Notes from me to you

greetings and salutations from Long Beach!

I'm here hanging out at Ingrid's house while she puts in her time at work. We had a fabulous evening last night at our favorite little restaurant in Belmont Shore. Ingrid is a regular there so when we walked in and took a seat in the waiting area, she made eye-contact with our favorite waiter who said, "Hi, need some wine?" :) ha!!!

Well... I write with an update to share. As you've probably gathered, I'm not a big fan of the hospital at which I currently work. This past winter, as I devised my plan for the year, I truly thought I would love it here and would resign my contract, maybe even staying for up to a year. "Travel Nursing" works like this.. I pick a city or cities where I'd like to live, tell the recruiter, and she tells me what jobs are available in that area/s. She submits my profile and if they like what they see, they call me and we interview over the phone. They ask questions, I ask questions. If they like me, they offer me a job, if I like them, I accept. The contract is only for 13 weeks. Often times, one will sign another 13 week contract if they still have a need and the nurse would like to stay.

My contract is up at the end of the month with my current hospital. (praise Jesus!). Though the pay is better here than anywhere else in the nation, I cannot stay at a place that is so disorganized, feels unsafe, and where i end up floating more often than not (meaning I end up taking care of patients whom i'm not really trained to care for as opposed to oncology patients). When I began to see that I was getting stressed out by the politics and relational dynamics/BS of other nurses of the floor, I stopped myself and concluded, "Hey!! I don't have to stay here and be miserable. I can go anywhere!!"

So what next? don't know!! There are jobs available in other areas of California but truly, if I can't be near the CA family, I haven't any desire to stay here. Why not see other parts of the country, eh?

Last week my plan was to extend my contract with this hospital for just 4 more weeks in order to buy some time to plan my next adventure.. however, they did not agree with this, they will resign me for 13 weeks, but not 4. I found this out Monday morning which means I technically don't have a job as of Sept 1!!!!! Apparently this is normal for travel nursing but it's definitely geeking me out a bit!!

So.. I'm looking at hospitals in Baltimore, Hawaii, Denver, and a place in San Fran valley (not my first choice, but an option).

I had an interview with Baltimore it sounds like they're really interested and I should know by Friday. The more I interview with other places, the more I think it would be an amazing experience to work there! It sounds like an incredibly run, well-organized, well-researched, challenging and exciting place to work. They really depend on their oncology nurses to be intuitive and hone in on what's going on with the patients body.. kind of "reading between the lines," of the signs and symptoms, so to speak, being proactive, etc.

I had another phone interview with the hospital in the bay area of San Fran. They actually offered me the job so its comforting to know I have that to fall back on. Unfortunately, based on the answers to my questions, it doesn't sound as though this place is much more organized than that where I'm currently working so its definitely not my #1 choice. I will interview with a hospital in CO at the end of the week.

So that's the skinny on my nursing life. I am thankful for any prayers you may send up as I take on this new adventure.. choosing a new place to work, the move, new city, etc!

Wow... Who knew? I'll be sad to leave the CA family but its been a blessing to spend the last three months with them.

Thanks for checking in... hope to see some of you on my time off in between assignments! i'll be meandering between St. Paul to DeWitt for a few weeks in the early part of Sept!

much love,

laura