Come on you guys...

I have been checking here every day, sometimes more than once...Hoping to get to know some other nurses out there... So I decided I'm just gonna start posting more often in the hopes of getting some more of you to join in... Mary dialysis RN

Hi, Mary, I'm sorry you are having a hard time getting approval. Maybe it won't be too much longer. I am set for surgery on Monday 3/8/04. I'm starting to get really anxious. Wonder if I could find some valium somewhere. Ha Ha just kidding. God is good and he will help keep me calm. What insurance do you have? Do you know others that have been approved and how long it took for them? Will talk to you soon. Valerie

Hi Mary, I don't check this forum as often as I had intended to. I seemed to be the only one writing in! I'm a semi-retired psych-mental health nurse practitioner. I've worked in ICU-CCU, L&D and psych over 30 some years. While I am learning American Sign Language, I am teaching a nurse aide program to indigent youth in the inner city of Denver and teach a mom-baby signing class. The goal of learning to improve my signing is to finish the interpreter program and use that ability to open a practice for therapy with the Deaf. They desperately need therapists who can sign so there doesn't need to be an interpreter in the room with them. I taught nursing for 13 years, including a bridging course for RN's wanting their BSN degrees. I started out as a diploma nurse, way back in the Dark Ages, and worked my way up. I'm currently an ABD (all but dissertation) toward my PhD. I'm also a published author and spend much time at home working on books and articles. My books and articles are mostly psych oriented. However, I'm currently working on a contemporary novel for women and a a children's book. They are different genres and I'm loving it. So, there you have my nursing history and aspirations. It is difficult to get all the nurses out there to get onto this messageboard. There should be dozens...1 in every 40 women in the country is a nurse! Blessings, Rusty, RN, MSN, RTC

Hey Rusty, WOW...you certainly have a lot of credentials! That's awesome. I was particularly interested in what you had to say about sign language. I too know ASL that stems from my high school integrating the deaf kids into our elective classes. I knew the alphabet since 6th grade and when I had art with one of the deaf girls, I would spell out everything the teacher was saying. She started teaching me the words and we of course became friends and still keep in touch to this day via email (she lives in Alabama). I also got to know the other deaf kids in school from hanging out with her and still see one of the guys often. My sign is a little rusty, but I am able to have a conversation with him and it comes in handy every now and then when we get a deaf patient. After I graduated from Nursing school (the hardest thing I ever did), I swore I'd never go back to school. I have an ADN and work in the acute hemodialysis unit at a local hospital. Lately I have been feeling the need to get my BSN because I can't see myself doing clinical work for the rest of my career. I never have liked floor nursing and almost quit until I found dialysis. I have been doing dialysis for 6 of my 7 1/2 years of nursing. I found my nitch and think I'm pretty good at it. Patients always say I'm a good stick. But prior to going into nursing I had always been more of a business/banking person and think I would like the "paperwork" side of nursing. Unfortunately, so many of the positions I'm interested in require the BSN. But, I think I will wait on that until after I've taken care of my health. I turn 40 in April of 2005 and hope to be happier and healthier then, than I was my entire 30s. Then perhaps September of that year, I will return to school. Thanks for writing...and I look forward to hearing more from you and the others on this board. I'm trying to get it rolling....... Mary