The Beginning....Student Nurse LPN

When I graduated from Nursing - if someone had told me I would still be working as a nurse 34 years later....I would NEVER have believed them.

Uh-uh.

It was something I was going to do "just for now" so I could make some money - then go back to school and do what I REALLY wanted to do. Art. Music. Clothing Design. Interior Design. Anything Creative.

Nothing Nursing.

Nursing was going to be a temporary job that would allow me the flexibility and the funds to train for a career that allowed me to be creative – which did not include Nursing.

Already I had played in a band, wrote music, designed clothing from scratch, decorated houses - nothing that even closely resembled nursing.

Nursing: not the occupation one would REALLY want to get into. Not if you knew anything of what it was all about in advance.... the things one would have to do in the line of duty....and how *little* one would get paid for so much aggravation.

When you first go into nursing you think more about the Respect and Glamour of the job - you know - the *Super Hero* part of nursing.

Who thinks about the reality of it? - cleaning up people that crap themselves - head to toe poop, under the fingernails, EVERYWHERE - between the sheets and smeared all over the wall?

Who ever thinks about geezers handing over their dentures with a string of gooey mucus and metamucil that stretches from mouth to dentures - into the palm of your hand?

Who would ever think that you would have to deal with 300 pound bedridden human beings that you are expected to roll over - single handedly - and change every two hours?

Or dealing with vomiting blood or exsanguinating human beings. Or worse yet - think of all the diseases you could possibly contract. Who deals with this stuff in real life?

And who really wants a job that takes you away from family and friends right when the fun is starting or miss all the special events like Birthdays, Christmases, Family Reunions, Thanksgiving, New Years, Relatives visits from Other Countries - and -  instead of having fun - you have a work load that is impossible, patients and visitors that are complaining and doctors that are downright mean and rude to you????

I had been a patient twice before I did my training.

Had a Bilateral Bunionectomy done at age 19. You would think SOMEONE would have warned me??? I didn’t see anything then of what I experienced later as a nurse – although - I have to say - I was put in a 5th bed in the middle of a 4 bed room with very little privacy. (Little did I realize that that would still be a bone of contention 35 years later.)

Why did I EVER get into this occupation?

That thought has crossed my mind MORE than once over my nursing career that has spanned the last 5 decades. 

One would have thought that I would have clued in immediately the day I stepped inside the hospital for my first clinical. I was petrified to roll the head of the patient's bed up or down for fear I would kill them. Our instructor had scared us to death about *what not to do*.

Or, perhaps on my first practical nursing exam when I answered the question "what things can you do as a nurse to ensure your patient's safety?" and I couldn’t think of anything but "melt the sharp edges off the ice cubes" (hahaha that makes me laugh every time! Clueless).

AND - I should have had a premonition when the nasty old nurse Instructor wouldn't let me off early to be in my own brother's wedding party because apparently - "you won't be able to get the time off once you are working as a nurse!!" - and was threatened by the crotchety old Instructor that my $100 per month much-needed-measly-stipend would be withheld if I DID take even an hour off.

Nothing like running last minute to get dressed in the church parking lot - makeup and hair askew........ Flip I hate those wedding pictures - to this day I curse that nursing instructor.

Yes.

Nursing.

Why would I or anyone want to get into it? Even better question, HOW did I get into it??? I was so naive.

Once I actually started nursing I could see a lot of the positives. There was the companionship of my colleagues – they felt like family back then.

Great camaraderie.

Great for going out when I was younger AND – best of all - there was a *paycheck* ! I could now afford my own apartment. I even bought my first house on my own at age 20. I could come and go as I pleased and didn’t have to work under the thumb and microscope of my folks.

Freedom.

I could work 8 hrs per day rather than the 24 hours per day that I was doing at my parent’s Resort......and the pay was a little better than the waitressing I had been doing at that family restaurant on Main Street. (although shortly thereafter I realized my best friend was making MORE than me working 4 hours waitressing to my 12 hours of nursing )

I started out as an LPN.......and when I wanted to go back to school to take my RN.....my boyfriend at the time said that I couldn't handle it and that I was too stupid.

THAT really made me determined to go back and get my RN....if only to prove him wrong.

But - I still wasn't sure that it was something I really wanted to do.

I wasn't sure I even LIKED nursing.

But - I thirsted for knowledge. To me - Knowledge was everything. There is something amazing about coming to work every day and being challenged with something new.

I wanted to know the whys and the hows and the ins and outs of medicine.

I punted the boyfriend and chose Nursing instead.

No looking back.

punting boyfriend

I was going to be an RN.

BUT....it would only be for a while......at least I THOUGHT......