When did you know you wanted to be a nurse?

[Cryssi]

I was just wondering when did you know you wanted to be a nurse? How old were you when this desire hit you? Was there a specific incident that started it? A person that inspired you? And was it everything you thought it would be?

Cryssi

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I was 15 years old, visiting my grandparents, and one night after everyone went to bed I was bored out of my mind. The only thing to read was Reader's Digest, and there was an excerpt from Elizabeth Mehren's book "Born Too Soon" which is about her premature daughter's struggle to live. The way she wrote about the strength of such a tiny baby was beautiful, but the real clincher was the way she remembered the nurses. She considered them angels, and described their love for her daughter and their supportive care of the family in the most wonderful way. I decided then and there that I wanted to be a part of that world, and wanted to be able to help babies and their families the way the nurses in that book did.

Halfway through nursing school, I hit that slump where everything seems impossible. I went to the bookstore to buy a new drug guide, and there on the nursing shelf was a copy of "Born Too Soon" - and I realized I never even read the whole thing!!! I bought it, read it in one evening, and cried my eyes out. The next day, I was back on my feet, roaring to go, more determined than ever.

I've been working NICU for over 5 years now, and to this day that book still inspires me.

[live4today, RN]

Originally posted by Cryssi

I was just wondering when did you know you wanted to be a nurse? How old were you when this desire hit you? Was there a specific incident that started it? A person that inspired you? And was it everything you thought it would be?

Cryssi

Hi Cryssi

I really always wanted to be a surgeon, but...........didn't pan out that way. Soooooo, I was in my early thirties when a classmate strongly encouraged me to give nursing a try. I did, and she and I have remained the bestest friends since that time (20 years now). I still remind her that it was HER idea that I become a nurse. :chuckle

Was nursing everything I thought it would be? It was up until this past year when I returned to nursing after a five year absence. Man, what a wake-up call that year was! However, once a nurse always a nurse....so a doctor told me.

I do enjoy patient care, but it's getting through all the political muck of nursing to see my way clear to the patients whom I wish to nurse that tends to cloud the path of my desire in nursing.