Words of Truth

This is how I've looked for six years. Tired.

I’ve been a night shift nurse for the past six years. A month ago I accepted a new position at St Vincent Hospital, which means that, after this week I will be working during the day! There are people at my old unit that I will miss, and people that I won’t miss.  There are things about my job that will change because I will be working during the day instead of the night, but I hope it’s a change for the better.

I will still need to work overtime to make our budget, but the main advantage of working day shift versus night shift is that I will not need time to recover from working overnight.  Let me give you an example:

If I work nights Monday through Wednesday, that means I get off work around 8am Thursday morning.  Then I have to spend the rest of the day switching over to a “being awake during the day” schedule.  So I only work three days, but I’m out of commission for four days.

I know that I will be making less money on day shift (about $4 per hour less), but the difference can be made up by working that extra day instead of killing my body by trying to stay awake at night and sleeping during the day.  I have worked night shift for six years now, and I am ready to move on.  What a relief it will be to sleep in my own bed every night (instead of during the day).  What a relief to not have to try to attend different events (like church, kids events, etc) while exhausted.

My last day at my old job is this Thursday, and they are having a “pitch-in” for me (to you Iowa people, this is what they call a “potluck” here in Indiana).  I plan to still pick up overtime wherever I can get it, and this may mean that I will be working on my “old unit” in the future, but not in the near future.    We are praying that this job change is going to be good for our family.

This is a new acronym. Thanks to my brother John for introducing me to the concept. It stands for “Nobody Wants To Know What I Think.” The basic meaning goes like this:

I have opinions. I personally feel that my opinions are of great value. Sometimes I express those opinions to other people. The meaning of NWTKWIT is that I should not be shocked when people don’t fall down astounded at the pearls of wisdom dripping from my lips. So when I give advice to somebody, and they reject it, I have to tell myself, NWTKWIT. When I see someone choosing something I think is harmful, I have to tell myself NWTKWIT.

Does this mean I don’t give advice? Does this mean I don’t warn people against bad choices? No, and no. What it means is that I recognize that my amazingly good advice will probably not be received as such, and the other person may simply see me as “sticking my nose in their business.” They may view me as arrogant, condescending, and rude for imagining that I can help them in any way. And I’m ok with that. After all, NWTKWIT is the founding principle of low-traffic blogs.

The short version is:  I’m not going to be a doctor.  Here are the details:

I looked at the MCAT practice tests.  I talked to people who took the MCAT.  I realized that there’s no way I can pass this test BEFORE taking physics and organic chemistry.  The only way I can be a doctor without going into debt by $300K is to have the Navy pay for it.  The navy has an age limit of 42 for this doctor scholarship program.  Since I wouldn’t be able to take the MCAT until next summer, I wouldn’t be able to apply to medical school until then.  That means I wouldn’t start until the fall of 2013. That would put me over the Navy’s age limit.  Therefore, it’s not going to happen.

So here’s the new plan:  I’m going to get my BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) and join the Navy as a nurse.  That way I still get financial incentives so we can pay off our debts.  I’ve already applied to Indiana University Kokomo for their BSN program, and I talked to an advisor there.  She looked over my transcripts, and said I would only need another 30 credits, meaning I would graduate in July of 2012.  So that’s where we are right now.

Anybody want to buy my house?

I need to pay for my schooling so I can go to med school. As my regular readers know, the plan right now is for me to:

1. Take my MCAT exam (July/August)
2. Take pre-med classes at Indiana University Kokomo (August-May)
3. Apply to Med School (August)
4. Start Med school (August 2012)
5. Enter the Navy as a doctor.

The Navy starts paying me the moment I start med school, so I can keep working until then, paying our bills out of the money that I make at the hospital.  The only problem is that I won’t be able to work as much overtime, since I will be going to school two days a week.  That, added to the fact that I have to pay $2500 for tuition and books, as well as the MCAT, which costs $235. Add in the med school application fees (usually around $100 per school…I’m picking four) of $400, and I need to raise $3150 for the next two months.

The good news is that I get tuition assistance through my job, but they only pay AFTER I pass the class and turn in a grade report. That means I’ll probably get reimbursed for these fall classes next February, and I can use that money to pay for next semester.

This is where you come in.  I need to meet my budget shortfall which now includes $2500 for this semester’s tuition, fees, and books.  I am applying to all the scholarships I can find, but who knows if any of them will pan out.  That’s why  I have placed a “DONATE” button on the right sidebar, over there——>

All you have to do is click on the donate button, and it takes you to Paypal.com where you can send me any amount of money that you wish.  You do not have to have a paypal account:  any credit card will work, and it’s a secure server.  If you would like, you can consider this a loan, and I will repay you next June when I get my tuition reimbursement for the spring semester. Just drop me an e-mail telling me it’s a “loan til June.” Otherwise, I will consider it a donation.

What’s that you say?  “What if he doesn’t get into med school?”  Well that won’t affect this, because even if I don’t get in, I still get reimbursed by my job.

Please help me make medical school a reality.