Personal Narrative: My Experience With Type 1 Diabetes

The main reason why I knew Pediatric Registered Nursing was for me was through the many years of working with kids, as well as my personal interests and skills. Since I worked with kids, I gained a lot of patience and understanding, I always had a place in my heart for kids. I feel like every kid deserves a home and deserves to be treated the right way and I feel like I can make a difference to a kid’s life whether it’s through their health or just a relationship with them. I always been interest in the whole “working in a hospital environment” and since I was little I always been watching

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.

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

I am passionate of becoming a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. I got inspired to work in this field when I interned at hospitals such as the Veterans and at Community Regional Center in the children's clinic. I have always worked with children and like being part of their lives. Ever since I volunteered at Storey Elementary After school Program with kids on their homework, it assured me that working with children is what makes me happy. I want to impacts others lives positively. I am serious about my career path and I take every advantage to learn more about it. This was one of the reasons why I had taken part of the UCSF Doctors Academy program, because I wanted to learn more about the health profession and be exposed to it. Being part of the

Pursuing a career in nursing brings me an internal satisfaction beyond words. I enjoy being around people and I feel with my caring and empathetic soul, I can use that to heal the mind, body and souls of my patients. My reason for wanting to return to college comes from my desire to be in a position to make an impact on someone’s life. In my current position I provide assistance to individuals on a daily basis, but it is not satisfying my need to help heal. I am currently 30 years old and I love children and I am eager to work with children and when I would like to know about their little bodies so that I can be aware of how to help them. I naturally have the need to nurture and protect others. I have 2 nieces and when each of them was born I was so impressed by the level of care that the NICU nurses provided to

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 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

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

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.

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.

The nursing field is very diverse. As a RN, one has the option to specialize in fields such as pediatrics, podiatry and gynecology. I’m interested in pediatric nursing, because I work well with children.I grew up around multiple cousins, some older, others younger than me. The older ones taught me the basics of general care, which I pass on to my younger cousins by taking on the responsibility of watching them. In addition, I spend most of my weekends and summers caring for and supervising children. This experience over the years has helped me to understand them, as well as make them feel comfortable around

I had made an attempt to continue with school when I was younger but found it to be a very difficult task to concentrate on my studies while caring for twin boys. As a result I worked as a Sales Manager for eight years when I suddenly decided that it was time for me to return to school and finish my career. I’ve always known that the medical field in an industry that affords many opportunities and offers a broad spectrum of specialties. Once I had completed my first semester I quickly realized that in order for me to succeed and really grasp the in’s and out’s of the medical field I was going to have to find work within the industry. I resigned from my position as a sales manager and have taken an administrative role while I attend school. This not only allows me flexibility with school but also allows me to build relationships with key individuals who can not only teach, but also mentor. In this current role I am able to experience the administrative side of the business, which in turns helps me experience what I may or may not like. Nursing offers such a wide spread amount of opportunity that I believe it would be silly not to explore different aspects of the practice before settling on one specialty. I am now in my final semester with high hopes of being accepted into the Nursing Program in the fall and look forward to this achieving this goal that I have

In order to learn more in depth about the characteristics that make up a successful nurse, I interviewed my female aunt who is a working, registered nurse in Arizona at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She is forty-six years old and has been a registered nurse for the past seventeen years after graduating with an associate’s degree. My aunt has had the pleasure of working and gaining experience in the areas of pediatrics, as well as in labor and delivery nursing. Just like my aunt, I have always had a passion for children and babies and would like to see myself working in similar areas someday. Although, I am open minded about broadening my nursing abilities and gaining experience from multiple different areas of nursing. Branching out into different

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.

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