**Tues., July 12 FALL 2005**

Good Morning!

Just getting the thread started. Off to tennis lessons with my girls this morning, then to work this afternoon.

What's everyone else up to today?

Orientation is tomorrow! YAY!

Patti

[CallMePatti]

I'm wondering about our stories that got us to where we are today. When did you first decide you wanted to go to nursing school? How long did it take you to get to this point- the beginning?

For me, I first wanted to be a nurse in kindergarten. When I was about 10, my cousin died of neuroblastoma, so I said I wanted to someday try to stop cancer.

When I graduated from high school, I got accepted into the nursing program at University of Delaware and (then) Trenton State in NJ. Didn't have any money, so I ended up going to our local Community College for LA/General, which is what we had to do back then before we applied to the nursing program.

While I was there, my Pop Pop got sick and died. I saw him as a guinea pig. I didn't want anyone to "try" certain treatments or procedures on him and I got turned off of the medical profession. Now I wish someone had reminded me that not every patient I'd have would be my Pop Pop!.

Anyway...life went on. I changed my major, got married, had kids, stayed home with them, started homeschooling, became a doula, then a lactation educator, then a childbirth educator. Now I teach CBE in our local hospital system and work part time in a family practice/midwife's office.

So, here I am, 19 years after I graduated from high school with high hopes of being a nurse, actually pursuing the dream I've had since I was 6 years old.

What's your story?

Patti

[chattypattyCRNA2B]

Good morning Patty! I hope you have fun today playing tennis with your girls. I will be studying for a Micro quiz today and pretty much just laying around the house.

I've always been interested in healthcare for as long as I can remember. My choices in life however, lead me in a totally different direction. When I initially graduated from highschool in 1993, I decided to go to EMT school because I was intimidated about going to nursing school (self-esteem issues) and I was tired of school at that point, so I just wanted to hurry up and start making a living. During that time, they had just started a new program where they condensed the 2 year EMT program down to just one year. The course load was very fast paced and it "actually required you to study everyday" (imagine that!) - my words at that time .

I ended up dropping out of that program and went to work, only relying on what my high school vocational program had taught me, I worked in clerical and later on in bookkeeping. In between that time, I became pregnant, met my husband 3 months later and had 2 more children (wow I work fast don't I, lol). I was never content in my existence. I was happy being a mother and wife, but I was not fulfilled in my career. I was tired of being a pee-on and treated as disposable. I tried everything from starting my own business and online training, much to my husband's chagrin...he was tired of me trying to find my nick and wanted me to be satisfied. I had talked to him about going back to school and becoming a nurse, but he always thought it would be a waste of time , he thought that I would spend all that time in school and still come out making what I was currently making. Nursing school, he thought, was a very low paying profession.....at the time I thought this was asinine thinking, but now I know that nurses are very much underpaid - though he was thinking in the range of 9-10.00 an hour. What finally made him come around was after my sister-n-law graduated he found out what her starting salary was and he decided "yeah honey, you should definitely go back to school":stone Good for him that he came around because it kept me from leaving him and doing it anyway:rotfl: . I am glad I have his support because I'm going to need all the support I can get during this time. My husband works SO hard and I can't wait to be able to contribute to the household while doing something I absolutely love!

[alexillytom]

Good Morning All. Well, I've wanted to be a nurse for a very long time. When I was in high school, everyone knew that I wanted to be a nurse and my best friend wanted to be an elementary school teacher.

Well, my crazy home life resulted in my total lack of confidence. I started slacking in school, getting high, and totally discarded any notion I ever had of becoming a nurse.

Fast forward two years, I met my future husband when I began working for the same company. Four years later we were married. A year later we had our first child. 18 months later we had our second child. After the birth of my second child I started considering going back to school and getting a degree although I wasn't considering nursing. Three years later, we welcomed our third child. After his birth, I started attending classes at the local high school to refresh all of the things I didn't really pay attention to in high school.

Two years after the birth of my last child, my nephew died in a car accident. The nurse who cared for him before he passed was amazing. As a matter of fact, all of the nurses we encountered while my niece and nephew were in the hospital were extremely patient and helpful. I started thinking that maybe I should go ahead and try for my nursing degree but I was still afraid.

About 3 months after my nephew's death, I encountered the nicest couple while my family and I went to dinner at the Olive Garden. We were in for a long wait so we struck up a conversation with them. Actually, the wife approached me with a line something like, "You should really go into nursing." Then she went on to tell me about her husband's decision to leave his career and become a nurse. At the time, he was furthering his education to become an NP and he told me about his experiences in nursing school. For some reason, while watching me, they decided I would be a good nurse. My husband and I were floored because we had never met these people before and she had no idea that I was ever interested in nursing. Anyway, a week after that conversation, I went to apply for admittance into my local CC. Two years of prereqs later, I have finally been accepted into the nursing program. My journey has taken me almost 18 years.

I can't say that nursing is my calling but it was something that I can picture myself loving and doing for some time, while making a decent salary. I believe the couple in the restaurant were put in my space to give me a nudge.

[kdavisnh]

Well, when I was in high school, I wanted to get into hospital administration, figuring that the need for hospitals would never lessen, and I didn't think I wanted anything to do with patient care. I took A&P as an elective as a business admin major, finished the class with a 98, just loved it.

In 1994, after getting my AS in Bus. Admin, decided to try my hand as a medical lab tech, but got pregnant a couple months in and couldn't complete the program.

After getting married, having a second child, and building our home in a small rural town, I decided to get my EMT certification so I could help out our tiny rescue squad. Loved the training, and love my rescue squad as well.

2 years later, I decided that (working part time on an ambulance crew) I love patient care, just hate sitting in a truck all day, doing nothing but vital signs during tranfers from one health facility to another. Took my NLN, and got accepted to NS at my CC first try. I'm going to be pursuing my ADN starting Sept. 6. Because I got in so much faster than I anticipated, I'm going to be taking A&P and Psych with my nursing classes this semester, so will be up to my eyeballs. I had planned on a year to get the gen ed and anatomy stuff taken care of. My college credits are more than 10 years old, so they don't transfer.

This ride is going to be exciting and exhausting, just can't wait to get started!

[CallMePatti]

Well, it was too stinkin' hot to play tennis for more than an hour. UGH! I love my central air.

Funny how our stories so far show a long line of a nursing career looming somewhere in the background...

Patti

New Jersey

[dream2nurse]

Hello! I'd like to join in on these threads! :)

Well I came across nursing in a somewhat roundabout way. Growing up I was always interested in medicine. My parents even bought me the Fisher Price med kit and I would go around giving everyone shots with my fake syringe. lol! My Mom always encouraged me to become a doctor and when I started college that was my major. I had also had a lot of experience in hospitals. My first memory of being in a hospital was when I was eight years old, standing beside my mother's bed wondering what all those tubes were running through her body. Unfortunately that was not my last experience in a hospital. Many years later I would end up spending months in the hospital watching my mother battle colon cancer once again. Unfortunately she did not make it the second time around.

After my Mom died obviously my Dad had a big influence on my life. As a business man he encouraged me to take the "practical" route and so I ended with a degree in business. I have had a great career so far but I knew something was wrong when everyday I would wake up and dread going to work! I did a lot of soul searching and decided to go back to my first love - medicine! So I spent a year volunteering at a hospital and that is when, as cheesy as this sounds, I discovered what I am meant to do with my life - nursing! Yeah!

So I start an ADN program on August 15th! We actually don't have orientation until Aug. 11th but they have sent us a ton of information. We have our book list, materials we need to buy, etc. They also posted our syllabus online so I can do some pre-reading. I am so excited, and nervous and scared. I hope that I will make as good of a nurse as I hope to be.

So a few questions for all you Fall starters...

What requirements do you have to do before starting school?

So far I have taken a drug test, undergone a background check, had a physical, blood drawn for titers, tetanus shot, 2-step TB test, and first shot of Hep B vaccine.

What uniforms and shoe are required?

We can buy whatever white scrubs we want, and have to sew the school patch on. I have no idea what shoes to get. There are so many great recommendations on these boards!

Wow this is long... sorry for babbling!

[CHATSDALE]

good afternoon...happy day to all

patti, patty, tom, kdav-, dream2

looks like everyone else is busy today...

i should be cleaning house but i am dragging my heels today..probably will get something done a little later

my middle name is 'GOOD INTENTIONS'

[Megs7617]

I got into nursing because I have a degree in criminal justice, but I do not want to be inlaw enforcement like I did when i started college, but I wanted to help people. I thought nursing was interesting, my mom was a nurse, and moreover, there seemed to be an abundance of jobs. So now, I start in two weeks! Got my books delivered today....they are the biggest books I hav e ever seen in my life, the med surg book is bigger than the medical dictionary!! And today I got all the school supplies I needed...I think I am all set to go. now, im going to go leaf through my books, not that theyll make any sense!

[dmrnurse]

Hi all!

Like many of you, I have been interested in the healthcare field since I was very young. My sister was diagnosed with a chronic illness shortly after I was born. A lot of my earliest recollections are sitting in hospital waiting rooms watching the nurses and staff do their thing. Over the years I have developed a lot of respect for nurses (and other healthcare practitioners). I know firsthand the difference a good nurse can make in a patient's and the patient's family's lives.

When it was time for me to go to college, I had to find a field and a local school where I could work full-time and go to school part-time. I ended up with a Computer Information Systems degree. I worked as a software engineer for almost 19 years. I had actually been seriously thinking about returning to college for about 8 years before I saved enough $ and got up enough confidence to quit my computer programming job (this was a really scary step for me).

I finished all of my science pre-reqs this past spring and will be starting in a Nursing for Second Degree Students program this September 2 (yes that is the Friday before Labor Day). My Nursing School orientation will be August 30 & 31.

Since I am such a later bloomer, I am looking forward to hearing all of your stories about starting school and living vicariously through you until September.

Darlene

[Student_Nurse_WV]

Hi everyone... good thread

I always had nursing in the back of my head throughout high school, but I wasn't completely sure. After H.S., I started attending college, which turned into 3 years of indescion. I was beginning to think that I would never decide on a major when I was asked to be a labor coach for my cousin. I found it all so interesting and was beginning to think of nursing seriously, until my cousin and her baby began have falling heart rates. An emergency team came in and whisked my cousin off to an emergency c-section with me running right behind them pulling on oversized scrubs. I was so entranced during the surgury I was no longer seriously considering nursing, I was determined to be a nurse!! (and I am pretty sure I want to be a surgical nurse b/c of this.)

Well thats my story and I'm sticking to it!

Much luck to everyone...have a nice evening!

[nursingismydream]

I am so disappointed that I have missed all of the previous threads. Is it okay for me to join as well? I got my uniforms today. I'm so excited. I have my Biochem class tomorrow. Definately not my better subject. I have barely passed my last 2 tests and have two more to go. The labs seem to be the only thing that I am good at.

Anyway, I have always wanted to be in the medical profession and had decided to go to med school. But experienced some medical issues. My husband and I decided to start a family first, because waiting was not an option. That was back in 1993. Three years ago I made the big decision to go back to school. Nursing seemed a much better choice with three children, a husband, and the fact that the nearest med school was over a couple of hours away. I think that nursing better suites the person I am today anyway. I plan to go straight through to NP. The school is 45 minutes from me vs. over 2 hours.

Good luck to everyone.