also comes and goes. I was mimicking the movements of drawing up a syringe using a pen and I'm about 99% good. I don't think I'd hurt anyone or myself if it was real life. I suppose it's the idea that something is wrong with me at a time when I need to be in tiptop shape. I am older and had early graying of my hair starting in my 20's, so now I am fully gray and worry about people's perceptions, especially at this physical with an unknown doctor. At my regular physical last December, my doc said I was perfectly healthy and told me to see her in a year. I think I'm going to go take a bath and try to relax!

I am crying right now. I was accepted to nursing school this past March and feeling great about everything after having lost my dad and my "career" job last year but just during the past few weeks, I've had sudden pain and swelling in two of my fingers that my doc says "may" be the beginning of peri-menopausal arthritis (I'm older but not that old). This issue seems to have developed almost overnight and is so worrisome for me because I have my nursing school physical in just a few days! Over the past few weeks I've changed my diet and done acupuncture and chiropractic which seems to have helped but not cleared it up completely. I don't want to lie to the doctor at the physical but I have waited YEARS to be able to be in a place in my life where I have both the time and the money to put myself through nursing school and I don't want to be written off for this. I'm a good student and know I can be a great nurse. Can anyone tell me what to expect in the physical or have any advice on how to to approach the conversation about my hand during the exam? This is so worrisome for me. Thanks.

Hi, It sounds like you have great experience, now tie in that experience with how it would make you a great nurse (you have training in communication, you have and can teach patients/people, manage crises, etc) and how that would help the nursing profession as a whole (which is part of what the question is really asking). How can you make the school look good and keep the nursing profession in high standards using your unique talents?