Why keep such amazing material to myself?

Hello friends,

I am both pleased and grateful that you have chosen to spend a moment of your day visiting my blog. This is my first attempt at a blog dedicated to the field of Pediatric nursing, I hope that for all of our sakes it will become a grand success. The stories and experiences that I have to share with you are touching, endearing, and sometimes very sobering. Some days I will come to you joyfully, other days with a heavy heart. Regardless, I hope that you will stick with me through this journey, I can tell that it will be a great one!

To help you get to know me I will give you a brief history of my life as a nurse. In June of 2008 I graduated from a small private school in Northern California. I completed their 2 year associate degree program and have plans of returning in the fall of this year to work on my Bachelor's degree. I put off doing my Bachelor's degree initially because I wanted to travel outside of the US, after I returned I put off school longer because I got hired at my dream job. I have now been a pediatric nurse in the San Francisco Bay area for a year and half (I know, I am still such a rookie). I work at one of the best children's hospitals in the entire world (seriously. It feels so good. I love my job). I work on an intermediate intensive care unit that serves children with cardiac issues. Many of our children were born with defects to their hearts that need repair, others come in because they some how contracted an illness that made their heart sick, and still others come because they have a heart problem that is inoperable and they are looking for hope in some other option. Prior to becoming strictly a cardiac floor, my unit also served the population of children in need of an organ transplant. The unit served this population of children for years, and from time to time we are lucky enough to have some of them on our floor.

I wish to tell you at this time that my children are very sick. The children that we serve are not the type that come in for a flu that will resolve in two weeks with the help of IV antibiotics, rather, they are the type that are used to living with chronic illness, the type that learned how to feed themselves through a tube before they learned how to ride a bike. My children are heroes through and through, beautiful from their heads to their toes and everywhere in between. It is possible to forget just how ill they are, because they are so good at being kids and focusing only on the fun and good things in life. (I'm getting excited for all of the stories that I will have to share). You will find that I speak of my patients as if they were my own children, I think it's a trait that comes with the job.

I know that I have only begun, but alas, it is late and I have to work tomorrow. The last of three, twelve hour shifts. If I don't get to bed now I will regret it all day tomorrow when I can't keep my eyes open to chart.

Goodnight my friends. May God bless you with sweet rest.