work what?

july 8th- nurse dunlap



so this is a rather monumental day. dirk and i both have been working towards this goal since 2004. it all started by just getting into nursing school, which in itself is a rather daunting process. i retook and took all required courses and still waited 6 months to get into a school even with a 3.9 gpa. then even with that done, i still didn't get into a school in houston and instead moved to the middle of nowhere... east texas but more like west louisiana (university of texas at tyler). that is a whole other story (had my first experience at a state run hospital... made bentaub look like the ritz carleton)



so getting into school was one thing, then transfering schools after one semester per request of one brilliant man (i think dirk was just tired of driving to the middle of nowhere) AND much thought on getting out of a dry county... no really i had to get outta tyler for my sanity. texas woman's university in the houston medical center was a much better fit for me and nursing school (plus it was much closer to civilization and dirk). so once settled into the u.s.'s largest medical center (coming from tyler, where they video conferenced professors to two other cities because they didn't have enough educators)... 4am wake up calls, psych rotations at harris county pyschiatric centers, and the gunshot floor at bentaub were a daily experience for me to handle and dirk to support (everyone knows how lovely i am in the mornings... poor dirk).



dirk finially thought he was home free when i graduated in may 2008 from school. i even had a job in the intermediate intensive care unit at memorial hermann memorial city hospital. we even celebrated becoming "dinks" (double income no kids) in aruba 2 days following graduation. but had to for go the job, the "dink" status, and all the effort when asked to move to singapore for dirk's career.



so this day is long over due... working as a nurse in singapore was my first goal to cross off. i am a proud memeber of the international medical clinic staff and actually getting paid (for the longest time my picture was just up on their website). i was very overwhelmed my first day but can't wait to be more and more confident each day. the clinics care for the whole age spectrum of patients so i should get some good hands on experience from newborns to the elderly. here they dispense the medication in office so no middle man needed but the nurses and doctors must know their drugs extremely well. i will keep you updated on my progress and the funny language barriers i come into contact with. today... blood group= blood type, shot= jab, and pop off= take off your shoes. measuring everyone in meters and kilograms is a little different too.

one other unusual thing they do here and not in the states... rabies vaccines to everyone especially children and they don't even have rabies in their country... but in the surrounding countries you never know when you will run into a crazy monkey...

this is some of the staff at IMC...

very diverse but we have two american doctors and 3 american nurses now

camden medical center



this is where most of the international doctors are located



IMC at camden- waiting area

IMC jelita- waiting area

so i guess check back with me... i will only work 3 1/2 days a week so i should be able to update. other goals for upcoming months... getting a drivers license (actually getting fairly good at navigating singapore from the wrong side of the road) and start volunteering at a hospice hospital on my days off. plus... mine as well start the process for my nurse practitioner degree... seeing how long it too me to be a practicing nurse... couldn't hurt.