Muchas Gracias Invercargill

It's been long since I chronicled something about the chapters of my life. The last long post I had was when I first worked down here in Invercargill, which is said to be the southernmost city in the world. It's a very wonderful place, quiet though. The people here are the friendliest.

It's been a very happy day today and it's my second day off after my straight six-day busy shifts. Two weeks ago, one of our beloved clinical coordinators happily organized a farewell dinner for me with the rest of the Emergency Department staff. It was very touching. Yes, you read it right. I did tender my resignation in very good terms. With some careful considerations, I humbly handed my formal resignation to my manager on the 23rd of June, effective by the 29th of July. It's going to be 10 wonderful Invercargill months. It is very wonderful in the sense that my stay here has been life changing and it has been an amazing journey. 

We went today to The Kiln which is one of the famous restobar here in Southland.  It's been filled with a whole lot of surprises. I was so delighted to see our ED Consultant Neil and our ED Clinical Nurse Manager Sue attending the party with us. Thanks to Leanne, one of our beloved RN coordinators and my senior RN for organizing. I am so happy to see my fellow nurses whom I looked up so high attending the party. Thanks to my seniors Eve, Sheryl and Tania. My overflowing gratitude to Kuya Abs, who despite being busy with Baby Mason still attended and picked us up and of course to my buddy Belle. Thanks also to our lovely receptionists Kylie, Sue and Kerrianne for being with us. It's been an honor and a privilege.

Photo with my beloved colleagues at work in SDHB ED.

Working away from home and friends was a little bit of a struggle for me in the first few months. I have been there when I felt like giving up but remained tough and still went on. ED is such a demanding job and I can say, you need to be tough in order to  become an emergency nurse. It requires fast clinical assessment skills, algorithmic and procedural mastery,  pharmacokinetics, excellent communication which is a little bit of a struggle for me at first, quick movements, body mechanics, nonstop pacing, fast and sound judgment, an attitude to bitchslap bullies and tons of assertiveness on doctors regarding management of care you want to be done or on those that you don't agree with of course. These are just tidbits of what ED here is like. In the span of 10 months, I can say, I am heartfully thankful to God for the wonderful opportunity. Working in the emergency department is one of the best things that ever happened to me. It is an great avenue to experience a lot of things. I was so touched to see the love of some people to me, some colleagues, patients and of course love from my own being. It's one of the best experiences that I have, such a great avenue to learn and to meet with people from all walks of life.

In the next two weeks, I will be working as a registered nurse in the Spinal Unit of Counties Manukau District Health Board. I can say I am excited and I will take it from Neil. I will be fine. It's going to be a new atmosphere and a new learning experience. My ambitious goal is to commence a simple phenomenological qualitative research in the Spinal Unit, have it properly critiqued and be published, not for recognition, but for a break. I probably just miss print media again but not anymore those childish opinion thingies of mine. I am wanting a more mature and a scientifically based article that will stem from my self-conducted research, which somehow could be of use to the nursing and medical literature. This sounds really ambitious.

Going back to the topic, my main reason of resigning stems from my young nature. Invercargill is a very nice place but later I inevitably became lonely to the point that solitude is no longer a help. I have met amazing friends here and live with them. They made me feel so happy during those days of loneliness. Though it took a little while to feel at home at work, I am always so excited with the nature of my job everyday and as well as working with the people that I admired the most. On the other hand, my natural instinct also sensed that there can be a bigger energy somewhere out there for my personal and professional growth and what it wants to do is to connect to that energy. It's sad to see myself leaving in a place that I love and the people whom who have shared moments with working in the past 10 months. However, that's it and that's life. You have to fight what you want to do and be the warrior of your own feat. We also need to learn when to let go, when to decide and when to visualize yourself hitting other grounds.

This is going to be all for now. I will be updating some more in time. It's going to be 10 wonderful Invercargill months but as they say, in a certain place, we come and go. We will be physically leaving friends and keep them in our hearts. Someday, somewhere our roads will meet again. What matters most is that, we enjoyed  and shared our happy moments together in between the lines. I will miss playing snow with you guys.