New Grad Chronicles ~ All falls into place...

Everything finally feels like it is truly coming together....

It is kind of strange when you graduate nursing school.  First you are pinned, and it truly is a triumphant moment.  School is officially over and you have joined a large soror/fraternity called nursing.  You are a part.  But the excitement wears off....(it takes about a week though)....and the familiar stress creeps back in....because you have a temporary license.

You know you are a nurse.....but you aren't yet really a nurse.

So then you study for that NCLEX.  The big test that you must take all the information you learned in school and take it to a new level.  I almost think that studying independently....is a class unto itself.

Failure is not an option...because if you fail....then you are a nurse....but not really.  Because you don't have a license.  It feels very heavy to take that NCLEX because your whole future depends on your result.  (I will tell you my NCLEX story sometime soon.)

And then you pass!  And you are elated!  Yet again!  For about a week.  Then you start feeling weird because....to be a real nurse.  A really real nurse....you need a real nurse job.  And you have to decide where it is that you will begin your career.

So many options.....which is a beautiful thing.  But a stressful and a needful thing because you want to begin well.  Begin right.

Lots of folks had jobs right out of school.  But I was waiting for word from the OR at a major hospital, to see whether or not I had gotten the coveted OR internship.  And when I thought I didn't get it.....I made plans to move to Colorado. 

So here I was....a nurse with a license......waiting on a job....and a new beginning for my life.....and a chance to give back to my children....and a chance to realize a dream.

The time for the internship had passed and I hadn't heard anything.

All the situations that had been ignored and allowed to fester were rearing their ugly heads and demanded to be dealt with at once.

Real life was crawling in at a steady, quickening pace....and the euphoria of graduating was wearing off fast.

I had to make a decision.  I was not getting enough money or time to get moved to Colorado.  Time was passing and I still wasn't a nurse.  The OR internship opportunity had passed.

I tried for a few jobs.  

I had quite a few nibbles.

The first was a Residential Treatment Center for adolescents and children.  I really liked the facility but it was a rotating shift.  I didn't think that would work well with my own children and babysitting situation.

I called a recruiter I found in the back of AJN (American Journal of Nursing)  They advertised Corpus Christi......they said there were no positions left but he could put me in two very small hospitals in TX.  I would have been ok with it but....I was afraid to get stuck somewhere bad for a year.

I applied for some Dialysis positions.  I figured it would make me easier to transfer to Colorado later.  I got a call from a hospital in this area.  But the position was a daytime position.

Thing is....I need the night differential to pay the bills.....pay student loans....

The hospital recruiter decided to offer me to the ICU  (intensive care unit) where I had worked as a NCP (nursing care partner) and a PCU (progressive care unit) at a smaller hospital in an area where I had grown up.  The interview for the smaller hospital was to take place next Wednesday....but the manager called me 7:30 the next morning and asked could I come in that day. 

When I arrived on the unit....it felt good.  The nurse manager....despite her incredibly busy schedule...was very gracious.  She was incredibly supportive of her staff.  It was sincere support, not that fakey support.  She introduced me to a new grad and the new grad seemed to be confident and filled with constructive advice.  She had planned to introduce me to a LPN of 13 years with vast experience.  Even praised Materials Management for a job well done.  (Materials Management IS a very important function and deserves praise for a job well done....for without them.....you might be hunting for supplies forever.)  She offered me the job on the spot and asked me to be sure and if I would promise that I wouldn't go to L&D tomorrow or some other unit because that is what I really wanted to do.  A lot of people job hop for more money.

I thought about it and explained that the only way I could take a position here is if I would have a night position so I could make the shift differential.  It isn't about the money, but I am a single parent so I have to do what I must.  New grads don't usually get nights......but she offered it to me.  I accepted.

 I was so incredibly thrilled.  I was at a hospital in my old neighborhood.  Soon we are planning a move to the brand new hospital.  For the first time, I didn't think about doing a job and then moving to Colorado.  I have a babysitter willing to do the night hours with me.  I only have to work 3 nights out of the week.  The managment and staff was great.  No parking to contend with....which was important.  I have ridden death shuttles, played dodge car across busy throughfares, and crossed the two story up and over the busy thouroughfare....lovingly known as 'the habittrail'.......and I didn't like it.  Arriving an hour earlier than your usual arrival time just so you can park kinda blows.

The next morning.....I got offered the OR internship position.  The one I wanted so badly that I didn't even try for any other job.  I was heartbroken.  I turned it down at first because I gave my word to the PCU.  My friends in the OR called and asking me....WHAT!!  WHY!!!  THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED!!

But I gave my word.

And that should be the end of the story.   But it isn't......