Yup, that’s me right now. I was in bed, mostly unconscious on Thursday. Steve took me to the doctor and they gave me antibiotics and steroids. So yesterday, the steroids really took effect and I was pissed off for no reason, but I could breathe, stand, and shower on my own, so it didn’t matter, you know?
My guess is that I had pneumonia, based on my inability to breathe without severe pain, my lips turning slightly blue when I stood up, severe lethargy, etc. I could be wrong about that, of course, and the doc didn’t tell me one way or the other, and didn’t do any diagnostic tests. I suppose it doesn’t matter much, except it’s nice to know for informational purposes, since they more than likely would treat it the same way whether it was bronchitis or pneumonia.
Oh well. The ‘roids are giving me rage and energy, and the urge to write again. Thank God this is a short pack of ’em. Started out with 24mg [in six pills] and go down one pill per day, so I should be able to maintain my sanity, eh?
Life is still good. I am happy. Oh! I got accepted into nursing school, and will start that in August. After just eleven months, I’ll be an LPN. My plan is to work setting up medical equipment in homes, ’cause working at the hospital here would suck. The pay sucks, the hospital itself sucks [well, if you’re a patient, anyway]. Apparently, the administration thinks that the nursing staff is the least important rung on the patient care ladder, so they don’t pay very well, and they hire crappy nurses.
I’m a good nurse [yes, already, even without the certificate or work experience that says so] so I’d be a good addition to any office or hospital floor, but working in bad conditions is not something to which I really want to expose myself. It’s crazy that the hospital here pays LPNs about $12-$14 an hour, and the medical equipment setting up job mentioned above pays $22 an hour.
Kind of a no-brainer, eh?
So I’m thinking that if I get a good job as an LPN, I’ll go on and get my BSN here in town. There’s an ADN [that’s a two year nursing degree] program about an hour from here [in KC] but the school costs $16,000 for 8-10 months of schooling, and the BSN program here is around $3500 a year, and it’s a four-year degree.
The four year degree mostly just looks better on paper than the two year, and there are different opinions on which program actually makes better nurses. However, if I get my BSN, then it’ll be easier to get my master’s and become a nurse practitioner, which is actually what I’m thinking of doing.
If I’m gonna do the career thing, it seems like I should go far enough to make it worth my while. Nursing is a worthy thing to do just for the love of helping people, and I plan to do short-term medical trips to other countries to help out where people really need it, but I’d be lying if I said that was my only reason.
Nursing is a way for me to help my own family: to help take away some of the financial stress we’ve been living under for over ten years now, to pay for my kids’ education, to give us something to retire on. Nursing is a practical way for me to ensure these things, an it’s something that I know for sure I can do, that there will always be a job available, and the jobs are varied enough that if I get bored working in one area, I can move on to a different one.
Am I giving up my dreams of writing, or being an artist? No, not exactly, but I have realized that writing and art can’t really be depended upon to put food on the table, at least not until you actually finish a book and start getting paid for it. I’m not even close to that. I don’t even know if I have what it takes to write a whole novel, because I’ve yet to find the determination to stick with a plot long enough to finish it.
I may always just be a blogger and hobby writer, and that’s perfectly respectable. I may also get some kind of crazy inspiration and be the next JK Rowling, and that would be fine, too [hee hee, but just ‘fine,’ not ridiculously wonderful or anything!]. But, I don’t know the future, so while I’m still dreaming that one day I’ll be a great famous writer, I’m making plans that will help take care of my family in the meantime, eh?
So, how are you doing? Leave a comment and let me know, okay?
If I Ruled the World 