Accomplished

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I got a new job.  It's a part-time gig working with a new urgent care facility that's opening up.  I originally thought I'd be doing triage, which consists of getting the patient's history, taking their vitals, and placing them in their rooms.  Well, this place does it a bit differently, in that they like their folks to be cross-trained, so I will also be doing things like blood draws, IV's, medication administration, splints, suture and staple removal, and wound packing.  So, in essence, I quit nursing school to become a nurse.  Oh, yeah, I didn't mention that either.  Well, I wasn't super proud of that fact, especially considering I left a 10-year career in retirement plan administration to go to Nursing school, but it all worked out.  I've spent the last few months gearing myself toward a career in Nuclear Medicine (hence the cardiac scan you see on my background), and I'm happy to say that I was accepted and will begin that program in May and finish next August, so I'm still finishing at the same time as I would have, had I done the Nursing thing.  After doing my observations with 2 Nuc Med departments, I am 100% sure that I will be much happier in that field, and my decision to switch was spot on.

So, anyway, I'm in training for the job, and today was the last day before we go to the clinics and do on the job training.  I was the only one who had never done a blood draw, IV, etc., and one of my awesome new co-workers let me do a blood draw on her.  I was super nervous, but I did it.  And I got the vein on the first try.  I didn't even have to do an orange or a dummy arm or anything.  I got it right in there.  And all of the sudden, I had that feeling of accomplishment that's been missing the past couple of years.  I love staying at home with my children, but I've missed having something that I'm good at and enjoy that's just mine.  I've also been too exhausted to fuss at anyone the past 2 days, which was an unexpected bonus.