I never planned on coming here. It's expensive and it's crowded, at least in the Bay Area where I'm working right now.
But it's also really, really beautiful here, the weather is generally fantastic, and everyone at the hospital I'm working at has been very nice and helpful.
I'll keep you posted on any fun activities I do and/or craziness I see (or perpetrate, lol). Since I've been here, I've been so overwhelmed with orientation at work and all that goes with it, that I've just been taking long walks around the neighborhood.
I'm renting a house with another nurse who I befriended a couple years ago when she was a traveler at my old hospital in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, she had to delay her arrival because her car's engine shit the bed in Colorado! She should arrive by this Friday, fingers crossed!
That's another reason I haven't explored much. Exploring and adventuring can get expensive, and since my buddy isn't here yet, I've been paying the entire rent on this place myself, ugh. Speaking of expensive, HOLY SHIT, housing is expensive here!
Ahem.
The unit I'm working on is Medical/Surgical Oncology, which again is a slightly different discipline than I'm used to, but it's so awesome that I'm learning new things with a new patient population!
Let's see, most of my experience is inpatient Hematology/Oncology in NH. Then I did inpatient nursing on a dedicated Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in TX. My last gig was at an outpatient chemotherapy/biotherapy infusion center in Minneapolis! Now med/surg onc in California. We see a lot of post-op urological and gynecological cancer patients.
Obviously, the core of my job is still the same, and my goals are always the same: take the best care of my patients that I can!
I'll keep y'all posted.