People ask me, “What are you taking up in—” and I’d immediately go “Nursing!” even before they finish the question.
Growing up, it’s practically inevitable. I come from a medical family. My mom and her parents are doctors, and my aunt and cousins are nurses. Plus I have countless other relatives from their side who are nurses or dentists or pharmacists. I literally grew up in a hospital. As in literally. The hospital was like my manor, my playground. I went so far as to say once, as a joke, “Sa ospital na ‘to…ako ang batas!” Haha! The building itself has memories that I’m going to treasure forever, even if the meaning of those memories has long since faded. Nevertheless, my environment and my bloodline are only two factors in my decision.
Perhaps my dream was unconsciously drilled into me ever since I was a kid. Ever since, studying the human body has been my favorite science topic. In the school years that we didn’t cover anything about the body, I was admittedly quite bored, but whenever we took up human anatomy, I tended to go all out. At a young age, I had a different sort of vigor for the subject. I mean, while everybody else in my second grade class knew only that eyes=sight out of the five senses, I could already explain how we really see something upside-down and that our brain only turns it right side up. In Grade Three, I knew words like “duodenum” and “transverse colon” in relation to our study of the digestive tract. When I was in Grade Four, I could name all the bones in the body by heart, and a year later, I gave a half-hour long lecture on the skeletal system in front of the entire student body…solo. And for Bio two years ago, instead of doing one report about the body systems, I opted to do two.
More recently, our TLE class took up home nursing. I laughed out loud when I saw the content…it was basically the fundamentals of nursing! For our group work, I gave an hour-long report on first aid, using my mom’s Practical Nursing lecture slides for one day and the next, the rest of the group and I gave the practical demo. I can’t remember a week where I was this enthusiastic for TLE class. Most days, it bores me. [Haha. Sorry Ma’am.] But this time, I was practically falling off my seat just to volunteer and recite!
Not to mention, my mom let me borrow the BP apparatus from the hospital where she works and her Littmann stethoscope. *choirs of angels singing* I spent the whole week with it slung around my neck, even in class and in malls! The only reason I’m not wearing it now is because it’s campaign period and I have to wear my sash over my uniform, and the stet would make me look overdecorated. I’m currently addicted to taking blood pressure. Haha! Weird huh? And that’s using the old kind of sphygmo, the mercurial one, not the digital one. It’s so cool.
The novelty of those actual items being in my possession is intoxicating. I grew up around these things, but it’s different because now I’m using them and I’m being trusted with them. It’s a kind of high I’d never get anywhere else.
I’m completely raving, I know. A few days ago, I found Mom’s old UST Medicine and Surgery nameplate, and I wear it every chance I get. I can’t wait to get on with my life so I can go to nursing school and start work.
I guess it’s no wonder that I’d end up wanting to spend the rest of my life doing something related to all of this.
Yeah, at first I wanted to be a nurse because I was blinded by the almighty dollar. I admit that. I remember the night my mom sat me down with a calculator and “brainwashed” me about taking up nursing. I was only about ten years old, in Grade Five. One morning I woke up without a care in the world, the next I woke up wanting to be a nurse in the States. It was that simple.
But as time went by, I realized that nursing wasn’t just about going abroad and earning. As I grew older, I wanted to be a nurse for my own reasons. I saw my cousins from UE and UST (hope you guys pass the boards! AJA!) get themselves through nursing school. They are so my idols. I want to be just like them once I get to college. And besides, being a nurse seems like a fun job. And now that I think about it, it almost looks as if I was raised to be a nurse. Haha! Like how heirs are molded to become rulers or lords. I know my mom didn’t mean any of this, not about teaching me so much at a young age, not about raising me in a hospital, not even the brainwashing part. But then again, nothing happens by coincidence, right?
A few days ago, in our Entrepreneurship class, our teacher (coincidentally, the same one who teaches TLE!) told us to close our eyes and envision ourselves ten years from now. The exercise lasted for about five minutes. Allow me to share what I saw.
I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock ringing, and I reached out to turn it off before mumbling, “Five more minutes…” and falling back asleep. Promptly five minutes later, the alarm clock on the other bedside table rings. This time, I bolt out of bed and drop and do fifty [crunches, that is]. In and out of the bathroom, and then I change into my scrubsuit while simultaneously fixing my bed. I rush down the stairs to the garage, grabbing random things along the way. My bag is waiting for me in the passenger seat of the car, and I drape my blazer over the back of the seat before getting into my souped-up black Hummer and driving down the avenue. It’s gonna be another long day at the hospital for me, Regine Angela V. Bambao, RN slash Med student.
People always asked if I wanted to be a doctor like Mom. I’d always say no, I want to be a nurse. When I walked around school with the stet, my schoolmates called me “Doc” and I’d always go, “RN lang po!” (Registered Nurse). I would also jokingly say, “Walang pera sa doktor!” Frankly speaking, it’s true. But just days ago, I thought of taking up Med. And I thought, why not? I could take up Medicine after a few years of working as a nurse. I said I would take up whatever course I really wanted after nursing. It was either Journalism or Criminology. Now I’m thinking, why not med?
Well. It’s not bad to dream big, right? My mom and I were talking over Mcdo french fries just last night. I told her that I wanted to take up medicine after nursing. I laughed and told her I wanted so many titles attached to my last name before I’m thirty! Haha! I was actually wondering if I ever wanted to settle down. And after medicine, I also want to take up stuff like History and Literature…things I love so much as well that aren’t discussed in detail at school simply because most of us find them boring. (Well excuuuse me for finding culture interesting!=P)
Some days I get nervous. What if I don’t make the cut? Nursing is a very competitive course. And I’m not settling for just any school either, I’ve got good universities in mind. There are nights I can’t sleep because I keep fussing about what if I don’t make it? I’m thankful for my family and friends who encourage me and tell me that I can do it. It dispels my fear almost as effectively as chocolate does. Haha.
My cousin’s nervous about the June Nursing Board Exam results. I’m nervous about getting into college. In any case, I tell myself what I tell her whenever she’s fussing. The bit about my mom sounds a bit braggy, yeah. But it works. Plus she’d never tell anyone this, so as a daughter, it’s my responsibility to brag about my mom in the same way I know she brags about me. Haha! Let’s hope she won’t read this.
“My mother is an MD, RN, Top 4 in the local nursing board exam, one-take sa NCLEX and CGFNS, and perfect seven in the IELTS. It’s in my blood.”
It’s in my blood. It’s my destiny.=)
Candy girls, never be afraid to dream, not even when you’re young. You have to know where you’re going before you get there. And study as much as you can. Learning is a continuous experience…a way of life in itself. But most importantly, be happy with what you’re doing.
Gela out!=)))
