Personal Narrative: My Experience With Type 1 Diabetes

As a CNA, I was able to provide care to ensure they were physically healthy while also boosting their mood since they could converse with someone too. For example, one of my patients needed to have a breathing treatment every day, so I would sit with her during her treatment and listen to her describe to me the beautiful, white house with blue shutters, that she grew up in. The times I was able to help the residents emotionally and physically grounded me in the decision to pursue nursing. Furthermore, I have decided once I have gained experience working as a nurse desirably in OB, Pediatrics, or Neonatal, I will further my schooling to obtain my Nurse Practitioner degree, specializing in one of these areas. I have decided upon these areas of focus mainly due to my job experience of working in a daycare for the past two years. Over the past two years, I have come to enjoy living life through a child’s perspective as it is easy to lose a sense of excitement and adventure as we age. Aside from bonding with all of the children in the daycare, there are two little girls who have inspired me to become a

My love for nursing began early in my life; in high school, my continuing desire to become a nurse resulted in my applying and being accepted to Midwestern State University. There, I received a BSN and became a registered nurse. My experience at Midwestern prepared me for a successful career by instilling confidence within me as I joined the workforce. As my experience grew and years went by, I became eager to further my education and pursue my master's degree. Then life happened: the two-legged version that requires love, compassion, energy, and time. Now that my child is in school, with the support of my family, I am ready and dedicated to become a family nurse practitioner.

I have wanted to be a nurse since I got sick in 5th grade. I had lost kidney function, I was dehydrated, and had lost 25-30lbs in one weekend. I had to be hospitalized for a week and a half. And the nurses helped me through more than I could have ever expected. They helped me with emotional issues, feminine issues, personal issues, and so much more than they should have ever expected. And between the ages of 9 to 15 I was in and out of the hospital and the only people I can remember who helped me the most was the nurses. All nurses have at least one thing in common—they want to help people. Not only do they play the role of caretaker for their patients, but in some circumstances, they can also be a friend, a confidante and a trusted adviser. It takes a special kind of person to fill all of those roles the way

I have decided to go to Seattle University and study teaching, but I did not easily come to this decision. In September, I was dead set on going to the University of Washington to pursue a career in Neonatal Nursing. I decided that was what I wanted to do because the spring of my Junior Year, I went to a class on career day (green day) about a woman in Neonatal Nursing. Her job seemed very interesting and rewarding. She had long hours and worked four days a week, then had three days off.

Type 1-diabetes deprives cells of the sugar that is need for energy in the cells. In type 1 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce insulin or not enough insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is involved in controlling how the body converts sugar into energy in our cells. Type 1-diabetes is not as common as type 2-diabetes. According to the University of Maryland type 1 diabetes accounts for 5 - 10% of all diabetes cases. Most cases of type 1-diabetes typically develop in childhood or adolescence and can happen in both boys and girls. However type 1-diabetes can occur at any age but is more prevalent in the younger population. (Diabetes - type 1, 2013) Type 1-diabetes is more common in whites than in other ethnic groups. According to the

My mom was the most influential person in my life and in making my decision to pursue nursing. Although she was never a nurse, she was a healthcare administrator at the Lewiston and St.Anne of Winona nursing homes. When I was younger, every now and then I would go to the nursing home and visit with the residents. Those days were perhaps the most eye opening of my childhood. I will never forget, there was one summer day when I tagged along with my mom to work.

When most people look at me, they probably don't realize that every day I deal with type one diabetes. Which, is rather ironic considering that diabetes is a vast part of my life. Not a day goes by where I can just stop caring about my blood sugars or the carbohydrates in the foods I eat, even though doing so would be much easier.

Life sometimes presents us with events that frame our futures. For me, that event was the diagnosis of type one diabetes. I have always been a goal-oriented person, but faced with type one at an early age taught me the importance of goal setting, perseverance, and hard work. Diabetes has been a battle that has forced me to perform well under high-pressure circumstances; it has pushed me to become a stronger person. As a type one, I have learned how to successfully balance and excel as a student, employee, athlete, and leader. My diagnosis is, in fact, what has inspired me to become a doctor.

I have come to the decision to pursue a degree in nursing education after spending time as a clinical preceptor for the hospital I work in. This role involves taking a student from the local nursing school and allowing them to work side by side with you for around nine weeks. I love the feeling that teaching someone else the profession gives me. I also took the role of “Skin Care Champion”,

I feel like this experience helped make me the nurse that I am today- one who is adaptable to less than ideal circumstances, able to deal with challenging family dynamics, and capable of working with a team to achieve great patient outcomes.

(BSM Consulting, Inc.) Currently, I am enrolled in school to become a radiography technician, at this moment I am just taking care of my pre-requisites, but once I am finished with school completely my career choice will fall under the healthcare field. Previously, I have held jobs that were customer service related, I worked at home for AT&T as a customer service representative, where my job function was to converse over the phone with the customers, and interact, either through phone or through our work platform online with my co-workers and supervisors, which I did enjoy. Prior to deciding on Radiography, I had thrown the idea of nursing around in my head, but I felt that the hours would be too demanding. Teaching, I truly admire those who teach, but I would rather be around my own children, than some of the ones I have seen at my children’s school. Hopefully, whatever I end up choosing fits well with my

When I met a friend in my junior year of high school, I discovered a curiosity and passion for learning that I never saw in myself before. You see, my friend has chronic illnesses, and her daily life was full of pain, emotions, and falling! I couldn't help but ask about her lifestyle and conditions, and she wholeheartedly told me about how she had grown up losing her athleticism and strength and struggled to get diagnoses for her many conditions such as gastroparesis, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and postural orthostatic tachychardia syndrome, shortened as POTS. These conditions all make her life extremely difficult; She had difficulty digesting food, as her stomach was partially paralyzed, she constantly dislocated joints and damaged nerves, causing her to become prone to falling, and she had trouble walking for even short periods of time without passing out. Learning about her conditions made me wonder - how could she possibly enjoy life with all of her hardships and unanswered questions? She then told me about her journey of getting answers. As a relatively young patient, it was difficult to find doctors who were both knowledgeable about her illnesses and willing to believe that she actually suffered from so many. She grumbled about rude doctors, and happily raved about the kind and patient ones! Seeing how health professionals had affected her life depending on their willingness to learn inspired me to also pursue a career in health, which brings

There was a number of events that confirmed to me that child nursing was the only career I'd fully enjoy. From a young age I'd always had an interest in the medical industry and was drawn to care for others. When I was nine, my little brother took ill with menangitis and MRSA. At the start of this year my little sister was in a neo-natal intensive care unit in an induced coma and less than a month later my little brother followed with a burst appendix. Needless to say, I've had my fair share of hospitals. As I was there so often, I attempted to shadow some of the nurses that were taking care of my family. They were very friendly and would teach me things like needle techniques and the different types of drip function. When my sister was diagnosed with down's syndrome, I attempted to pay as much attention as I could to the learning disability expers that came to talk to my family. They successfully put us at ease, fully believing that these learning issues are not scary or difficult if known how to approach them. On top of this, I've really attempted to invest my time with children more; As the oldest of nine children this hasn't been that difficult. I've always been on call to help with trips to hospitals, babysitting and sometimes just changing a nappy. I've also given up time to help my two of my friends who are foster careers. I've helped babysit a number of children with different backgrounds. Some with severe learning problems and some with neonatal abstinence syndrome.

My whole life I have always wanted to do something where people will remember me. I went threw millions of career choices before I came to the conclusion of a nurse. It’s not something that will get me into History books, but its something where all the people I help will remember what I did to care for them or their loved ones. My mom went to school to become and RN, but dropped out when she became pregnant with me. After that story was told to me, I didn’t want to be anything related to nursing. It wasn’t until my step mom went to school to be LPN that I realized it would be possible for me to do. I saw how much happiness it gave her, and I want the same thing. She loved helping the patients by treating them, and helping their families

Through my adolescent years, I had to help take care of some of my family members who suffered with various conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, sickle cell, and cancer. My grandmother whom raised me needed me more than anybody else. She was taking different medications for numerous years due to her illness and surgeries. I