I get asked quite often why I chose nursing as my profession. My response “I don’t know if I chose nursing or if nursing chose me”.
At a young age of seven I was learning how to change “cloth” diapers and warm bottles for my baby brother. My summers and spare time were spent babysitting and caring for my nieces and nephews or my parents would volunteer my services to babysit their friend’s children.
My sister was an avid reader, and one of the series of books she enjoyed was Cherry Ames. She enjoyed those books so much that she often tried to bring them to life by having my brother’s act as soldiers and she and I would have be the army nurses tending their wounds. I think that was the beginning of something I wasn’t aware of.
My parents were always busy volunteering for the church or community. Through their experiences I gained my sense of community responsibility and advocacy. I think it was through all of these early experiences that my “calling” to nursing was seeded.
When I graduated from high school I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. My mom had me registered at a Community college to take a legal secretary course. I think I had other ideas and went out and got myself a job working on a temporary assignment for one of the government agencies. That temporary job lasted 10 years. It was the last two years of that job that I realized that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. So I explored the possibility of entering into nursing. I was 28 married with two children one of whom was only 8 months old when I went back to school full time. When I look back on those years I just shake my head and ask myself what I was thinking.
As a nursing student we were exposed to many areas of nursing. Being a mom many of my classmates thought I would love our obstetrical rotation or better yet our pediatric rotation. Not so, although I enjoyed bathing the little babies and helping the moms nurse their little newborns I realized early on that this was not the area for me. But because nursing is so broad, there are so many areas one can nurse.
I started my career as a med/surg nurse. I worked on a heavy medical ward where we did primary nursing. It was back breaking work and long 12 hour day and night shifts. After a year and half of that I transitioned into Palliative care which I absolutely loved and did for almost 5 years. I then found that I wanted more, the adrenaline junky in me wanted a little more excitement, so back to school I went and took my critical care training.
My critical care training opened up many doors for me I’ve worked in a variety of critical care environments such Emergency,ICU and now Post Anesthetic recovery.
I have never regretted entering nursing, I think it was the best thing I ever did for myself. Nursing is a challenging and yet rewarding career. I am passionate about health care and an advocate for ensuring that every Canadian receives the best care possible, regardless of their financial status.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about thing that matter”
~Martin Luther King Jr.~
