NURSING

I got into nursing by the back door as it were. Nursing wasn't my first choice of jobs in the Navy. What I wanted to do was electronics but because I'm color blind I was limited to nursing or clerical( see vietnam page). I took medical and found out that I kind of liked it, that is until Vietnam. After "Nam" I worked as an aide for a while and as an assistant manager (read Slave) for a Pizza Hut in my home town. I fell into a job with Bausch and Lomb working in one of their fabricating labs and then moved into Dispensing. I spent 17 years doing that and moving around the state. Because of a dispute with my next to the last optical boss I went to the community college here in town and signed up for college and the next thing I know I'm studying nursing. I took a two year Associates Degree course and because I was a nontraditional student I managed to compress that two years into three years. When you tell one of your instructors to put her course where the sun don't shine you seldom have smooth sailing with your course of study. I persevered and finally graduated, with honors I might add. After school I wanted to go into emergency medicine and work in an emergency room but the only jobs open to me at that time were in long term care, AKA nursing homes, after working in geriatrics for a while I have found that field to be as challenging as I want it to be. Geriatrics is every bit as challenging as Emergency medicine. I have found my niche in life and am very happy doing what I do. Don't get me wrong I still can find something to gripe about but that dosen't mean I'm unhappy.

From a Hospital Corpsman to a Registered Nurse, and it only took 27 years

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