Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
As part of a school project, I have been encouraged to find a form of media in which to introduce myself to others. The purpose of this blog will be to introduce myself and my thoughts on why I am a nurse.
For those whom I have never met, a short introduction....My name is Donna Wallace. I am a 32 year old, second-career nurse. I have been married for almost 12 years, and live with my husband in a small town in Anderson County, TN. I love living in a small town because in some form or fashion, everyone knows everyone. It is usually peaceful and quiet, although living close to the lake, it can get a little busy during the warm weather months, but I love it just the same.
I have been a nurse for right at a year, and most think that I have lost my mind for going directly into a DNP program after graduating with a BSN last year. Like everything else in my life for the last 8 years, this is done with great determination and purpose. A little more explanation on this in a moment.....
I am currently working as a Team Leader Nurse on a Neuro/Stroke floor at UT Medical Center in Knoxville, TN. We are a Magnet facility, with a American Heart Association Gold Plus Stroke unit, well on our way to becoming a Comprehensive Stroke Center. I love my job, my co-workers and my patients. However, due to the need to gain experience in what I consider my true "calling", I am leaving to work at the local pediatric hospital. As a matter of fact, I just received the phone call offering me the position while writing this blog post.So, needless to say, I am so excited that I can barely type.
Now back to my purpose and reason for becoming a nurse.....I can honestly say that when I graduated high school 14 years ago, I absolutely, positively did NOT want to be a nurse. I thought that was the worst thing that I could possibly do. I hated blood and mucous, and especially hated needles. I would literally make myself sick worrying about getting blood drawn. Then, 5 years into working for credit unions, my life changed forever. I found out that I was pregnant, and at 32 weeks gestation we found out that our daughter Hannah would be born with hydrocephalus. We did our research, met with the pediatric neurosurgeon, and found that many children with hydrocephalus get a shunt and live a relatively normal life. However, 5 weeks later, our life was far from normal.
At 37 weeks, our daughter was born and taken directly to the NICU at East Tennessee Children's Hospital. While being transported, she had her first seizure. A CT scan was done to determine the severity of the hydrocephalus, and found that not only did our angel have hydrocephalus, she had a major brain malformation. She was in respiratory distress, shock, and was having seizures every day. 8 weeks later, we came home from the NICU, and were home for a little over 3 days before she started going into Congestive Heart Failure. On this admission, we were told that if she survived the night, we had at the most one year with our angel.
If there is one thing I can say about Hannah (besides how much I absolutely loved her), it is that she LOVED to prove doctors wrong. Over the course of 4 1/2 years, she was admitted to the hospital 21 times. We were never given any hope of her doing anything, including smiling. We were told that "she would not even know she was in the this world". Our angel needed us for everything from medications to playing. She could not hold toys by herself, and had no head control. A good day was 50-60 seizures a day. But, she could use switches to operate toys that her Daddy adapted for her, she could raise her eyebrows for "yes" when asked a question, she loved the zoo, bubbles, Elmo and Lightning McQueen. My husband and I did our absolute best to make sure that she had as normal of a life as possible. Then in February 2009, while admitted for what was thought to be pneumonia, doctors found a consolidation in her lung. It was thought to be an encapsulated infection, and after 6 antibiotics, it was determined there was nothing else that could be done.
We were told we had about two weeks. She no longer tolerated tube feedings and would need a PICC line. I told the doctors we would do the PICC and TPN, but I wanted to learn how to do it and we were taking her home. A couple of days later, on April 2, we came home. Once again, she proved everyone wrong. On June 28, 2009, our angel earned her wings.
In the life of my daughter, I found my purpose. I started my pre-requisites for nursing school in January 2008, and graduated with an Associates in Liberal Arts 6 weeks before she passed away. I started my BSN program 6 weeks after she passed away. Nursing has been my way to heal. Nursing has allowed me to feel needed, and like I am making a difference in someones life. Sometimes I feel like I am being selfish, because I feel like many times, I get as much out of my nurse-patient relationship as I hope the patient does. I feel like Nursing is a way that my little girl will live on forever, because she inspired the type of nurse and advocate that I am to my patients.
My future plans are to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I would like to possibly specialize in Pediatric Neurology, but definitely would like to work with special needs children. I strive everyday to treat my patients the way that I wanted Hannah to be treated. I feel like my experiences give me something extra to offer the patients and their families. My greatest hope is that someday I can make a difference in the lives of my patients, the way that others made an impact in ours.
**********************************************************************************
Now that I have introduced myself to you, I would love if you would share what brought you to nursing.
For those whom I have never met, a short introduction....My name is Donna Wallace. I am a 32 year old, second-career nurse. I have been married for almost 12 years, and live with my husband in a small town in Anderson County, TN. I love living in a small town because in some form or fashion, everyone knows everyone. It is usually peaceful and quiet, although living close to the lake, it can get a little busy during the warm weather months, but I love it just the same.
I have been a nurse for right at a year, and most think that I have lost my mind for going directly into a DNP program after graduating with a BSN last year. Like everything else in my life for the last 8 years, this is done with great determination and purpose. A little more explanation on this in a moment.....
I am currently working as a Team Leader Nurse on a Neuro/Stroke floor at UT Medical Center in Knoxville, TN. We are a Magnet facility, with a American Heart Association Gold Plus Stroke unit, well on our way to becoming a Comprehensive Stroke Center. I love my job, my co-workers and my patients. However, due to the need to gain experience in what I consider my true "calling", I am leaving to work at the local pediatric hospital. As a matter of fact, I just received the phone call offering me the position while writing this blog post.So, needless to say, I am so excited that I can barely type.
Now back to my purpose and reason for becoming a nurse.....I can honestly say that when I graduated high school 14 years ago, I absolutely, positively did NOT want to be a nurse. I thought that was the worst thing that I could possibly do. I hated blood and mucous, and especially hated needles. I would literally make myself sick worrying about getting blood drawn. Then, 5 years into working for credit unions, my life changed forever. I found out that I was pregnant, and at 32 weeks gestation we found out that our daughter Hannah would be born with hydrocephalus. We did our research, met with the pediatric neurosurgeon, and found that many children with hydrocephalus get a shunt and live a relatively normal life. However, 5 weeks later, our life was far from normal.
At 37 weeks, our daughter was born and taken directly to the NICU at East Tennessee Children's Hospital. While being transported, she had her first seizure. A CT scan was done to determine the severity of the hydrocephalus, and found that not only did our angel have hydrocephalus, she had a major brain malformation. She was in respiratory distress, shock, and was having seizures every day. 8 weeks later, we came home from the NICU, and were home for a little over 3 days before she started going into Congestive Heart Failure. On this admission, we were told that if she survived the night, we had at the most one year with our angel.
If there is one thing I can say about Hannah (besides how much I absolutely loved her), it is that she LOVED to prove doctors wrong. Over the course of 4 1/2 years, she was admitted to the hospital 21 times. We were never given any hope of her doing anything, including smiling. We were told that "she would not even know she was in the this world". Our angel needed us for everything from medications to playing. She could not hold toys by herself, and had no head control. A good day was 50-60 seizures a day. But, she could use switches to operate toys that her Daddy adapted for her, she could raise her eyebrows for "yes" when asked a question, she loved the zoo, bubbles, Elmo and Lightning McQueen. My husband and I did our absolute best to make sure that she had as normal of a life as possible. Then in February 2009, while admitted for what was thought to be pneumonia, doctors found a consolidation in her lung. It was thought to be an encapsulated infection, and after 6 antibiotics, it was determined there was nothing else that could be done.
We were told we had about two weeks. She no longer tolerated tube feedings and would need a PICC line. I told the doctors we would do the PICC and TPN, but I wanted to learn how to do it and we were taking her home. A couple of days later, on April 2, we came home. Once again, she proved everyone wrong. On June 28, 2009, our angel earned her wings.
In the life of my daughter, I found my purpose. I started my pre-requisites for nursing school in January 2008, and graduated with an Associates in Liberal Arts 6 weeks before she passed away. I started my BSN program 6 weeks after she passed away. Nursing has been my way to heal. Nursing has allowed me to feel needed, and like I am making a difference in someones life. Sometimes I feel like I am being selfish, because I feel like many times, I get as much out of my nurse-patient relationship as I hope the patient does. I feel like Nursing is a way that my little girl will live on forever, because she inspired the type of nurse and advocate that I am to my patients.
My future plans are to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I would like to possibly specialize in Pediatric Neurology, but definitely would like to work with special needs children. I strive everyday to treat my patients the way that I wanted Hannah to be treated. I feel like my experiences give me something extra to offer the patients and their families. My greatest hope is that someday I can make a difference in the lives of my patients, the way that others made an impact in ours.
**********************************************************************************
Now that I have introduced myself to you, I would love if you would share what brought you to nursing.
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