"I'm her nurse."

Back in the day when I first started nursing school, I sort of thought I knew what kind of nursing I wanted to do (oncology), but I committed to keep an open mind and see where my experiences took me. The one thing I knew I didn't want to do was pediatric nursing. (Insert laugh track here.) See what happens when you think you know something?

A few months ago I went to a job fair (even though I was pretty certain nothing would come out of it) and I met the VP of a pediatric home health agency. Everything she said to me sounded great to me. I knew I didn't want to do home health, but I figured in this bad economy, it was a good back-up plan. I emailed her the next day and told her how much I enjoyed our conversation. And then after I graduated I emailed her again--once again as a back-up plan. A week later they had me in for an interview. And at the end of the interview they offered me a job.

I had two interviews that week. One was for my "dream job" with Seattle Children's on the floor where I had done my senior practicum. I really don't think I interviewed particularly well, but I also had the very distinct feeling from the first question they asked me that they were not in the least bit interested in me.

However, during my interview with the manager at New Care Concepts, I could not stop thinking about what a perfect fit this company was for me, and what a perfect fit I was for them. Everything we talked about--the type of nursing care they provide, the type of patients they have, their nurses, their vision, their corporate culture, etc. I was shocked to discover it felt like where the last four years had intended to lead me.

But still, when they offered me the job, I resisted. And in fact, I suppose I'm still a little resistant because new grads are supposed to do hospital nursing, med-surg to be exact. And I always thought I wanted to do hospital nursing. I do want to do hospital nursing. My instructor told me on my last day of clinical, "I pegged you as an ICU nurse the first quarter I had you, and my opinion hasn't changed." I really like the fast paced environment of a hospital floor.

But after my disappointing interview with Children's, and my fantastic interview with NCC, I thought long and hard about that commitment to be open-minded, and about the interesting directions life has taken me when I've let it. And most of all, I knew that I was really ready to work. I know a lot of new grads who haven't worked for over a year since graduating. And I had an offer for a job I knew I would love. So despite the direction I thought I was supposed to go, I accepted that this was where life was leading me for now. And now every night that I go to work, I am so tickled pink that I am there.

New Care is a company that provides intensive home health care for medically fragile kids. Most of their patients have nurses in the home for 16-24 hours a day. My kiddo is dependent on a ventilator for breathing, and tube feedings for nutrition, and a wheelchair for mobility, and she is nothing short of amazing. And every time I go to work, I can see what having a nurse in the home does to ease this family's burden. It almost allows them to ignore all the medical equipment, and just be a family.

One thing that really surprised me in nursing school was how holistic nursing is. I didn't realize that nurses don't really focus on the medical diagnosis, they focus on the issues that stem from the patient's medical condition--how that condition effects this person's ability to function normally in his/her life, how to get them abck to functioning normally or how to help them establish a new normal. That's what home health is--finding and dealing with the new normal. The great thing about caring for this one patient in her home, is that I get to think about all aspects of her care every time I'm with her. How is her medical condition effecting her ability to develop like a normal 5 year old? What do we need to think about socially (she has playdates and sleepovers!)? What about academically? What choices can I let her make to feel more in control? What can I help her do for herself, because that's what 5 year olds are all about, right? And I'm doing all this while I'm monitoring her respiratory status and keeping her airway clear and giving her meds and all the other fun things I learned in school.

Anyway, I love it. I love my job. I love being a nurse. I probably won't be doing this particular job forever--I'm sure I will have 10 different careers as a nurse over the years. But for now, I am learning so much and I am so grateful that I have a job I love straight out of school.

And there's no Looney Tunes scrubs required.

I'm so excited to see where all of this leads me...