back to life

At long last my nursing registration has been renewed. I checked the Nursing and Midwifery Council, (NMC), register online today and saw the magic words and PIN number on screen.

I am so ecstatic about the news because now I am officially a ‘proper nurse’ again. For the last month I have been working at a band lower than I should be as a registered nurse on my unit and now I can be changed to the higher band, where I belong. It has been a very frustrating time because as a non registered nurse I couldn’t give any medicines at work and therefore couldn’t be completely responsible for all my patients’ care. On the unit drug therapy is a massive part of the nursing care and I’ve had to ask my colleagues to do this for me.  I found this very annoying as I’m a very experienced nurse in this specialty, I worked on this unit for 15 years before my illness.

I’m so proud of myself for getting to this point in my life, this time 2 years ago I was in a completely different place; despondent, desperate and doubting whether I had a future in work at all. It’s been a hard slog but it’s definitely been worth the mammoth effort.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my friends and family for all their fantastic support over the last year, especially to my mum for letting me invade her home and to my husband Hasan for coping without me and for all the love, support and encourage he gives everyday from Turkey.