Life Changes...

Isn't the stress of life just great sometimes?!? The last few months have been very stressful for our family. So here's a recap and how things have turned out--

In December I had to have an ablation. This is along the same lines of a hysterectomy but less invasive. Long story short- the doctor was nice enough to give me an infection which led to the ablation and some major antibiotics! The way the doctor phased it was that I had won the lottery on the infection because only 0.5% of patients get one with what I had done. Why is it that I can't win something that involves an amazing award??? Nope, not me... I win the prize that gives me surgery, of which we had to pay $1000, and some nasty antibiotics that I will NEVER take again!

All through this time, I was having some major issues at work due to budget cuts that hit our facility. I started looking and interviewing for jobs in July with no luck. After being told that 2 of the 5 days I worked I would have to take on a patient load of 48 to 1- Ryan and I decided to take a leap of faith and quit my full-time, benefited job. For those that are not in the medical field... a patient ratio of 48 to 1 means that I would be the ONLY nurse to 48 patients. Not only is this not safe (for obvious reasons) it's extremely difficult because if anything happens, I am ultimately responsible due to the fact that I am the RN in the area. Jan. 7 was my last day. I felt a sense of relief after quitting but the stress of having no insurance and no full-time job was a bit daunting. Thankfully, I was able to pick up hours at a care center that I worked at before.

After, literally, months of interviewing, I was finally offered and accepted a job at LDS hospital in SLC. (I think Utah is about one of the only areas that doesn't have a nursing shortage!) It was such a stress relief yesterday to go fill out all of the employment paperwork! I am very excited to be back working for IHC. I have always felt that I could spend my entire career working for them. Mainly because the company is so large, has an amazing reputation, and has tons of different opportunities and areas of practice to keep me from ever getting "stuck" in an area.

I will be working on the psychiatric/behavioral health unit. This is a lock down unit that medically treats patients with injury etc. directly related to mental health issues. I will admit that this is not my "ideal" area of work-- It's the same type of nursing that I was doing before. However, I know that I am good at it and that I have the patience to deal with these very difficult patients. Not to mention the fact that it gets me into IHC. We will see where my career goes from here.

I have truly felt a sense of calm as Ryan and I discussed and then accepted this position. We feel like we took a true leap of faith by quitting my last job. I have a sense that for some reason Heavenly Father wants me to work this new job. There were too many "coincidences" that lead to me interviewing and then taking this job. I don't know why and may never know the reasons but I feel like this is where I am supposed to be for now.

I am hoping that life calms down for at least a little while. I think our next endeavor will be the decision to buy a house again. I'm still not sure if I am ready for that yet-- there are pro's and con's to each side... and with me now working in downtown SLC, it changes the direction that our thoughts were headed as far as areas etc. Hopefully, we have a few months of calm before we have to make life changing choices....