My First Ever Blog!

Yes ladies and gents, I'm afraid yet another 'student nurse' blogger has entered the blogging world, however, I have not yet seen many male nurse bloggers out there. I know nursing is perceived to be a highly female dominated profession, and believe it or not I have spoken to a few 'old fashioned' males who feel that nursing should be an all female profession... RIDICULOUS! 

So fellas, if you are considering a career in nursing and are worried about such ridiculous attitudes and any stigma that may be attached to male nurses, fear not, I will offer you an insight from a male's perspective. 

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Ok, so i've been racking my brains about what to talk about in my first ever blog. Well, as this is my first ever blog, why not start with the reasons as to why I've started it, and tell you more about myself. I promise to keep it short, haha! 

Not long prior to starting this, I started using the micro-blogging site Twitter for the first time, I thought it would be great to use for when I become a student nurse in that I could tweet quick updates to my followers about how I'm getting on, but then I started to think, what if I have a lot to say? I won't always be able to sum up what I want to talk about in 140 characters! So I began to think it may be a good idea to start writing a blog for the more lengthy updates. 

So, after recently finishing my Access to HE course I am now enjoying a long summer break with my 2 children before I get the biggest kick up the backside and start feeling as though life is going at 1,000,000mph! My children (aged 4 & 8 - See pic below) have been amazing since I started at college, my youngest doesn't really understand the full extent of what I'm about to go through, my eldest, however, does! He is very proud that his Daddy has "gone back to school" and has worked hard. =) 

Many people asked me, why do you want to be a nurse? There a couple of reasons as to why this is... Firstly, because I was in and out of hospital myself as a child, so I can sort of empathise with children who go into hospital and wonder what the hell they're doing there lol. Long story short, I was born at 24 weeks, and spent the first several months of my life in hospital. Then, later on was diagnosed with a mild form on cerebral palsy. I spent my whole childhood in and out of hospital receiving all kinds of treatment, and were it not for doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, I would not be who I am today. Thankfully, today I no longer present with any symptoms of cerebral palsy. Another reason, and perhaps the biggest of all, was the birth of my son Brayden. Being a dad came with a huge responsibility, and being 20 at the time, my life wasn't really going in any direction career wise. Then, looking at myself and seeing my ability to care for, nurture and be patient with this little boy; it really reignited my interest in becoming a nurse. 

Having been on both ends (as a child and as a parent) I can empathise with children who find it ‘scary’ going into hospital, and the uncertainty of what is happening and why. I can also relate to the parent who is concerned about their child being in hospital, the fear that comes with not knowing what is wrong, and the helplessness they may feel. I just hope I will be competent in the role and not make any mistakes, I have a memory like a sieve at times and it takes me a while to process information. I guess only time will tell. 

I will finish my ramblings here for now and hope you come back to read the next blog. I hope you've enjoying reading this, and hope that this will be the first of many. If you are also interested in following me via Twitter you can click on my nice little twitter button at the top of the page lol, from there I can update you when a new entry has been posted. 

Thank You For Reading! =)