Who'd have thought?

There is a bit of a nursing/medical gene in the women in our family. My mother, my auntie, my sister is a radiographer (she also got the physics gene - missed that one myself. E can jolly well equal MC squared for all the difference it makes to me!), one of my Great, great, greats was a missionary which I suppose is kind of nursey.

This is Valmai (AKA my Mum) as a newly graduated "sister' in the 1960s.

Found this photo of my graduation in 1986.
When I resigned my job as staff nurse at the local hospital a few months ago, I really thought that was it for me. I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the nursing profession. Probably less to do with nursing and more to do with political stuff and resourcing. I left with great relief to have my first child in 1988. Glad to have a get out of jail free card, as staff numbers were slashed and resources became scarcer, according to the political whims of the day, and it became harder and harder to do your job the way you were trained to do it - properly.

Then my son was born with almost end stage renal failure and there began a life -long relationship with the health system weather I liked it or not. And I was thankful I had the inside running on how the system worked and more importantly, where it sometimes didn't work and needed close monitoring!!!
And I have been so grateful over the years for the care and expertise that we have recieved through Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland, where the renal transplant department was just like a second family to us, and now to the renal team and dialysis nurses at Waikato.

And I thought I'd never enter that world again - as a nurse.

But I did. In 2007 I did a re-entry to nursing course and went back eighteen years after I had left the first time. A lot had changed. For the better mostly. Until a new government came in and the whole bean counter, spin the stats, people are not people, they're statistics and parts of statistics, and lets run a hospital on a just in time inventory system crowd came back!

And it felt just like it did in 1988. And I thought, this is it for good now.

I often refer to serendipity in my blog musings. For me serendipity is a way of saying every cloud has a silver lining, and you just may have to wait a while till you find it, and you just may have to be ever vigilant looking for it. But it will always be there.

A few weeks ago there was an add in the paper for a practice nurse at the Patea Medical Clinic. Patea is a town I have had a long association with. I went to primary school there. It's 20 mins drive from where I live. It's a small town clawing it's way back from the closure of the freezing works more than 30 years ago. The same families are still there, just a few generations down the track. I applied for the job at the last minute after finally being emailed the job description.

I got an interview. I revised all sorts of obscure paediatric rescusitation formulae and the principals of the Treaty of Waitangi, and all sorts of stuff I thought they might ask me.

They asked none of that. Instead they chatted away to me and asked me about myself and why I wanted the job, and why I'd left the hospital, and an hour went by very quickly.

I got the job. Along with another girl from the hospital who I know well.

We will job share, which is a perfect situation for me.

I have no idea how many other people applied for that job, or why I suddenly felt compelled to apply at the last minute, and became very focussed on being a nurse again. I just think it was the serendipity factor. They are happy for me to take time off to give my kidney to my son, which was my number one priority, and they are just the lovliest people to work for.

I started this Monday. I am completely brain dead from learning so much new clinical stuff and the computer system, which is just mind boggling. But I just know I'm going to love the job once I've got over feeling overwhelmed and bogged down with all the new stuff.

So that's why you haven't heard much from me lately. But I haven't forgotten you all. And I really wanted to call this post "there's a snowman in my linen cupboard" cos I'm already getting excited about Christmas!!! But I thought that didn't really go with the nursey thing, and I really wanted to tell you all about that.

But there is a snowman in my linen cupboard. And he's getting a bit excited about Christmas too. He wispers to me every time I go in for sheets or to put away the hankies.



I don't think I've introduced you to this little angel either. She's probably more of a spring garden angel than a Christmas one.

And I made this ballerina cushion the other day, to go with my 1950s ballerina bedroom.

And now that I'm brain dead from learning about immunising babies and irrigating ears and several thousand function keys on a keyboard, I'm totally rejuvenated about getting back into my crafting and my garden.

The sheep jersey is progressing (but not at all this week!!!)

And there is a pile of lovely fabric waiting for me to make it into cool trousers from my favourite new patten book.
Have a lovely week blog chics, and it'll probably be another week before I'm back, accounting for the brain dead factor and all. Enjoy!