Okay, so maybe it's a little tongue in cheek to call Britney Spears a philosopher, but she has the right idea because I DO want these things. Yeah, I don't want a Bugatti, but I'd like to pay for Tatiana. I DO want to live fancy. I wanna live in my house. To do these things I'm gonna need to bring it on, ring the alarm, not stop now, be a champion, work it hard like its my profession, watch out because it's coming. In other words, I'd better WORK BITCH!
While on vacation I passed my migraine test. I had one debilitating migraine day in April and no migraine days whatsoever in May. I'm well enough to return to work and shouldn't even need FMLA to keep my job. I'm almost as excited as I was when I graduated, when I got my license, when I got my first interview, and when I got offered my first nursing job.
As this is going to take up a lot of my though processes for a few weeks, I'm going to take you along for the journey. These won't be long posts for sure, but I'll try to do them every few days until I get offered a job.
I think I've covered this elsewhere, but it's likely buried in different parts in various 'Update' posts so I'll lay it out here. I have three paths I see for returning to work. First and foremost, I want to return to being a state of Michigan employee. I liked the benefits package, I liked working with those that couldn't get help otherwise (prisoners, mental health patients, veterans...) and need state aid, and I like the idea of being a 'Public Servant'. It's satisfying. Obviously, these first three paths all qualify in different ways.
These are in order of how I'll tackle them.
First, returning to be a nurse manager at the prison. Specifically, the prison I was working at as a nurse manager. The same prison where I started my nursing career. I've already worked at that facility for like seven years, I know half the staff, I know the layout, and I honestly enjoy the drive even if it's an hour each way.
This is the job I've been dreaming about since I stopped working. I wanted this job when I was still at the state hospital, but they didn't list it as open. Now, historically, that prison has the Health Unit Manager (HUM) and three nursing Supervisors (RN13s). During the worst of COVID it was just the HUM and me. I figure I'm an easy shoe in if three things are true. First, they have to have a position open. Second, the HUM has to be the same HUM as when I left, K. And the biggest variable, K has to want me back. Or at least accept me back. I understand that I left in a bad situation and made their situation worse. Sure, I can explain it away with the migraines, but at the end of the day I screwed them. If she's holding a grudge, then it doesn't matter if she's still there and they have a hole. She wouldn't want me back in it. And if she's not there, then I don't have an in with the main person who's making the choice. It wouldn't matter how many staff remember me, I'd just be another person asking for a job.
The second job is the newest one in my mind. Working as a floor nurse at a prison here in my home town. One of my close nursing friends, J, works there. We hooked up recently and hung out and she mentioned the easy position and how easy it would be to slide in to it. First, I can easily sell my experience. 10 years experience working in correctional nursing. If I want to be VERY specific, I can say 6 years working as a floor nurse and 3.5 as a supervisor. Plus another year and a half as a supervisor in a secured setting similar to prison. Even when I was helping interview nursing candidates, I'd have jumped at the chance to hire someone with that level of experience. Second, all of their floor nurses on their second shift are contract nurses. They'd far rather have a state employee in those positions. In other words, even if they didn't have an opening, I could push one of the contract nurses out of their position. They wouldn't be fired necessarily, but they could be 'offered' a midnight position. Heh. And in addition to J whispering into the HUM's ear about me, I know another RN working there on the first shift who would speak highly for me. I trained him. Oh... and he's experienced enough now that he sits in on the interviews. It'd have a nice symmetry as I sat in on HIS first interview!
Going back to floor nursing might seem like a step backward, but at least financially it isn't. I left state employment just before a big series of raises went through. The floor RNs are now making more than I was as a manager. Sure, the manager position also went up and I'd be getting that much more as a manger, but it's not like I'd take a hit going back on the floor. And it's not like I didn't like that job. AND it'd be easier to slip into a manger position as a working floor nurse instead of interviewing for it cold.
The only reason this job isn't higher on the list is that it's a new facility for me and both J and the other nurse, B, tell me that I'd be bored at the job. Its a FAR easier job than my previous prison. So, it's not ideal but it would be a nice easy swing back into nursing after almost two years away.
The third job is the one I left at the state hospital. It's still listed on the state job site. They were never fully staffed when I was there so its unlikely they filled up in the meantime. And I left in a way that all the assistant directors of nursing (ADONs) would be happy to have me back. This is third simply because I didn't like the job. Sure, a lot of that is because of the migraines. I never got my arms wrapped around the job. But I don't think working without the migraines will make it better. It'll just make it easier.
So with these steps in mind, I started toward the first job. Back in February an LPN at my previous prison reached out to me on Facebook to let me know that a supervisor position was open and that she'd like to have me back. It was a surprising message as I honestly believed she didn't like me. I didn't get to deep into it as I wasn't well enough to work at that time, but I thanked her and told her I'd reach out when I was ready to work. Well, I reached out to see if the position (or at least A position) was still open and if K was still the HUM.
I learned that K is indeed still the HUM. That's one of the three hurdles. I also learned that they did in fact have an opening. One of their supervisors is currently away on maternity leave and the other one had been recently fired. They only have an acting supervisor right now.
That's rough and has to be tough on K, the acting supervisor, and the rest of the nurses. And its all good news for me as they should really want me to come back.
As I reached out to this LPN, H, I reached out to another LPN that I was close with at the same prison, B. B confirmed that K was still the HUM and that they had an opening. He also gave me a lot more information as we chatted for about an hour. He told me that the manger that had been promoted to supervisor just as I was leaving is the one that got fired. According to him, she'd gone through some bad medical issues and was having a hard time getting off the pain meds as she couldn't sleep without them. On Super Bowl Sunday, she evidently took a marijuana gummy to sleep and another employee knew about it and told on her. She was drug tested and fired. Now, she's since sued the state and evidently won, but doesn't want to come back to a position that fired her like that. I can't blame her. It'd be hard to give your all to a group of people that kicked you to the curb. B also reminded me that half of the prison had been shut down since I was there last, which is why they only had the two supervisors. But yes, the other one was on maternity leave, leaving them just with an acting supervisor stepping in to help. He admitted they were hard up for supervisory help and confirmed what H said... they'd like me to come back.
B also let me know who was still there and who all had come back since COVID. It honestly sounds like the best of the best is there and I'd be walking into a good situation.
I wrote K a longish email explaining what I'd been up to, about how I felt guilty leaving the way I did, and then filling in the last two years with me away from work entirely. Finally, asking if she'd be interested in having me back as a supervisor. I got the email out late Friday afternoon and haven't heard back since. Its very likely that K had already left by the time I hit send. Even if she hadn't, she's not the best at reading her emails in a timely manner and might just skip past it, leaving it to Monday. I'm hoping that I hear back from her on Monday.
And that's where I'm at for now.
IF K is interested, I figure it might be a month or six weeks before I'm back. She'd have to get the job listed, accept my application, leave the position open for a particular amount of time (state regulation) then bring in me and anyone else that applied, for interviews. After the interview, assuming they pick me, they have to contact all of my contacts and then they all have to get back with the State. Assuming all of their responses are good, they then have to make me an offer which I have to accept, then work out a starting date which will be the start of the next pay period (anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks).
It's not a fast process. As such, I'll probably need to dig into my 401k. I just did my finances today and I'll be good through June. I'll get one more half check from my long term disability at the end of the month but that'll cover me until the middle of July. A month from now, I'll need more money and no more will be coming in. Even if the above process went fast and I was starting work in a month, I wouldn't get paid for two to four weeks AFTER that. So yeah... that's something to think about.
Anyway, I'll let you know when I hear more. Fingers crossed that K gets back in touch with me on Monday.
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