80 - Kara Buller Pt 1: I Threw My Name in the Hat

Join nurse manager and Vancouver, Washington native Honored Guest Kara Buller as she chats about being one of the first cohorts at her university, originally wanting to go into teaching, how a diagnosis led her to nursing, how she chose amongst many potential nursing programs, not looking cute during clinicals, prepping for the NCLEX, her career progression, and more!

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Transcript

0:01

Ladies, gentlemen, and everybody else, welcome to this episode of the Feeding Our Young podcast. I am ridiculously excited to be sitting virtually alongside one of my personal heroes in nursing. I don't, anyone who knows me knows I don't blow smoke up anyone's rear, because there's no reason to do that. That's disgusting. So without any further ado, I'm not going to waste any time. I would like to introduce the legendary Kara Buller. Kara, how are you this fine afternoon? was quite an intro, Eric. Thank you so much. I'm feeling extremely honored to be here with you today. You know how much I adore you and our time we got to spend together. So I'm excited. Thank you and your $20 payment for saying that that I promised will come in the mail later. So anyway I'm gonna warn everybody right now the energy on this episode is gonna be crazy because Kara is amazing and we I had the honor of working alongside her In in postpartum she was the assistant nurse manager and really I feel like probably one of the instrumental ones in getting me some weird guy a job taking care of women and saw the potential in me maybe even before I saw the potential in myself as I floated down to that unit and she was kind of one of the vocal cheerleaders alongside a couple others that are like hey come play with us come come work with us and my response was always what Kara it was I like my bald children thank you to which to which you guys would reply we have bald children of our own here lot of all children, yeah. That was one of the best recruitment decisions I think I've ever made, quite honestly. We didn't know what we were missing. And then you came into our team and it was like, wow, this fits, this feels right. You just added to our family. All right, so the next 45 minutes is just me getting my ego stroked. This is gonna be fantastic. Just kidding. All right, moving along, focusing on the person who we're focusing on. In the interest of full disclosure, also Kara, I've been looking forward to this, this is one of those, Kara is a very busy person, and I feel like that description can be applied to literally almost everyone that I talk to. I don't care whether you're a nursing student, in the nursing field, all the things, everybody's busy. Everybody's busy. There's some people so busy that they wanted to do this. They haven't been able to. Summer's been too, you know, whatever. I don't care. Point is, we're all busy and I love it when people make the time for the things they love. Kara, I thank you for making time. But the point is, I've been, this is the next to last recording in a summer filled with them. This brainchild just popped, you know, last May is kind of when it started in earnest. And recording really started, I think, late May or June, something like that. And I knew that I needed to get as many under my belt in the summer as I could, because then life starts up again for me, and it just gets difficult to coordinate schedules and all the things. And so I'm prattling on about that, because this is literally the last day of the summer that I'm recording and allowing for quite a bit of opportunities there. And so to have you here on the last day. Before that door kind of closes a little ways is just amazing Ironically or not ironically you are also the 50th honored guest I've had the pleasure of sitting with this summer and that is that's huge. That's vastly more than I thought I could even get But the fact that you're kind of that milestone 50 is just extra special and on top of that on top of that Before we get to laughing and all the things, at the risk of tears and whatever the case may be, I debated even bringing it up. Today is the 21st anniversary of the accident that took our son's life. And every year brings something a little different. Some years are a little bit harder, some years are a little bit easier. I'm here for you, Knowing that you were gonna be in studio today. That's all right, we'll just get it out of the way. Knowing that you were gonna be in the studio today just made it that much, a day to actually maybe sort of semi look forward to, guess. I don't know. I guess that's the best way I can articulate it at the moment. All right. All right, that's it. Our episode's done. Thanks everybody for showing up. That was the best. a pleasure. of our lives. Wasn't that easy? I told you it was gonna be fine. All right, so let's not beat around the bush, because we do, we have time requirements and things of that nature. Kara, why don't you introduce yourself to everybody briefly, your name, what degrees do you hold? Where did you get them? What degrees might you be chasing if you're in the middle of anything? Yeah, and when did you get said degrees? Yeah, so again, I'm Kara Buller I have been a nurse. 15 years now, which seems like a lifetime ago. I got my bachelor's degree from Gonzaga University. Go Bulldogs! A Zag here. Which is why I'm still in Spokane. Really moved over for school, took a year break off, and then found myself oddly back here at Sacred Heart, the only place who would hire me as a new grad back in the day. vastly different from the array of choices that our new grads have these days. It was a very different time back then. Everyone wanted experience. How do you get experience without experience? Enough about that. So yes, I was lucky enough. Actually, when I started, when I was accepted in the Gonzaga, it was known that they did not have a nursing program at the time. Although that's what I went to school to do. And so I had already accepted in my mind I was going to have to transfer over to the West Side. We had a partnership. my goodness. Now I'm a blank on the school, but that's where you went for your junior, senior year. After I started, Gonzaga decided to get smart or greedy. Hahaha and opened up their own nursing school, which was super beneficial for me. So I was actually the third class to graduate from Gonzaga's nursing school, which is pretty exciting. There were 13 of us in my class. So talk about a little family. That's exactly what it was like. We had an 18 -year -old, and bless his heart, I will not name him by names, but. we were like, dude, you can't even have an alcoholic beverage and you're going to be a nurse. This feels so wrong. And we call them our baby. But yeah, it was a unique opportunity. We all got really close. And so I love. that we were so small, no one could hide. I mean, it was just all out in the open, but we did a lot together. And I think that's kind of what made my nursing school experience was just having a very small group of people. So that's kind of my undergraduate. And. Currently, I am taking the slow track, although in October I start my last semester for my master's program, thank goodness, so I'm going to WGU and I am seeking a MSN in healthcare leadership and management. Yeah. almost like you're planning on using that doing something. wait, I've already established you are the ANM on our unit when I got hired. Awesome. Then just for everybody to warn you, there is no, we're flying completely blind. We are just gonna, so this is gonna be absolutely either amazing or just atrocious or a mixture of the two. It'll be a beautiful mess and I'm so excited. But before we get to the beautiful mess, That is the non -scripted part of our shenanigans. Let's ask the questions we typically normally ask. So of course you'll describe why you picked them at the end of the episode, but what are three words that you would use to describe nursing school? choosing intimidating purpose and I was trying to think of a more creative word for fun but we'll just land with fun. Fun. Fun. That's as creative as it needs to be. And depending on what you, if you ever interact with me people, anywhere, you'll hear me say sometimes like, you know, you go off somewhere and you float as a functional, say, well, I'm trying to put the fun in functional. But other times it puts the F -U in fun. So whatever works. And so that's the three words. We'll circle back around to those. And the new opening question for everybody. What are up to three songs? that you have that are your favorite currently in your current station of life. Okay, well first off, think anyone with, I'm gonna say pre -teen because I'm still a couple months away from my oldest getting there, knows that you no longer control the radio in your car. So choosing your own music is very, very limiting. Wait a second, so I just for the benefit of me because I've never heard of this term before what is a what is a radio? I'm too young. What is radio? What is that? streaming device there. Thank you. Now I'm now I'm on board. All right Did you have to like crank the radio before I'm anyway true. even XM radio is no longer sufficient for kids these days. You are very, very true. So if I were to pull all that out, currently, Stick Season by Noah Khan. We, my daughter and I cranked that up. We belted out a Slados de Pecón. I don't know what there is. It's just something about the song. And also the infamous debate between Sawyer Mom or Soccer Mom. That, it is actually Sawyer Mom. But if you listen to it, in full transparency when I heard it, I was like, soccer mom, because I'm a soccer mom. And then my daughter quickly filled me in that it's not, although. it could sound like it. So that's our fun debate now. So we never know who's going to belt out which line when it comes on, my poor husband. And then kind of a different one is Used to Be Young by Miley Cyrus. It just, I don't know, it kind of takes me back, reminds me, definitely puts me in my place for my age and where I am in my life. kind of takes me back to I used to be a little bit wild back in the day maybe even I know shocking with me. But you're in leadership and management. How can you have a wild past? It's hidden. I tried to scrap all, gosh, what's the word I'm looking for? you, Thank you. From all my social media prior to stepping into leadership. But, yeah, it just takes me back. I love it. Definitely used to have a wild side. Definitely used to have a lot of fun and not that I don't anymore. It's just a more mature side to myself. Yeah. And then I will say not for a song, but I have been loving Bridgerton radio off of Pandora. Yes, I know it's not to be confused with Bridgerton, although they do play some awesome sounds. This is it's like acoustic pop culture songs. And so I get to sing in my own version in my own head with whatever soccer mom or saw your mom. But. will crank it on when I'm doing housework, when I'm studying, I'll listen to it in my office. And it's just like, it does not disappoint. So for those of you looking for just a great kind of mellow station where you can do whatever you need to be done, but having something in your background, that's the radio station I would put on Pandora. That's awesome. To counter that too, just for those that need some, like for me going back for my master's degree, what I would do, like I've always studied best with music in the background, but typically music without lyrics. Because in lyrics, especially if you're trying to write something, they just, the wires get crossed. So anyone out there listening, if you need like some motivational borderline like movie trailer -esque instrumental music to just get you going. DOS brains, D -O -S brains create, I mean it is album after album of just amazing, and here we are again, Kara I just used the word album. But album after album of amazing material. just to counter the Bridgerton stuff, if you need the quiet stuff, go for Bridgerton. If you need the, you know, amped up stuff, go for DOS Brains. Okay, and if anyone... responsible for either of those sets of tunes, wanna drop us any royalties for your, wait, is it the other way around because we mentioned it? Are we supposed to pay? No, but I think it's going to be so popular that it, you know, boosts their sales. And so I agree, we should get something. Just like that. Congratulations, you guys. Your playlist just increased by like maybe four dozen people. Yeah, we're responsible for that. Bring it. Okay. Well, let's not waste any time, Kara. Let's hit the hard -hitting questions. So please, Expose, tell us all about your horrible, horrible wild past. I'm just kidding. So why? Why did you become a nurse? Where did that come into play? Is that something you've always dreamed of doing? Or did you have a magical moment? I did have a magical moment, I guess you could call it that. No, I honestly grew up wanting to be a teacher. My mom was a teacher and I think at some point all little kids maybe to some degree want to do what their parents do, right? Because they're kind of your heroes, your inspiration maybe in your life. But as I got older, and became a little bit more wise to the way the world works and needing finances and everything to run your life, I realized that education was not quite there. So that coupled with when I, I won't get too deep into this, but when I was 15, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and went into my PEDS office. He's like, I think I know what you have. Send us over to Children's Hospital in Portland and I spent three days there learning about my disease, practicing giving myself shots and it was really, that was I will say my very first time in like an inpatient hospital setting. cause prior to that I had to spend like clinic visits with my pediatrician and whoever. so was really eye opening experience and I had the coolest nurses. And I just remember thinking, wow, like this is so neat. I could totally do this in my life. How awesome to be there for someone during a really hard time in their life, right? What 15 year old girl wants to be told they have diabetes and I mean, coming out. Anyways, long story short, it was kind of that turning moment where I thought, all right, I need to look into this a little bit more. And then when I realized they make a little bit more than teachers, I was like, yeah. Yes, please. So that was kind of a brief intro to the turning point for me of deciding, you know, I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to help people do what they did for me. That's amazing. you bring that out and I just, a shout out to every teacher that's out there because I criminally, and I don't use that word lightly, criminally underpaid, 100%. And that's before going into these modern times, you know what I mean? Everything's always rose colored glasses, but I don't know, we were just talking about, like I feel like it's never been as bad as it is now. don't, like, just the challenges, you know what I mean? So shout out to. much. mean, yes, listen, they get their summers off, all right. But I still think they don't get paid enough. Yeah. Enough recognition for the work that they do with our youth. That is invaluable, honestly. very much so. think that role has changed, I think, a lot. over the years from, you know, it's maybe decades ago you could teach the, you know, what is it, ABCs and the arithmetic, reading, writing, arithmetic. That's what I'm trying to think of. And now it's, you know, you've got mental health, you've got social situations, you've got school shootings, you've got all the things. any teacher who happens to listen, know that we love you and hopefully we're not already like making you more depressed about your job. So. So sorry. It's not all glamorous to be a nurse, I promise you. Yeah, we have our own things we get to deal with, that's for sure. And no, no summer's off, come on now. my gosh, okay, so pulling this back around, this is gonna be fun. This this episode, I feel like it's gonna be filled with squirrels, so just be prepared. So Kara, you've decided to become a nurse at relatively young, know, 15 years old, so. How do you get that, you know, from going to 15, how do you get into nursing school and like, how did you decide that Gonzaga was the choice for you? Great question, Not hard for me to, I would say, well, that sounds like I'm boosting myself up. Nursing school was more difficult to get into. However, I was A, an athlete, but I was a little bit of a nerd and doing well in school was extremely important to me always. I wouldn't say a teacher's pet, but I definitely wanted my teachers to like me and know that I was serious. I had a decent GPA in high school and then I loved doing extracurricular stuff. I was on like ASB and leadership. I was involved in our Red Cross at our college, you know, at our high school. you know, that well -rounded profile and I did volunteer work too that, you know, the colleges like to see. As far as picking a college, man, I would say, gosh. maybe 75 % of my graduating class I swear I went to WSU. And listen, I love me a cougar, not meant for me. So no dis on all of the other. I thought, maybe I'll be a husky. So I submitted an application there, I spent a weekend there and thought, okay, not bad, huge, huge campus. there for the benefit of those that are not Washingtonians? Yes. So I did have a friend, a family friend that I knew went up there. So I went up and spent a weekend with her just to kind of get an idea of the campus and literally huge campus. Holy cow. And then attended a class actually and there was like 300 people and I thought, nope, nope. How is my teacher ever gonna know my name in a class of 300? It's just not happening. And then I got a wild hair. Literally one night I remember sitting up and I was like, let's go somewhere sunny. So I submitted an application online in one day for Arizona State. again not quite sure why. My mom took me and a couple other friends down there for spring break my senior year. I think it was my senior year, maybe junior year. Beautiful place but we're on campus and I'm like that girl has a bikini on and she's like walking with her backpack on. What is like I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. So that kind of definitely rolled that school out for me. I'm like I can't be serious and be in my bikini like this is never gonna A lot of pressure, a lot, a lot of pressure. And someone... Strangely enough, that's also why I chose the schools that I've chosen. that, you just don't, if it's not, why do I need to be there in a bikini? I don't, nobody needs to see that. know, because of how old I am, they were probably in their roller blades too. So that just was a lot of, you know, could I accent my knee pads and my bikini top? Probably not. I mean, I'm talented, but not that talented. So, that, you know, I got accepted into that school too, but I declined that. And then we had a really good family friend who went to Gonzaga and we went up for a weekend. She'd had a great experience. She did engineering and we went out for the weekend and I was like, wow, this campus here in Spokane, Washington is gorgeous. It's small, but still big. Really what did it for me is you've ever driven down, what's that? I'm going to get it wrong. It's not Boone. What is that street that goes all along in front of GU? Just the fly. I know you should know Eric, come on. I know. though to be perfectly honest. Far less than I'd want to. But it was like the flowers and the season, it was gorgeous. We visited in the fall and then I found out that their class sizes were small and I don't know if they still do, they had an attendance policy. I was like, that's me, this is me. I can know my professor, my professor will know me and it just felt, plus, you know, it was like an hour flight home if I ever needed to get home and I got to take my car. So done, done deal. Almost every box checked. Almost every box checked. I was accepted early and got a little bit of an academic scholarship so I was like, this is it. This is me. I'm a Zag. awesome. So you become a Zag and you've got this, I mean for lack of a better term, intimately small nursing group. I've never been a part of a group that small, regardless of where I've attended. Community colleges typically have larger classes and universities as well. So if you want to speak A, towards your experience specifically in a small group like that, what does that look like, how did that, and B, in general. What was nursing school like for you? What did you like? What did you find most challenging, et cetera? think one of the most challenging things I will say, because we were so new and Gonzaga was still trying to, not a diss on GU, love GU, they were just trying to figure it out. So, you know, we'd talk to the upperclassmen, those in the semester ahead of us, and then it would be our turn and we'd be like, wait a second, this is totally different than what they did and what we were experiencing. So they were trying to figure it out. So that was slightly frustrating. You could never really predict what was coming next. Also, pet peeve of mine, will say, I look at the Gonzaga nursing students now and they have some pretty sweet gear, uniforms that they get to wear. That was not my case. I still have my uniform, but we had to wear white close -toed shoes. We had to wear white scrub pants and they weren't cute. We were talking like very generic brand, borderline see-through and a red polo. and a white, almost like a lab coat that was, had Gonzaga sewn on. So yeah, that was a frustration. I was not looking cute during my clinicals. 100%. You know, when you're Grey's Anatomy fan and you're thinking of what your life is going to be like and you realize, nope, I'm not that cute intern. but it's not a bikini and roller blades and a backpack, so you're fine. You're all right, yeah. Yeah, you're... comfortable at least with that aspect. So definitely I would say uniform, very, very lacking in the early stages of Gonzaga's nursing school. I guess the other, I mentioned briefly about maybe being a family and we were, although when you have a size that small, if there's any drama, holy cow, does it affect every single person? when you spend that much time with each other, people develop feelings for other people. And there's a very small pot of people to pull from. I would say something, I'm gonna just kind of leave it at that in case any of my fellow classmates ever listen to it. But that will... you know people are doing the math because you've already established there's one guy and 12 ladies. Like, I don't know, like pre -marriage, man, I'm telling you, those are pretty dang good odds. I don't know, at least for the guy. We have, what do we have? I think three guys. Yeah, three guys. So 10 girls, three guys. All at kind of different stages of our lives, which was amazing. So yeah, it was interesting to say the least, but. Do I, you know, do I have any long -term friendships out of that? No. Do I have some people that I touch base with every now and then? Absolutely. But I think that's just life. Life gets busy. We all went in very different directions after we graduated. And yeah, it is what it is. But it was, I wouldn't have it any other way. It was a great experience. I mean, baby brother did at one point come into my house with my other roommates our senior year and spray mace all over. unintentionally did find him on my porch in an altered state of mind and then that was what proceeded. And so that was an interesting night having to sleep with all our windows and doors open.-huh. But we still loved him for it anyways. I love it. I, that's, you know, there you go for all the Zags that are listening. You know what I mean? Like there's your, you get kind of a little peek into what life is like in a nursing program that's just getting off the ground. You know, we here locally, we've got in Cheney, you know, Eastern Washington University has started their nursing program and this is going to be their first year. And one of our honored guests is teaching on there, Lindsey Gibson, and she's going to be teaching OB. and I'm just like, sister buckle up and get ready for the ride. Cause it's hard enough if it's established. If anything, I might be slightly envious. like, if it's, you know, they're just trying to figure things out. Who cares? Let's go. It could change. can. Yeah, I would say that's a downfall too is some professors that you really, really loved and connected with. They weren't randomly, you know, they weren't there the next time or the next semester because people were trying to establish. So that was a downfall. But there are still I sit on the G .U. Nursing Advisory Committee. Is that what it's called now? I think so. think it's that and I sit on SCVs. That's what we're calling it. And one of my nursing instructors was on there. So when we did kind of our intro call, it was super cool to see her after all these years. Yeah. What we call like one of those full circle moments. Awesome. at me. did graduate. I did pass my NCLEX. I made it. I promise. Yeah. Where is help people? Absolutely. then you become in a way peers whether it's with your you know, your instructors or whatever because you become peers So with that then take us into your early days as a nurse what where the areas that you've practiced and at least as bedside and in how Did that look especially coming out of a small nursing school? Or nursing class, I should say. no, no, well, was a small school stills. Yeah, so I kind of touched on it a little bit, but you know, when I graduated, A, you had to worry about the NCLEX and we didn't do things the way they did. So I had to take a little bit of time and do a NCLEX review course, which was not offered in Spokane. So that was my brief stint out of Spokane. I moved over to Seattle. I moved in with my aunt and uncle in Bellevue. and worked for my uncle's construction company where I did the NCLEX review course and studied, you know, and waited to pass my exam. Then I came back to Sacred Heart. I had a couple different interviews, but Rick Olson, and I will shout out to him, he just retired this May, and I gave him a little shout out in my manager acceptance speech, but he was willing to give me a job. Hmm. hiring me as a new RN. So I started on 5 North at Sacred Heart on the renal, kidney dialysis floor, whatever you want to call it. Night shift, new grad, full time, eight hour shifts, kicked my butt. No other way to describe it. So when I am talking to all those new grads out there, know, and encouraging them to start a night shift, it's really, I'm not lying, it is beneficial. I have been there, I have done that. So I started on 5 North, terrified, right? I think just as maybe most new grads are stepping in because you don't know what you don't know. And you certainly might have read it at some point, at 2 a studying for a test, but it doesn't mean that it stuck with you. Yeah. I can't help but let this opportunity not pass by, but were you so nervous you wanted to pee yourself on the renal floor? Thank you. All right. Sorry, continue. No, absolutely. I probably was. I might have dribbled a little. I don't know. All I know is I wasn't wearing white scrubs anymore. So thank goodness. Yeah, pretty much I've always stuck with dark after that. But really I had great preceptors. And so in the beginning, for anyone, I think it comes down to your preceptors because they are the ones who are encouraging you and holding your hand and letting you know that you can do it. And here's how we do it. So shout out to every person who's ever been a preceptor. It is hard work, but it is so, so, so meaningful. I worked med-surg for five months, about a year and a half. And honestly, it was a great four. think starting in med-surg was fantastic. It really helped me kind of practice all my nursing skills and start to solidify them, even if I have lost some of them over the years. But what got me on that floor was our diabetic population. And, you know, being a diabetic myself, I don't know what's HIPAA, not HIPAA, but I had some diabetics and their outcomes were, they hit me hard and hit me really close to home. And I thought, I'm too new. I'm too new of a nurse to feel this way. And so maybe this isn't my patient population. So then I randomly saw a job opening for postpartum. babies. Amazing. Why not? I applied really not thinking anything of it. Got an interview and went to my interview after I worked a night shift. Walked over and met with the nurse manager at that time and another nurse sat in on the interview. I can't remember who it is anymore. Mind you I was I think seven months pregnant at that time. So I thought there's no way, right? I know there's a law against that, but I thought there's no way. And later that day, I think by time I had gotten home, they had called and offered me the job. And I thought, yes, I'm going to be a new mom. I'm going to work on mom, baby. Now I'm going to know it all. Like life is good. So yeah, so obviously I accepted. See you later. med-surg here. I come postpartum. And gosh, worked that for like four weeks and then was told that I needed to be off of work for the remaining of my pregnancy. So I was like, cool, cool, cool. I have not learned at all. Thank you very much. And then had this kind of awkward experience of having my baby and like kind of knowing these nurses, kind of not knowing these nurses and probably being a real pain in the butt patient, quite honestly. I'm the one who takes out your own Foley catheter, DC's your own IV site, like all that kind of stuff because, right? I'm just trying to save them a call light. Yeah. Yeah. You're doing your job as a new mom? Absolutely, I mean, I'm writing down my output. I'm doing all of that stuff. So then, you know, fast forward, I worked as a postpartum nurse. Everything becomes a little bit blurry, but probably for a year and a half. And I had an amazing, an amazing ANM The one that sticks out the most to me would be Christina Fox. Yes, I'm gonna call her out by name. She is a stellar human being. 100%. to work with her, yeah, you know what I'm talking about. And she just really, it was like the first time kind of like opening my eyes to leadership and what that looked like and really what it could look like. That was the potential. Because I think we've all had encounters with leaders or bosses in our life, right? That might not have been the most positive and not with her. She just had this way about her. Even if you didn't do something right or even if you were It's just the way she delivered everything, still felt positive and supportive. And she wasn't afraid to dive in and help out. And I just remember thinking, I want to be like her. So. Yeah, and genuine about everything that she did. Or does, I mean, she's still with us everybody, she's still with us. still out there. To this day in Spokane, Washington. So yeah. So about a year and a half and postpartum an assistant manager position opened up and I had been a relief charge nurse for a little bit at that time. And that was kind of, guess, my first intro, I will say, to leadership. Aside from precepting. And I was like, man, I really kind of like this role. gives you a little bit more level of responsibility. You know, I obviously think I'm a very responsible person, so it just seemed to fit. And I remember a couple of coworkers, and I will not name them by names because I don't want to embarrass anyone. They were like, hey, Kara, you should apply. And I was like, I don't know. You know, I'm still really new in my career. Yeah, that's gotta be tough, right? Like how do you feel confident enough having been there for a year and a half to be like, let's go for this? Yeah, let's yeah, so it's like a great idea. Let me lead you. This is fantastic. But I threw my name in the hat. So because why not? Right. Life's about taking risks and chances. And I did not get it. So that's OK. But what I will say is after I didn't get it, I wanted it. I really wanted it. That's another thing about me. I am competitive by nature. I think everyone who knows me knows. So it was game on from there. yeah. I'm not sure what else I did differently, but I just knew when this opportunity came up again, I was going to apply and I wanted it. And six months later, maybe the opportunity came up and this time I got it. So I was extremely excited. I will say in between that area, there was a opening of labor and delivery and I did apply for that one. And I'm going to call this nurse out by name, Kathy Pascal. Kip. Kip and the other A at the time interviewed me for that position and I must have bombed it because they didn't offer it to me, which was devastating at that time. But you know, in the very beginning of knowing Kip, she intimidated the heck out of me. And I say that with love now because I absolutely adore her so, so much. She knows how much I love her now. But really, when I look back, I'm so grateful for getting rejected because it allowed me that opportunity to apply for the ANM position again and to get it. And gosh, I was an A on nights on Mom, Baby for eight plus years. Again, everything kind of blends together. For some of us it was not long enough, but that's fine. That's neither here nor there. You know what? I, yes, I mean that I could still cry thinking about it. The, by far the best experience of my nursing career so far has been working night shift with the crew that I had the opportunity to work with, who really was a family. We were a family. You guys were amazing. The difficult stuff just didn't seem as difficult when we were working together. And I don't know, the laughter, the conversations. The stuff that we all confessed at 3 a in the morning at the nurse's station, still to this day, I might be divorced if John knew everything that I shared. I think we all might be in a world of her if everyone knew. But we were each other's family and it just, yeah. It was. A little peek behind the curtain for everybody, I'll never ever forget. And if this is something that can't make air, just tell me. And this all gets cut. I legit, like so I'll never forget. And I don't know, I wasn't on the unit yet. I don't know if it was the breastfeeding class or something. And you had said, Eric, I've got to, I have to tell you something. And it's going to be pretty, take it for being pretty funny. not anything you need to worry about. I'm like, this is intriguing. Okay, what is going on? And at this point, think I had either, I think I'd accepted the position, had been offered and accepted the position, just hadn't started yet, because there was a delay there. So it's somewhere in those weeks of time. And you're like, so, know, the girls and I were all talking and they said, they were like, this guy's coming. Like, how are we gonna talk around him? What do we say? Like how do we, we're not gonna be able to say the things we normally talk about. And I'll never forget, you're like, don't worry, I told them, don't change a thing. You're gonna still talk about the things you're gonna talk about. He'll fit in fine, we're gonna be fine. And just be you. And it made such an impression on me that I was like, my gosh. And that gets into that unicorn status of not a lot of men in that field and all the things. even with peers, you know what I mean? The takeaways from this is like, wherever you end up, rarely do you find a unit or a facility or a position where you genuinely feel like you're part of a family. And I can't even, and there's no knock on everyone we have now, there's no knock on the people that came before. There are some units where you just, and I've been fortunate enough to be blessed, where I've been on a couple units now. where you just like, know, my mom, like when she passed away, you guys all wrote a card like that's the kind of stuff that you you and I have had many conversations about celebrating birthdays and it's more than you're just coworkers, like you are celebrating those milestones together. And if you can find that nursing student, I mean, that's the cream of the crop, don't expect that is what you're gonna experience. There are some great units that gel together that, don't necessarily feel like a family. And that's okay. That's okay. So, yeah. mean, question. How many times do we make you blush out of the nurse's station? Ever? I mean, you were always pretty cool, calm, and collected, I will say. But I blushed at the nurse's station. Thank you, Sharon, for all of your details. I will definitely call her out. Shouting out Sharon. my gosh. And Sherry, I mean those two. Holy cow, those two. Yeah. guest on here. I haven't convinced Sharon yet, but you can help me with that. We'll tag team. And at the risk of whatever, all I'm gonna say and nobody, any of you listening, you'll have no idea, Kara knows where I'm going with this. who doesn't, like anyone who worked in that family in that group of time who knows her, knows what I'm saying when I say one word and that is Bigfoot, Bigfoot. All right, so with that, We're gonna leave that, We're gonna pivot right on the fly. We've caught right up to you becoming an ANM I'd love to unpack what has happened with you since then and your practical advice. Don't miss this, everybody. We've got practical advice from an actual manager, someone in leadership and management for you. So get your pens and paper ready if you're from the 1800s. Otherwise, you know, your laptop, whatever, be ready to take some notes. Kara, I'll see you on the flip side. Okay,