aka23

Hello all, I am interested in people's opinions about my situation and what areas of nursing I should maybe steer my experience towards. Or if you're a nurse and immune compromised maybe share what field you work in and how you deal with your illness. I am doing a career change. I was a law enforcement park ranger for the National Park Service (NPS) and LOVED my job. I wanted to work for the NPS for the rest of my life-- I was that dedicated. However, I was diagnosed with the semi-rare autoimmune disease, Myasthenia Gravis that rendered me ineligible to work for the NPS, given that my job was extremely strenuous etc. I was/am devastated still and this was 3 years ago. Anyway, since then I have been lost as to where I should go next….. after a year of recover from surgery etc. I got a job in a hospital as a reprocessing tech then moved upwards to histology tech and have been working on pre-requisites towards applying to a master's in nursing program. I figured that even though I didn't know what exactly I wanted to do I should busy myself with something and that was working towards nursing. I picked nursing because it seemed like a good direction- lots of jobs, variation, good pay and probably comes with decent healthcare (which I need). Though as I'm applying to programs I have been rethinking my decision to do nursing, I essentially thought that the field is SO broad there has to be something for me. But, I'm worried that I shouldn't work in nursing because I am immune compromised and I do have bouts of extreme fatigue where I sleep 10-12 hours. Also, when I get fatigued it affects my thinking/problem solving. So I'm worried if I'm having a Myasthenia day I might make mistakes or something that could compromise patient care, which I obviously don't want to happen. I work in a hospital now and nothing bad so far has happened, but nursing seems to be more fast-paced than my current position. Is there a field in nursing where immune compromised people go? I enjoy science and really love seeing the pathologist assistant and doctors gross tissue taken from patients. I also would enjoy seeing surgeries. But, I'm thinking that is not the best place for someone like me and my illness….. I'm thinking psych or research?