So I've always wondered, what guided you into starting your path into pre-nursing/nursing school and was it initially your first choice?
I can honestly say, that nursing was not my first choice of all the majors I could have chosen, but now I wouldn't choose any other major. This is because life dealt me some cards that lead me to wanting to pursue Nursing. Heres my story:
Life hasn't been all that kind when it comes to a health aspect. My husband and I struggled to have a child for over a year until I learned I had high prolactin levels. I was placed on medicine for this and shortly later found out I was pregnant with twins ( who are now 2 1/2 years old). After their birth, they were stuck in the NICU for a week, with wonderful nurses :) Soon after they were born, I became very sick and could barely get out of bed. Later, after 5 trips to the ER and advocating for some help, I found out that I had a pituitary tumor that was bleeding out, which caused massive pain in my head of course. It was ultimately the tumor that had been the source of my high prolactin lvls to begin with.
Skip to Nov. 2012, not only had the tumor produced too much prolactin but it was also making my IGF-1 (growth hormone) levels sky rocket. Leading me to become diagnosed with a rare condition. In 2013, I had two surgeries to remove the tumor, two lumbar punctures and a case of chemical meningitis, needless to say I had enough of a stay in the hospital last year.
But honestly, if it hadn't been for my whole experience, I wouldn't be where I am today. A pre-nursing student who will apply for nursing school after Fall 2014, in order to one day become a nurse who will one day help others, and guide them through any difficult time they may be going through.
I thought about being a nurse when I was much younger. I recognized early on how tough nursing could be, and didn't know if I was built to take on the responsibility. Over the years, the urge would cross my mind, however life got in the way. It wasn't until 2011 when my husband was diagnosed at a young age with prostate cancer, that I knew I wanted to definitely be a nurse. As you can imagine, it was truly a scary time. We didn't know the extent of hubby's cancer, but the numbers looked pretty scary. I was a stay at home mom at the time, with two kids in 4th and 5th grade. I didn't know what my future would hold, and the thought of losing my husband at such a young age taught me how vulnerable I was, however that was not my driving force. I was SO inspired by the nurses, physician's, and surgeon's that cared for us. Every single step, and I mean every step of the way, they encouraged us, especially the nurses. The gentle hand on my shoulder, or eyes that looked at me that said they cared, but also said, "you've got this, you are going to be okay". What could have been unbearable at the time, was made totally bearable. Walking through that journey of life completely inspired me and gave me the validation I always needed to follow my dream of being a nurse.
My husband is going on 2 years cancer free this February. Life is moving along, and we are making it happen!
I've had type 1 diabetes since age 4. In recent years I've been able to use my 30+ experience with diabetes to help people posting questions in online diabetes forums. At some point I thought I'd like to do diabetes education for a living, which requires a degree in nursing, dietetics or public health. I work at a community college that allows employees to take classes for free and had a part-time evening ADN program. My school has since stopped doing the part-time program, but I learned of a 2nd degree BSN program at a university that I had completed almost all the prereqs for. I was recently accepted.
Going to school as a working adult with a kids requires my whole family to make sacrifices. Through the prereq process I prayed for God to keep giving me opportunities if I was supposed to continue and to close the door firmly if it wasn't what he wanted for my life. But again and again, though my mom-in-law developing breast cancer (read the first chapters of the Chemistry textbook while in the hospital waiting room while she was in post-op, to my dad-in-law having a stroke the weekend before my finals when he and my husband had offered to watch my son, so I didn't get a chance to study but instead spent my time at the hospital praying for my dad-in-law and still got A's in my classes). God willing, I'll finish my Accelerated BSN program a little over a year from now.
I originally wanted to be an electrician, so I started going to college for that. Prior to going to college I had been working as a mental health aide at a local group home.
After 6 months as an electrical apprentice I learned that I hated it. I remembered what I had seen the RN that worked for the group home do and though, "I can do that!" Plus, I really enjoyed that job anyways. The pre-reqs I had already taken that semester for the electrician program counted towards the nursing pre-reqs (english, math, phys ed, etc), so it was an easy switch.
Basically, I was looking for a career in something I enjoyed.
I wanted to be a performer on Broadway... I didn't get into any musical theater programs but I got into the vocal performance program at VCU and from there, thought I was going to be an opera singer. During my sophomore year (1.5 years ago xD) I realized that opera wasn't for me (through some very harsh criticisms from one of the faculty members) and decided I needed to pick a different career that would be stable and somewhat lucrative. First I thought I would just do law school because it wouldn't add too much extra time to my undergrad degree to do the pre-reqs, but after talking with my mom, I decided that wasn't going to work. So then I talked to my mom about different health care professions and looked various programs to see what their pre-reqs were and how much extra time I'd be in school just trying to get through pre-reqs and I discovered the ABSN program. My mom suggested I apply for a job as a scribe at the hospital she worked at (she's a doctor) to see if being in health care in general was something I really wanted to do and it was through my job as a scribe and volunteering in another hospital's ER that lit a spark in my mind and my heart that I was at home and that nursing was something I wanted to do. I'm more or less just worried about what route I'm going to take when I go to grad school, instead of worrying about getting into the program I want right now, which is silly. I'm hoping through clinicals in nursing school, I'll figure out which path I want to take in the graduate level.
I had to go into town for some milk and eggs, and it was on the way.....
I got tired of job hopping over the years. I always liked working with people and wanted to feel like I was doing something important rather than just a job well done.
I went through a bunch of majors before settling on nursing. I kind of floundered for a bit. Then I decided to join the Navy, something I'd been mulling over for awhile, then Sept. 11th happened. I went and talked to a recruiter, and we discussed a few different NECs (jobs). I settled on corpsman, which is basically a Navy medic. I was assigned to a clinic where I worked in several departments and worked with pretty much every population, and I LOOOOOOVED my job. I LOVED working with patients and thinking through what brought them in and how to help them and having them walk out with answers and doing better than when they came in. It was SO rewarding. So I knew I wanted to do something medical. I thought about a few things, and considered medical school. I looked at becoming an OB or a pediatric oncologist. I really liked maternal/child, but didn't really like the OB approach. I preferred the midwifery style. So that's the direction I started heading. I started doing my general ed that I hadn't done before going in, and when I got out, I did my prereqs and such, and eventually ended up in nursing school.
The irony is that when I was in kindergarten, my younger brother was born, and I told my teacher that when I grew up, I wanted to be a "baby nurse." Funny how it's come full circle. :)
I didn't get into any musical theater programs but I got into the vocal performance program at VCU and from there, thought I was going to be an opera singer. During my sophomore year (1.5 years ago xD) I realized that opera wasn't for me (through some very harsh criticisms from one of the faculty members) and decided I needed to pick a different career that would be stable and somewhat lucrative. First I thought I would just do law school because it wouldn't add too much extra time to my undergrad degree to do the pre-reqs, but after talking with my mom, I decided that wasn't going to work. So then I talked to my mom about different health care professions and looked various programs to see what their pre-reqs were and how much extra time I'd be in school just trying to get through pre-reqs and I discovered the ABSN program. My mom suggested I apply for a job as a scribe at the hospital she worked at (she's a doctor) to see if being in health care in general was something I really wanted to do and it was through my job as a scribe and volunteering in another hospital's ER that lit a spark in my mind and my heart that I was at home and that nursing was something I wanted to do. I'm more or less just worried about what route I'm going to take when I go to grad school, instead of worrying about getting into the program I want right now, which is silly. 
I'm hoping through clinicals in nursing school, I'll figure out which path I want to take in the graduate level.
GoodnessFlows
151 Posts
I thought about being a nurse when I was much younger. I recognized early on how tough nursing could be, and didn't know if I was built to take on the responsibility. Over the years, the urge would cross my mind, however life got in the way. It wasn't until 2011 when my husband was diagnosed at a young age with prostate cancer, that I knew I wanted to definitely be a nurse. As you can imagine, it was truly a scary time. We didn't know the extent of hubby's cancer, but the numbers looked pretty scary. I was a stay at home mom at the time, with two kids in 4th and 5th grade. I didn't know what my future would hold, and the thought of losing my husband at such a young age taught me how vulnerable I was, however that was not my driving force. I was SO inspired by the nurses, physician's, and surgeon's that cared for us. Every single step, and I mean every step of the way, they encouraged us, especially the nurses. The gentle hand on my shoulder, or eyes that looked at me that said they cared, but also said, "you've got this, you are going to be okay". What could have been unbearable at the time, was made totally bearable. Walking through that journey of life completely inspired me and gave me the validation I always needed to follow my dream of being a nurse.
My husband is going on 2 years cancer free this February. Life is moving along, and we are making it happen!