Life as we know it...

In 6 months, scratch that 5 months, my life will change dramatically. I am going to graduate with my associate degree in nursing. I'm going to take a test, otherwise known as the Nclex or state boards, and I will be a nurse. Wow...that really just sort of hit me. I mean, it's been on the brink for the whole last semester but there were times that I wasn't sure that I would be able to survive it so I tried to look away. Now it's here and it's official. I was officially a level 4 nursing student as of last Thursday. It blows me away. In 5 months, I will have an impact on people's lives...literally. This is a good thing, but it scares me to death quite honestly. I believe that I am getting the base knowledge that I need to be the best nurse that I can be and yet, there's still much to be learned. I don't know for sure where I want to work but pediatrics was just too awesome. If I thought I could handle it emotionally, I would move to Tennessee and work at St. Jude's Children's Hospital...but I don't know if I'm that strong. I cry whenever the commercials are on and I'm getting a little teary eyed just thinking about it so...there ya go. I'm also very interested in working critical care and I don't care which unit. I would have a choice of CCU (cardiac care unit), SICU (surgical intensive care unit) or MICU (medical intensive care unit). Any of these options appeals to me, especially cardiac care. I got a taste of cardiac in my last med surg rotation and I think I might have found my home...but then there's the little ones and I loved that. I loved newborn nursery too and pediatric icu so who knows? I think I like the intensive care whether it be adult or children. I would love to work at a teaching hospital and do pediatric intensive care...but I don't know that we'll end up in a place that has that. You pretty much have to be in the city for that and the hubs is not a city person. I totally am, which shocks me but he isn't and we both have to be happy, so we'll compromise by living somewhere beautiful and in the mountains. We're going to end up back in Colorado, perhaps in the same place that we were living before we came back to the Texas Panhandle but who knows. I know that we'll go where ever I get a job. I think that we'll be staying here in Texas for a year so that I can get a little nursing experience under my belt. Not that it would matter, I could get a job anyway but we'd like to pay off some debt and save some money before we move. We're planning to find a place and build a house and you can't just do that, without money, so we're gonna get all that worked out. I think this is so scary because I'm/we're starting a new chapter of our lives. I'm going to have a career versus just having a job and then the hubs is going to school. He's had a career, he went to school, but it's definitely time for him to make a change. This career isn't what he wants to do for the rest of his life and now's as good a time as any to make a change. It makes my head spin to think that at this time next year, I will have been in my career for about six months. My classmates and I are planning a trip to Vegas to celebrate. We're waiting six months because it's HOT in Vegas in May and we want to have time to save some money so we can have some fun. I'm going to start working on my bachelor's in January and then decide if I want to go on to get my master's or be content with a bachelor's degree. I really don't know, there are pros and cons to both sides and right now I'm leaning towards a master's but I'll make the final decision when I have my bachelor's. I can't see the future so I don't know what will be happening in my life then, I may decide that a bachelor's is enough and that I want to live my life. I know me though and somehow I feel like I will be able to make a bigger impact as a nurse practicioner and so getting a master's will more than likely be the path I'll choose. If I were in my twenties, I would go to medical school...but I'm in my thirties and I would rather start my career now and work through the rest of my schooling. You can't exactly do that in medical school, working is hardly an option. I know of one school that will allow you to work eight hours a week but no more, which makes sense because there is a lot of studying to be done. Anyway, it's not as if you can just walk up to a medical school and register and go, you have to be accepted and that is a process. I just don't really want to take the time for that. I don't want to put my life on hold so that I can go to school. I know that you don't have to put your life on hold but I think that's what I would choose for me because that would work better, in my mind. Anyway, it's 10:04 and I think it's time to get up and make a pot of coffee, there is football to be watched. Ciao!!!