Traps, stumbling blocks and cancer scares defeated...end is nigh.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I went to nursing school as a middle aged dude, after a long career in the prison industry. Actually started out considering a rad-tech degree, and took a semester or 2 of pre-reqs for that. The waiting list to get into that program, however, led me to speaking with the nursing director at school and I decided to pursue an ADN instead. So, I took the pre-reqs I hadn't already taken, and applied, got accepted, entered nursing school.

Tooled along fine, with good grades, for 3 1/2 semesters. Then, a week before the 2nd exam in my final-semester Med Surg 2 class, my elderly father had a heart attack. He lives 10 hours away from me, so I had to travel there to care for him.

Got back to school, was told by my helpful instructors "Do your best!", and promptly failed my exam, knocking my semester average into the dumpster.

9 days before the 3rd of 4 exams, dad had a stroke, and off I went to take care of him again. No chance to study, and missed 9 days of lecture. Same routine: "Do your best!", followed by a very low score on the exam. Class average at unrecoverable point. I almost pulled it off, but failed the class with a 74.8, needed a 75. Found out I wouldn't be graduating about 10 days before pinning ceremony.

D in Med-surg, ruined GPA, dreams dashed, but at least dad lived. I'd make the same choices every time.

School was magnanimous enough to re-admit me back into the program, and I was allowed to retake the final semester over the summer. So, I re-enter, meet my new classmates, go back through the torture of Adv. MS., but pass the class in early August. Yay me.

School pulled a fast one, and instead of charging us for our practicum/preceptorship with the rest of the classes we took over the summer, they decided to make that "class" a fall class. Bottom line is that it cost us about $700, because we had to pay another set of program fees along with the tuition. OK, I'll pay whatever I have to in order to get it done.

Sept 3, I was accepted into my dream preceptorship: A level 3 NICU, with a nurse with a passion for teaching. Praise the Lord.

So, last week, I'd completed a little over half my preceptorship hours, and am told by my wife that she's found a mass in her abdomen. She's a cancer survivor, so OH MY GOD I panicked, of course. So we spent a week or 10 days with doctors appointments, CT scans, and waiting on results...fearing a diagnosis of cancer, trying to come to grips with the possibility that I may lose the rose of my heart.

Thanks to God, the doctors interpreted the scan results as being a non-malignant fibroid mass, with a 90-something percent certainty. Wife must have a hysterectomy, but they are sure enough of the non-malignancy that they're allowing her to put it off till after I graduate and get licensed, and after our next grandbaby is born in early October. She's just started a new job at the hospital, so she has no sick time built up, so putting it off a month will also help in that matter.

Summation: Old dude, changing careers. Fought off MI, CVA, and possible Cancer, persevered, and will be pinned as a graduate on October 2.

I almost gave up, and without the support of my wife and a few classmates, I would be flipping burgers while I applied to the prison for rehire. Thanks to God, that doesn't have to happen, and hopefully, by Nov 1, I'll be a Registered Nurse, in the NICU (Director already told me "I'm going to hire you when you pass NCLEX", yay!), fulfilling a dream and saving babies...with a still-on-the-earth dad, and a cancer-free wife, sans uterus!

So what if it took me nearly 4 years for a supposed 2 year degree? LOL

Praise God. And bless you if you stuck this out to the end.

[Morning-glory]

Good job BortaZin,

Ain't life grand? Took me 6 years to get through a 3 year course. Life doesn't stop just because you are in school, dontcha know?

I've been a nurse for over 10 years and nothing has been as hard as nursing school was.

Congrats!!

[Benedina]

A big thank you, first, because your nursing student posts have been so helpful and, yes, inspirational to me. But far more than that, congratulations on every piece of this good news: your preceptorship, your graduation, your father's presence, your wife's good prognosis. And that grandbaby-on-the-way, too!

May you all have years to enjoy what you've put in so much time and hard work to earn.

Dina

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

Thanks, I appreciate it.

[Needsmorechocolate, ASN]

Congrats! You deserve it. Your story is truly inspiring.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Wonderful news! I am glad for you.

[christieb01]

BortaZinTx,

I just wanted to thank you for sharing your truly inspirational story!! Congrats on everything!!

Thanks!

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

Thank you.