RYANN REYES

As you all may know, aside from being a shutter-happy person posting all my photographs here, I work as a part-time slave volunteer nurse. And today is definitely one of the moments that I will always remember in my entire nursing career.

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I’ve grown quite accustomed to the joys and pangs of doing tons and tons of paper works. I have this new perspective on nursing now that I’m on the administrative side of things. So many fine print to read and sort, so many paper cuts and just so many damn papers. Oh well, apparently this is what I’ve signed up for. And yes, that’s the bag I bring to work everyday because, it’s made out of an eco-friendly material—canvas, it can fit all the papers I need to bring home and nursing is just awesome. I love my job.

Featuring the cool kids at Cebu Normal University-College of Nursing Graduate Studies. We finally reached the home stretch! Just two more subjects this summer and it’s finally over! Sometimes I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. Oh well. So long Second Semester and hello Summer Classes.

One year ago, at exactly 10:35 PM, I was about to go to sleep, when someone texted me to go online because there was a link waiting for me at facebook. After a that, there was a sudden surge of text messages that came flooding in my phone’s inbox. I didn’t mind it at first because I was too busy figuring out what I was supposed to see in facebook.

And then I saw it. At first I didn’t believe it. It was too good to be true. I read it again and again. I made sure that I wasn’t dreaming or that my mind wasn’t making things up. I called my parents to come to my room and I let them read what was posted on my wall. All I remembered was, they were screaming, they were very happy, and both of them were hugging me at the same time.

But then it finally hit me, the one thing that would validate all the hard work I did in college for the past 5 years. It was the best feeling I’ve ever felt in my entire life. Everything finally made sense. I felt like I finally have a purpose in this world. And that I finally found my place in the universe. 

One year ago, I found out I passed the November 2009 Nursing Licensure Exam. I will always remember this day forever.

I started out this year with working in a new area at the hospital. I’m really glad to be finally transfered at the ward. I’ve been hinting my supervisor for weeks to be transfered and I’m glad my request didn’t go unnoticed.

It’s very chill compared to the work I do in the ER. In the ward, everything is very routine and everything is on the clock. It’s a matter of how to properly manage the time to carry out all the doctor’s orders, do bedside care, and write all the nurse’s notes.

What I love about my new assignment is that I work the graveyard shift, meaning, almost all the patients are asleep, which ultimately means, less stress. I don’t recommend this but sometimes I just set my alarm to the time the meds should be given, or what have you, so I can sneak in a nap here and there when I’ve done everything that needs to be done at that moment. But then again, it’s not as easy as I make it sound. The margin of error in the ward is zero to none. So it’s still very much hard work. 

And I love every minute of it.

I hate to admit it, but I am having a really hard time balancing my work and grad school. They’re two very different areas in my life and I still can’t find a way to weave everything I need to do around that. Maybe all this is just very new to me. I’m used to keeping mental notes about things that need to be done. But with all of this, and the stress that goes along with it, I can finally see why people invest on those planners that I once thought was stupid and a total waste of money. I just can’t properly deal with all of this anymore. This is all going way too fast for me. I really need to slow down and sort things out. Prioritize.

I guess this rude awakening to the real world of adult life and responsibility is what I need, especially now. The more I’m immersed in this world, the more I realize that I have so many things to accomplish. I thought graduating college and passing the board exam was my ticket out, but it’s just the beginning of a whole new hurdle to get over. And on top of work and finishing grad school, I have to think about options for my career path—getting work experience on other hospitals, review for NC-LEX, IELTS and CGFNS, among others. It’s just too much to take in all at once. I just hope I get this sorted out soon. I really need to get it together. Nursing ain’t easy.

Today was my first day on the job as an ER Nurse. I didn’t want to expect a lot since it was my first day and I still have a lot to learn about hospital protocol, policies and etc. But surprisingly enough, it was everything I hoped an ER would be. There’s blood, minor surgeries, injections, various medication administrations, IV insertions and most importantly, drama. 

I can not even begin to describe how awesome it is to do a lot of nursing procedures and tasks, with no CI to tell you what to do or without anyone being accountable for your actions but yourself. I feel like I’m finally walking the walk. 

My fellow nurses on the ER were very friendly and very accommodating. Most of them graduated last March 2009 and took the board exam on November 2009, just like me. So it was easy to really get along with them. There’s a lot you can learn about a person in a 12-hour shift, so I guess it’s safe to say that I now consider them as my friends. They’re the best.

Coming home tired from my first day on the job is one of the best feelings in the world. I feel like everything I went to college for 4 years all makes sense to me now. Finally getting hired and working as on the ER is probably one of the best thing that happened to my career as a nurse. 

Life is good.