One of my favorite childhood memories is the 1992 NBA Finals, I was eight years old and from that moment on I breathed basketball. Everyday after school I ran in the house completed my choirs and ran back out the door to play basketball. That was my life for next seven years. During middle school there was a bit of a buzz in my neighborhood about how good I had become and a lot people wanting to see play at the high school level. I don’t want to toot my own horn but I excelled at that level as well my freshman and sophmore years then my attention began shift. Basketball was no longer my first love, I really started to pay more attention to the ladies. My junior and senior year I made the team but quit both times my focus was elsewhere, if I could do it all over again I would marry my basketball. After high school I immediately starting working for a steel mill company, it wasn’t hard work but working in the elements the heat, cold, etc it takes a toll on you day in and day out. One year later I found myself in an Airforce recruiter’s office inquiring about joining the military. The recruiter denied me because of medical reasons, so over the next 4 years I worked for three different companies as a forklift operator. I found very little pleasure in being a forklift operator but I did enjoy all the learning and life experiences along the way. I got to a point where I had had enough didn’t like my job, personal life was a mess, so I decided I needed a change of scenery. I found myself in a familiar place again, a recruiter’s office, this time Army. Needless to say that conversation was entirely different from my first experience and two months later I was in Basic Training Fort Jackson SC. Front leaning rest position move! Up, down, up, down, up, down, hold it! I’m scared, I’m tired, I don’t know what I did to deserve this punishment, my arms are shaking because I have no muscular endurance, my sweat is running into my eyes. “What have I gotten myself into”, is all I could think of. I kept up with the Drill Sergeants candence through all of that during the push up exercise and told myself, “don’t give up you can handle this it’s just exercise at the end of the day”. Each day was a different and more grueling task but you learn to push through it and get stronger, by week four the Drill Sergeants had to become more creative with the smoke sessions because they were creating soldiers and we were almost there.
A few years later, well into my Army career I found myself up at 1:30 in the morning preparing breakfast for my fellow soldiers in the blistering cold. Now, like most Floridians I hate the cold, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from doing my job and providing the soldiers a hot meal. When you’re working for someone else you want to do your best for them and at the same time represent yourself in a positive light. I didn’t always like the job of being a cook but it opened up my eyes to the fact that I liked working to help others whether it was just my time, advice, or even cook a meal it all gives you a sense of self worth.
Once out of the military I found it difficult at first to adjust, because for the last five years my days and almost everything I did was planned for me. Now back into the civilian world everything was back on me, every decision was my own. I knew I was going to return to school but I had become undecided in my career choice. A few shorts months after being home I was talking to an old friend who was already an LPN and was currently in her RN program, she said to me “you should be a nurse”. I paused for a minute because I really had never even thought of that as an option, then I replied “are you sure?” Two months later I was waist deep in the LPN program wondering again what I had gotten myself into. Nursing is an interesting and ever-changing field with limitless opportunities, so I’ve been told. This I believe to be very true, however, I planned on pursuing a career a bit more manly once out of the military. An officer of the law was my first career choice. You can thank a fellow nurse for swaying my career choice, by making the nursing field feel like something I had to be a part of.
My first exposure to the medical profession has been in long-term care facilities. Being a person that’s never afraid to venture into new things, I must admit I was a little overwhelmed by the rawness of the profession at first; everything from wiping butts to seeing severely contracted patients who can’t do anything for themselves. Having experienced a few things that’s involved in nursing, I was forced to humble myself, appreciate life and be thankful for what I have. It took one patient to convince me that this is what I want to with my life, she was the nicest little lady you could ever meet but she didn’t like the ladies I found that to be quite hilarious.
The day that convinced me was at clinicals as a student nurse, I had been providing daily care for a specific patient. On this particular morning, the patient did not want to take her meds from her nurse or the CNA’s trying to assist her. In her mind, they were trying to hurt her, so in I walked and said, “Good morning Mrs...” she replied, “good morning handsome” this gave the nurse an idea, she asked if I could get her to take her meds, since she seemed to like me so much. I obliged and the patient willingly took her meds. It meant a lot to me, to be able to help and it honestly made me feel good about myself and I’ve been hooked since. In closing, I chose to continue my nursing career because it provides a certain, self-appreciation. You can be proud of what you do and there’s no better feeling than helping someone else.