Plan of Care (For lack of a creative title)

If you are starting at this entry, then you are starting at the beginning of these posts. And I apologize in advance for the insanity that will unfold before your eyes.

The story thus far:

Yesterday, during the course of a conversation, I said some random thing that triggered this thought in my head: I've been a nurse for a whole year. 365+ days I have had the title of registered nurse printed after my last name. In all honesty, I almost quit this profession at my old job working as a floor nurse at a hospital. Between the stress of the patients, the stress of the job and the expectations around me, I nearly fled. Well....I did flee in the end, but not out of nursing. I went out of the hospital and into the field. Literally. Once free of the hospital walls, I found a little niche of nurses tucked away in this specialty know as home hospice nurses. And I found my own little cubby hole of a career here.

So why am I blogging about it now when a year has already past and the interesting stuff has already occurred? Because, my friends, the interesting stuff NEVER STOPS. Whether it makes you go bald from yanking your hair out or you shave your head from enlightenment, this little job known as nursing grabs you by the hand and drags you through some of the strangest, weirdest, horrifying and beautiful things you have ever seen.

This blog is for, and dedicated to, all those first year nurses out there in the world who feel like they made a mistake by joining the ranks. First of all, deep breathing helps. Secondly, Ativan helps pretty wonderfully too. But most of all, you didn't make a mistake.

You, like all us nurses, were never told exactly what you signed up for.

So here on this blog is a little wisdom I want to impart upon you.