After working as a volunteer ambulance EMT and critical care tech for around 15 years, I decided to go back to school to become a nurse. I couldn't see myself scooping up an MVA victim from the side of the road when I was 50, but I wanted to stay involved in medicine. My first degree, in Art History, wouldn't be much help in the medical world, but I had worked summers in college as a surgical tech in the OR and my years in emergency medicine would be invaluable.
I graduated from nursing school when I was 40 and was immediately hired to work in the Emergency Department of that same Rochester hospital where I had spent my summers. Every day in the ED was challenging and rewarding, but my schedule was not family-friendly. As a part-timer, I was required to work both days of every other weekend, and every other holiday. Too much of my scheduled time was when I wanted to be with my family.
After six years I decided to look for something new, and almost immediately learned of an opening in the recovery room at a free-standing outpatient surgicenter. There would be no question of working on weekends or holidays, as the surgicenter was only open Mondays through Fridays.
I applied, was hired, and began working there within weeks. I couldn't bring myself to give up my emergency nursing just yet, so switched to per diem work at the hospital. Eventually, the scheduling conflicts became too much, and I resigned from the hospital.
I enjoyed working at the surgicenter on a part-time basis for over 6 years, but then we moved to our current home, about an hour away. I decided the early morning wake up call and long commute was not going to work for our new lifestyle. I picked up another per diem job in radiation oncology at the local Canandaigua hospital, which kept me as busy as I wanted to be. Other volunteer activities were consuming most of my "free" time. Eventually, it all became too much, and I let my license expire the next time it came up for renewal. By then I had a full-time non-paying job as president of a women's club in Rochester and was getting ready to open my jewelry gallery, JOOLZ, in downtown Canandaigua.
It had been a great run and I thoroughly enjoyed working as a nurse. And while I am no longer licensed, all that nursing knowledge is still in my head. I am often called upon by friends, neighbors and family to help them sort out medical terminology and conditions.
And then I was beset by one of my own.
My right knee started acting up while we were in Florida this winter. A few days before our scheduled departure, I could barely walk due to pain. I stopped by the local CVS and purchased a folding travel cane. I called our ortho doc in Rochester and got an appointment to see him 3 weeks after we returned. I also called a family friend, who is an acupuncturist and naturopathic doctor in Canandaigua, to set up an appointment for acupuncture upon my return. I started taking ibuprofen at night. I was in pain and not happy. This wasn't supposed to happen to me; my husband was the one with the bad arthritis.
At my appointment with the ortho doc, I had x-rays and a thorough exam. He said he thought it was a meniscus tear, as the pain was localized and there was no evidence on the x-rays that there was severe arthritis. Next up, a right knee arthroscopy. When and where, I asked. In 8 days at the same surgicenter where I used to work, he said. (He has known me since my days in the ED).
How would I like being on the other side of the gurney at my old stomping ground? It had been 13 years since I worked there. Would I know anyone there? I still see one friend who used to work with me, but I wasn't sure who else was still there.
It turns out that the current pre-op nurse used to work in the OR when I was there, and the receptionist was also a familiar face. One of the recovery room nurses started at the surgicenter just as I was leaving, and the holding area nurse who started my IV was the daughter of my sister-in-law's former OB. In the world of nursing the circles are often overlapping.
The surgery went smoothly and there were no anesthesia surprises. However, the results of the investigation were not what either I or the doctor expected. There was no meniscus tear, but there was evidence of severe arthritis. A knee replacement surgery is in my future. My recovery has been uneventful and after a few days of ice and elevation,
I am now walking around again with a cane. The pre-op pain, unfortunately, returned once the long-acting local anesthetic wore off. I am now the proud owner of this:
We're going to try a couple of injections and see if they help. But I think surgery will be scheduled sometime this year. What a bummer!
Guess I'll have yet another opportunity to be the nurse on the wrong side of the gurney.
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