Career Synopsis

Forty years went something like this:

Oh, what a relief
That last day became,
It was time to step back
From the working game,
After forty years
Of a healthcare endeavor,
Starting in ‘78
When I pulled the lucky lever.

Tired of getting laid off
Then signing in at Unemployment,
I took occasional benefits
Without much enjoyment,
As I searched for a solution
And found a Medical Career school,
It wasn’t free
But it was a workable tool.

I became a Respiratory Therapist
Working five years,
A couple guys inspired me
To conquer my fears,
Moving on to Nursing school
It’ll be a cinch, they said,
Despite working full time
And rarely sleeping in a bed.

I thought I would work E.R.
Or probably ICU,
I majored in Cardiac
With a medical view,
And in that first year
Obtained certification,
To play ICU nurse
At almost anybody’s station.

That’s the road I chose
The knowledge I pursued,
My focus on heart disease
With an occasional interlude,
Worked in clinical Ophthalmology
And Neuro ICU,
A Pulmonary Lab stint
And Legal Consultant too.

I sought variety
I worked all over the city,
Major medical centers
And little itty-bitty,
Hospitals, with maybe
Twenty to forty clients,
With a four bed ICU
Employing rocket science.

That stuff is what made me
The nurse that I am,
Life and death situations
Like cases of Spam,
Still the bulk of my study
Has been Cardiology,
Though sometimes I think
I had a minor in ghostology.