Trips in retrospect...part 1.

We shall start from the beginning...well, not the beginning beginning, but of this new chapter in my life...meaning the end of my professional education (thus far) and venture into the realworking world. During the last few months of nursing school, I started to feel the pressures of finding a job...you know, being a successful graduate. With this being only 2 years ago this May, if you haven't been living under a rock, the job market was (and still is) rough. I was spending my preceptorship at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, was a little iffy if I wanted to commit to staying there, but of course, once I heard they weren't going to be able to hire me on due to budget issues, I had to have the job. Nothing like not wanting something till its gone. So I promptly started applying to hospitals in NYC, DC, Eastern Virginia, and Boston...but to no avail. No hospitals out east were hiring new grads and some were on complete hiring freezes or even firing nurses. I packed my bags at the end of my internship and trudged back to the Midwest, downtrodden with my tail between my legs.

After applying half-heartedly to jobs in Omaha, and being offered a few, I was disheartened. I wanted the dream job. I was willing to wait...just unsure of how long working as a sales associate at Urban Outfitters while having a better degree than all of my superiors was going to last.

I took my NCLEX about a month after graduation. In true Katie-style, I didn't study as much as I would have liked...or like to admit, and last minute, I proceeded to freak out. (Just ask my dear family friends Bob & Julie...I nearly drove them nuts the night before the test as I stayed with them in Des Moines for the test the next day.) One knotted stomach, 75 questions, and 2 excruciating days later, I found out I was a real, licensed RN. Good one a number of levels...1) it was finally over, 2) my expensive private education had started to pay off, and 3) I could go on the medical volunteer trip to the Dominican Republic I had already signed up for and paid a $500 plane ticket that would depart in 2 weeks.

Flashback to sometime before graduation...I received a call from a jubilantly excited nurse educator...in Utah. Utah? Did I apply for a job there? There were a number of weeks where I was applying to jobs literally all over the country...my only criteria at that point was an academic teaching hospital with a job for a new graduate nurse in oncology. Which is actually more difficult to find than it sounds ;). But, yes, oh yes, I did remember this one, it was for an oncology nurse internship, and I actually was quite interested. And that interest piqued when I realized they were interested in me too! I spoke with this "Gigi" for quite a while, and became enthralled with with this new prospect...never had I even thought of considering visiting Salt Lake City, let alone living there. But, this seemed like a perfect opportunity and I was getting antsy with my other prospects.

I stayed in touch with Gigi and finished my application...and honestly really poured my heart into it...this just felt right and the week before my trip to the DR, I again received a call from Gigi offering me an interview spot. Well heck yes! My mom and I planned a quick trip to Salt Lake after I returned from the DR. This seemed to be falling into place perfectly.

2 days later, and 2 days before my departure out of the country, I got a call from the manager of the unit that I had spent over 320 hours on at Johns Hopkins that spring...with a job offer. I was completely caught off guard. Of course excited, but I was equally excited (and maybe a little more, because of its mystery) about the Salt Lake job. Somehow I gutsily asked to hold the offer. Um...what? Who was I to ask a manager at our nation's #1 hospital for the last 18 years to hold a job for ME? I think this flurry of job offers was getting to my head, but she obliged, and said she would hold it until the end of the month and after my interview in Utah. Wow, was I lucky.

DR was amazing, eye-opening, hot and humid, and an all around great experience. I also brought back an awful collection of bug bites, and as I was leaving the country, began to break out into hives, which for the next week, could only be controlled by round the clock large doses of benadryl and topical benadryl. The hives persisted on and off for well over a year, and even now I still get a random patch on my wrist or ankles.

So, back to job prospects. My mom and I headed for the great unknown. Salt Lake City. Really unsure of what to expect. I'd heard rumors. People had warned me. In fact, my preceptor from Hopkins had gone for her first undergraduate degree to BYU in Orem. Small world. But what we found was a clean, friendly, beautiful city tucked at the foothills of the striking Wasatch Mountains. The Huntsman Cancer Institute and Hospital was situated high above the city with the rest of the University of Utah, and soon I found out from both word of mouth and personal experience, was aptly nicknamed "The Huntsman Hotel". Walk into the lobby and you are met by a sweeping granite staircase, beautifully polished hardwood, and leather appointments. The rest of the hospital echoes this, even in the patient rooms. Fancifully framed original artworks line the halls, and if those aren't enough to look at, the view of the valley and mountains that each room has should suffice. My interview in front of 6 high ranking nursing entities went swimmingly. I was confident, but nervous. I liked this place. And like Brigham Young said some 150 years ago...my heart, head, and gut said this was the place.

The day after my return to Omaha, I got a call offering me a position in the internship. I accepted both knowing and being blissfully unaware that my life would forever change. In a moment's time, I went from floating aimlessly along, fearing what my next steps would be, and would soon be moving to Salt Lake City. To start my new adventure...

...to be continued.