the limb

Sometimes you have to go out on a limb and decide to move a mountain.

At one point in your life the mountain may be the Air Force assignment orders you've received that threaten to take you away from the one, or at least keep you far, far apart. That one special person who has come along and you are certain that he is "the one", you may have to be separated before the going gets really good. In late January/early February of 1992, I decided to move a mountain.

Big B had asked me to marry him. We'd both recently received our next assignment orders. I was being sent to Bergstrom Air Force Base, in Austin, TX; a base that promised to be filled with great things to come, not to mention a great area to be single in. College town, great climate, close to other cities that have tons to do, you name it, it was sure to be a great assignment.

Big B had orders to go to Minot Air Force Base, ND. Key the Deliverance banjos and start your engine block heaters!

Did I mention I was set to leave the beginning of March, just over a month away?

Rather than spend who knows how long apart maintaining a long-distance relationship, I decided it would be best to find some way to stay geographically together. The solution? One of the other medics I worked with had orders to Minot as well. Hot diggity dog! We swapped. Thanks to all the muckity mucks (first sergeants, commanders) and a desire for JD (the other medic) to NOT go to Minot Big B and I were able to end up in the great white North together.

If there's a will, there's a way!

Being one that chooses to fight for what I want, I decided, last week, to take the proverbial bull by the horns and move another mountain.

A couple of months ago I was told by the local community hospital that they would not be hiring nurses with less than 2 years experience. Yes, hearing such news was somewhat jarring---think, your own personal mental Iwo jima.

I mean, most hospitals have "1 year (RN) experience" as a job requirement, at least around here. Now you're telling me "two years"???

Far be it from me to sit back and rest on my laurels. I decided to email the HR contact I've kept in touch with ever since that fateful summer I didn't acquire a position as an extern. She's the one that had given me the most recent bad news about experience.

Here's my going-out-on-a-limb-to-move-a-mountain attempt:

HR Person,

Last we spoke you informed me of The Hospital's** decision to not hire anyone under 2 years RN experience for RN positions. Because it is my intention to someday be a part of The Hospital's team, I'd like to let you know I've updated my resume in hopes that I may be considered sooner than later for any open RN positions. Please see attached.

As you know from our last round of communications, I am willing to do whatever I need to do to secure my dream. I willingly became your guinea pig and took the assessment you provided me, and from what I remember you said I did very well. Yes, I am still a fairly new nurse, but the experience I've gained on the skilled unit I work on is worth twice the normal first year of experience for a new RN. I am coming up on my one year anniversary this July. Since being licensed in July, 2010, I've secured a temporary position as staffing relief for a local pediatrician's office and have since been employed working on the skilled unit I just mentioned. As a RN Charge Nurse I do everything from admission to discharge of the skilled patients we care for in our facility. This includes assessments, admissions/discharge paperwork and documentation, any lab work that needs to be done, care and maintenance of tracheostomies, colostomies, PEG/J tubes, surgical wounds, pressure ulcers, administration of narcotics and other scheduled medications, IV therapies, supervision of CNAs, communication with physicians and interdisciplinary team, developing rapport with patients and family who spend 2-4 weeks, or more at my facility, maintaining a patient care load of 12-18/shift, and any task I am asked to do I am certain to complete with a smile on my face.

I have a list of references I can also provide you, to include RG who graduated with me and is a RN on your med/surg/ortho/peds floor.

As always, I thank you for your time in consideration of my resume and taking the time to read this,
KLS, RN
**Edited for anonymity--of sorts.

Wednesday I received a call from HR person letting me know she'd read and re-read the email, she impressed upon me to not let her down, and that she was indeed going out to bat for me. She called the director of the med/surg/ortho/peds floor and was going to forward my resume over. She wasn't going to promise anything, but was hopeful I'd be receiving a call.

Thursday, The Director called me.

Tomorrow, Monday April 3rd, 2011, I have an interview.

that's the way my cookie crumbled

It all started oh, about 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, August 11th. Imagine that, something happening on the 11th day of any month. It is a trend in my life. I had just gotten off work and was making my way through rush hour traffic to home. As usual I'd looked at my cell phone to check for messages before I started driving. Big B had left one, "Call me".

Ought oh.

He said he had bad news and proceeded to tell me one of his co-workers had resigned, so we wouldn't be able to go on vacation the following week. Yes, just days away from a vacation we had all looked so forward to, I was hearing it wouldn't happen. I was livid. That's putting it mildly. I am a redhead and do have the temper to fit. Most times I keep it in check, but when you mess with something or someone I care about, watch out.

I arrived home and head straight upstairs to spare my family members of my wrath. I'm embarassed to admit, I was so mad that when I slammed our bedroom door, that has an over-the-door hook on it, that usually keeps it from shutting...well, I slammed it so hard, it shut.

In the end we decided, so as not to waste any money, that the boys and I would go, sans Daddy.

Yes, I'm brave. I not only took two teenage boys on a road trip for a week, but added one of their friends to the mix. ZA had already been invited that very fateful day, and they were all so excited for their Jersey shore vacation. This is all thanks to the show, Jersey Shore. They were hellbent on having their own Jersey shore experience and who am I to not let them have it? Besides, I really needed to "get away". Taking them was the lesser of two evils, those being stay and not go on vacation that I'd been so looking forward to (read as: certain nervous breakdown would surely ensue), or take three teenage boys to the Jersey shore.

Off we went. We left VA on a rainy Sunday and arrived in a splendid locale reserved by my father-in-law. We spent a couple of days on the beach and also walked the boardwalk in Wildwood. One day we spent relaxing around camp, lazing around the pool and "enjoying" each others' company. The next day we were forced to again "enjoy" each others' company since it poured rain. all. day. long. That same day LB had developed swimmer's ear, so we also spent some time in a local urgent care facility. yay.

That evening I suffered with a migraine, but was able to sleep it away that night. Thursday we set out for Seaside Heights, which is the town where Season 1 of Jersey Shore had taken place. We all wanted to check it out and you never know when you might see a cast memeber, considering they still frequent Seaside. Wouldn't you know, we turn up onto the boardwalk and there's a big crowd of people, with some police officers patrolling the scene. It was Ronnie and Snooki! They were standing in the entryway of the Shore Store, which is the store the cast worked in during Season 1.

We walked the boardwalk and bought a bunch of t-shirts. The cast has made some taglines famous and of course the retail world has capitalized on this by way of t-shirts.



I started feeling another migraine coming on, and by this time we were all shopped out and ready to head home. We make our way back to the parking lot where we paid to park, only to notice the crowd of people starting to gather. Come to find out, we were parked right across the street from the house the cast had stayed in and are currently filming Season 3. We were right there where all the action was, well, across the street from it at least. I'm thinking a sudden burst of excitement and adrenaline curbed my headache, so I was able to stand by for a while, hoping to catch a glimpse of a cast member. Alas, after about an hour or so, the headache started coming on again and the boys had become bored with watching the commotion of MTV personnel and police officers, with no sighting of any celebrities, so we headed back to camp.

"Camp" was more than a tent. We had the privilege of staying in my father-in-law's RV, and it was a biggin'. It made for a mostly enjoyable vacation, although the boys were, at times,... too much personality... in what could be a small place.

Once again I was able to sleep off the migraine, and awakened Friday with plans to hit the beach. We also headed out to dinner that night for our seafood feast at The Lobster House in Cape May. Sadly, my migraine started in again and we made it an early night. I ended up with chills and nausea and after an hour or so trying to sleep it off unsuccessfully, had LB take me to the local ER. Last time I'd felt like that was when I had mastitis after I'd given birth to AW...14 years ago.

Nine hours and a dose of Reglan, and then a dose of Toradol later, I was discharged. As all good things must come to an end, we headed back to the RV to get packed up. After a ngihtmare of an ER visit where I got little to no sleep and LB slept none, I knew we couldn't head straight back home, so we followed my father-in-law to his house where I was able to get a nap in, and then we made our way home. All the while I felt like poo.

When Monday morning rolled around I was still feeling dreadful, so I had to call in sick. Later I received a phone call from the big boss informing me I'd been taken off, and replaced, of my part-time position, and was being put on PRN status. The person who covered for me during vacation was my replacement. Why? I have yet to get a solid reason. I can say I know it's due in part to the fact that my replacement is awesome. She's a former classmate, someone I considered a friend. I know her well enough to know she's extremely comfortable in her nurse skin, whereas I don't have the experience she does, and so I'm still getting used to mine.

That's the way my cookie crumbled. I'm torn. Part of me is relieved this happened, because I wasn't entirely comfortable working there. There are a few standards of practice I don't necessarily agree with. It was experience and a paycheck though. This has been a big blow to my confidence, even so far as to make me question my worth as a nurse.

Today I have an interview for a local health and rehabilitation center (nursing home). It's exciting and daunting all at once. I welcome the opportunity to possibly be doing more nurse-like work over what I was doing at the PO. We shall see.