I have always wanted to work in the medical field. Beginning around the time I could walk I have a long history of playing doctor, cleaning up cuts, gashes and bruises (with 6 little brothers I have had plenty of opportunities to do so), as well as taking care of my horses when they got tangled up in the fence or into some other mischief. I LOVE doing stuff like that. So as I got older that should have been my obvious career choice, right? That's what I loved doing, loved reading about, and loved learning. That's what I always wanted to do. However, when I was about 17 and seriously thinking about choosing my career, I was looking into medical field options and I noticed there was a lot of math involved in most of the options that I wanted. So what happened? I completely and totally shut down. Ever since about 9th grade I have had a deep abiding loathing for math. I had a MAJOR mental block up. Needless to say, I decided that medical was NOT for me. How stupid is that?! I thought that it wouldn't be worth it if I had to go through more than the minimum math requirements. So I decided that I would pursue my other love; writing. One semester into the courses for eventually obtaining a bachelors in journalism I knew that there was no way that would be happy going that path. Yes, I loved the material that I was studying and I found some of my teachers to be beyond fabulous at helping me progress, I just wasn't happy. I wasn't thrilled to be learning. It just felt wrong. So when I came home for a short break in the summer, I was discussing the issue with my mom and she said the words that changed my views completely. She said "Hailey, if you're not happy then change what you're doing." I went on to say that I didn't think I could handle doing the math. I had already struggled quite badly with in in high school and I didn't want to have to struggle through it all again. Then my brilliant mother said to me "if medical is what you want to do, then wont you work as hard as you possibly can for it? The harder the work the greater the accomplishment and the better you will feel in the end". Long story short, I went in and worked on changing my major, from journalism to nursing. Then I found out that the nursing program takes the exact same math courses as my other major would have. I let a stupid mental block keep me from what I really wanted to do! This is a pretty good example of not letting stumbling blocks knock you down. But it gets better.
I am one who believes in God. He is able to help us decide the right course. I all to often feel like he doesn't hear me, but this time he heard me. I had been asking him what I should do about my major and I felt pretty good about my decision to be a nurse but I still hadn't really felt that strong "YES! This is what I need to do.." yet. It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and my roommate and I were both heading home for the weekend. I had a paper that I had to turn in to my teacher's office before the deadline and so I was going to just going to turn it in before I left. Simple enough, right? Wrong. EVERYTHING that could have possible prevented me from getting to campus did. The printer wouldn't work, I couldn't find my keys, I lost my shoe, etc, etc.. I was getting extremely frustrated and my roommate and I just decided that she would simply swing by the building on our way out of town. Simple solution. We get packed, loaded, and in the car. I am panicking, thinking that I wont be able to get it turned in on time and I would get a bad grade, so when she pulls up to the building parking lot I do a somersault out of the car (not really) and start running into the building. It had been raining that day and the sidewalks were slick, on top of that I was wearing (always) my Chucks--which have absolutely NO tread on them. My run turned into an awkward speed walk and I was trying not to fall down. After an eternity I made it into the building and just as I was about to take the stairs two at a time, I had a distinct thought that one of the back staircases might be faster then the one I was about to take. This though was kind of weird in and of its self because I had never even really noticed that particular staircase before because it wasn't commonly used, but I didn't think much of it and started up the stairs. When I got to the first flight, there on the landing was a girl laying on her side, facing away from me. Textbooks and papers were scattered all over. Immediately I knew that something was wrong. Within a matter of milliseconds I completely switched gears. Before I was hurrying to turn in an assignment, now I was hurrying to find a solution. As I ran towards the girl I noticed that she was unconscious and that there was a massive puddle of blood stretching in a 3' by 4' radius around the girls head. I have never had any real first-aid training, but I still felt like I knew exactly what I needed to do. I called for help, told the paramedics my location and the situation. Next I gently rolled the girl so that she was face upwards, so that she would not inhale any of the blood around her face. When I did this I noticed a 4-6", skull deep laceration in the girl's forehead just above her eyebrow. This was the source of all the blood, she had somehow sliced it open. I knew that I needed to put pressure on it, but I also knew that I should get as little of her blood on me as possible, so I snatched the scarf from around her neck, folded it and put pressure on the wound. About this time she was starting to come-to and started moaning a little bit. I told her who I was and all that I knew of the situation. I tried to ask her if she knew what happened and she groggily mumbled something about wet shoes. *I'm guessing that she was going to class and since her shoes had been wet from the rain she slipped and hit her head on the stairs* I didn't want her to be scared so I just kept pressure on her head and kept the questions coming. She didn't answer any of them intelligibly, but at least she was conscious and making an effort. When the paramedics got there I just got out of the way and let them do their job while I gathered up the girls scattered belongings. They took her away and in a passing note one of the paramedics told me that if I had come just a few moments later she would have almost definitely bled to death. Wow! Anyway, I got cleaned up, went back to the stairs where I had initially dropped my assignment, turned it in, and headed home. Long story short. I LOVED doing that! I wasn't scared, nervous, or panicky in the slightest. I felt like I just knew exactly what to do. Albeit I was a little bit shaky from the Adrenalin, but it was a good kind of shaky.
What better confirmation do I need than that? I feel that that incident was an answer to my prayers. Now I know why everything was slowing me down and I know that I want to have a career in the medical field. I was going to be an ER or ICU nurse, but I have recently decided to become a paramedic.
This is my story of how God slapped me in the face with my obvious career choice, and I'm so glad that he did!!
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