I wanted to be a nurse from the time I was a very small girl. I remember my uncles and grandpa asking me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer was always, “I want to be a nurse and help people.” I used to pretend my stuffed animals and dolls were injured or sick and I would care for their “wounds”.
I hit a few snags on my way to my nursing career, I became pregnant in high school and did not get to graduate with my class. I got my GED when my daughter was 4 and worked in a hospital as a housekeeper for the next three years. After the birth of my second child, I attended nursing assistant classes and became a certified nursing assistant. I could not afford college, but because of my strong desire to be in nursing, I loved my job as a nursing assistant.
I worked 18 years in a nursing home before I finally got the opportunity to go to nursing school. I immediately applied and began my studies. I was so passionate about becoming a nurse, I studied almost constantly, I worked harder at nursing school than I have ever worked in my life. Because we had low income, I also had to keep my full time job. It was the best and the hardest time of my life. By then, I had three kids, also.
After graduating, I immediately began working at the same facility as a nurse. I loved my job. I have learned so much more from my patients than I could have ever learned from nursing school. I have listened to their stories and given advice as much as my scope of practice allows. I have become attached to many of my patients.
One of my female patients was struggling terribly with the fact that, because of diabetes, she was likely to lose one of her legs which had several wounds that would not heal due to the lack of circulation to that leg. She asked me to tell her why God would let that happen to her. I told her that I do not know why God chose her, perhaps it was because He knew she would be able to bear the burden of the lessons that her situation would teach to other people. She seemed to be comforted by that thought. She cried on my shoulder, gave me a mother-like hug and told me she thought I was an angel that God had sent to comfort her. I told her I was no angel, but I do love my patients, and I care about them and their unique situation.
To me, that is what nursing is all about. It’s not about giving medications, dressing wounds and taking someone’s blood pressure. Those are all part of the job. A real nurse cares, genuinely. And she never stops learning.