The last three years of my life have included many changes. Since graduating in May of 2016 with my ASN degree in nursing, I have seen the ending of a 36 year marriage, finalized two weeks after graduation, the sale of an Equestrian farm I owned for over 20 years, 3 moves, 3 jobs, the completion of my BSN in nursing, the start on my Masters in nursing, and an amazing new relationship! I am currently working as a traveling nurse in Bristol, TN on a stroke/neuro unit and also still working PRN on my Mother/Baby unit while I prepare for yet another move to Asheville, NC.
I was separated for five years before my divorce was finalized and used this time to go back to school to pursue a degree in nursing. This was an area that had always interested me since three of my sisters, two of my children, both my daughter-n-laws, and countless other rrelatives had all pursued either nursing or advanced nursing degrees. Our family heritage of caring for others began with my father, and his two brothers, being trained as medical corpsmen to care for fellow prisoners of way in Japan, when there was no other medical personnel available to help. A Physician took them under his wing and trained them so that they could help with the incredibly difficult situation they were in. They were prisoners for almost four years and my Dad weighed only about sixty five pounds when he was liberated at the end of the war.
My nursing career has taken several turns as I experimented in different areas to find the right fit for me. I started on a pediatric CICU floor, worked in Observation area of an ED, worked on a med/surge/tele unit, tried my hand at nursing education at a small community college, still work PRN on a Mother/Baby unit, and am currently working full time as a med/surge/tele nurse on a stroke/neuro unit as a traveler. I love working with both the groups of patients I currently work with and will finish my schooling to be a family nurse practitioner in a little less than a year and a half.
The time off I have from my travel job, I come back to Sylva where Mike, and all of my animals are. I still have my youngest daughter’s dog Emily who is sixteen years old, almost totally blind and deaf, and slightly demented. Mike takes great care of her while I am gone. I know her days are limited but she is a tough little thing. I also have a couple rescue cats from my daughter Megan I am still hoping to return to her soon! Mike and I have a two year old English Cocker with unending energy who just wants to be loved any everyone!
My new travel job has me working mandatory overtime and a 7:1 patient ratio on night shift, so I have been a little tired lately! I am home resting for a few days this week before jumping back into the craziness! I have been happy to see some of the nursing issues such as patient ratios and mandatory breaks getting national attention lately. The senator from Washington state realized quickly that trashing nurses was not a smart political move. I did my share and shipped her a deck from cards against humanity. I figured that was appropriate. There have been petitions out for her to shadow a nurse for a twelve hour shift. I think it should be a full week’s worth of twelve hour shifts so she can feel what it is truly like. I love my patients, but at the end of my last shift when working four in a row, I can barely make it in my house before falling asleep!
This week we are trying to nail down a house in Asheville before I have to go back to Bristol. Found one cute one walking distance to downtown, and going to look at a slightly bigger one on a lake tomorrow. Even though it is just two of us here, when holidays roll around we need all the room we can get for family to come visit! Five grandchildren ages three and under and still growing!. When you add up my five children, their spouses and friends and the grandchildren, our numbers add up pretty fast!
Sandy