The-Whole-Nine-Yards

It seems that my work in the hospital always gave me some snippets of experiences that I always learned about a lot. And I always encountered a lot of nice people around although sometimes it is inevitable that I can meet some demanding folks along the way. But this always gave me an experience that made me a better nurse throughout my whole career.

My profession as a nurse was not really my first choice. It was my mom who really influenced me to take nursing. Initially, I would like to be a decent chemist. With my wide array of knowledge in science and math it would be not too impossible for me to be a decent chemist at all. But because of poverty, I had availed this scholarship that only afforded to pay for a nurse tuition fee and my mom forced me to grab the opportunity because honestly my parents couldn't afford to send the three of us (me and my two siblings) together to go to college.

I was so crushed at first when my mom told me that they cannot afford to send me to college and after that I felt that my dreams was been shattered. I always believed that if things are not really meant for me then it won't happen. And it seems that God had always worked in mysterious ways, places, and time for me. I never imagined that nursing will be my calling.

Initially I was retaliating about my mom's choice but what could I do, I have to accept the fact that I was called to be a nurse. I just couldn't imagine myself getting stranded at home waiting for my turn to go to college until the two of my siblings will finish college. So my mom is right, I have to grab the opportunity while the scholarship is still available for me. It really never occured to me until later on that she was right. And this was the start where my life's career had totally turned the opposite side and was in a great shape. i never knew it at first.

With my good academic performances in high school, nursing was never a big struggle for me. I took it so fastidiously and patiently and eventually had learned to love it all the way. I made a lot of friends in school and forced myself to immersed into it and it all came to me that it was a very noble profession. I tried to love it the-whole-nine-yards.

When I graduated from college, I tried to volunteer in my hometown's general hospital and there I saw how I was called for this calling to help other people when they were sick. I took a year of experience from that general hospital and after that I took off to Manila where I volunteered as an on-the-job trainee at the Philippine Children's Hospital in Quezon City where I really realized that my specialization would be in Pediatrics.

When I passed my CGFNS in 1993 then it had paved a way for me to go here in the United States. I asked help from my first cousin in Houston and my scholarship sponsor from New Jersey to lend me money for the processing of my papers and good thing my cousin knew some lawyer in Houston who can help process my papers for an H1A Visa.

I didn't realized that I will have to be here in just a two-week time. When the lawyer processed my papers at the Immigration Office here in Houston I was issued a visa right away with all my medical and physical examination waived. It was a very quick processing and when I went to the US Embassy in Manila it only took one day for me to process everything including my visa and I was scheduled to leave the next week. I didn't even have time to resign from my my OJT job at PCMC. My cousin wanted me to leave right away.

I left the Philippines during Springtime in 1994 and bounded a Northwest Airline plane to Detroit, Michigan where my first entry was then after that I headed directly to Houston Hobby Airport where my cousin picked me up from there.

I stayed with my cousin until I took and passed my NCLEX-RN then I have to look for a job after that. It took me two months to find a job and finally I found one together with my college classmates near the Texas-Mexico border. I stayed there for about nine years where I really mastered the art and craft of taking patients in the Pediatrics, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

When I got my greencard and had realized I had enough experience I moved to Los Angeles, CA to be near with my aunts and uncles from my mother side. I settled here in Los Angeles until I found a very promising job at one of the hospital in downtown Los Angeles which really cater for my specialty and also took care of my retirement and pension plans reasonably well. I was been in this hospital for almost ten years now enjoying the good benefits for my retirement and pension. I am well vested now and can retire anytime soon.

Now, I am very content with my job and was been enjoying my teaching job at Homestead Schools, Inc. It was a very fulfilling feeling that I've reached the pinnacle of my calling and had greatly appreciated that God had always made some good reasons why I ended up in nursing rather than my first choice of becoming a successful chemist.Who knows what will happen to me if in fact I ended up to be a chemist at all?

But I am so thankful that everything had turned out to be well for me. I really thanked my mom for pushing me too hard to take nursing despite I didn't really liked it initially. It is true that what you disliked will be eventually learned to be liked as time elapsed and as I grow with it. Thanks to God that He didn't left me alone in my struggles all troughout the course of my journey. Instead He had helped me the-whole-nine-yards.

Destiny is always in our own making. Without having to learn how to love what we do we couldn't reached where we are now. And thanks to all the people around me who in one way or the other had helped me realized my goals and objectives in life. I just couldn't asked for more. I felt I am already a fulfilled person, being a humble servant of God serving those who needs my assistance which pertains to my job.

In retrospect, it was a very tedious and long journey but it was a self-fulfilling one. If given another chance to go back again, I will have to chose the same destiny I have right now. Can't complain for anything else because I am very happy and content from where I am now. Thank you Lord for everything!