Nursing graduate cake

Hi everyone, I am a registered nurse in Australia, I have been 'stuck ' in aged care ever since graduation as I didn't get to secure a graduate position in a hospital and aged care was easy to get in but difficult to get out of. It's been 3 years since and it seems no hospital would want to hire an aged care nurse as they require at least a year of hospital experience. I have been applying everywhere but nothing works. I feel a little deflated. I still like what I am doing currently, but I would like to try more things, especially aiming for oncology. I wonder what can I do to get out of it? Can't get experience without experience. Thank you in advance for all inputs.

Patay na yung dad ko and senior citizen na yung nanay ko pero meron siya business kaya until now nagw-work siya. Meron siya biniling bahay sa subdivision na nakapangalam with her new partner. Meron si mommy kotseng hinuhulugan na nakapangalan sa ate ko.
Bali tatlo kaming magkakapatid. Yung panganay nasa abroad, yung gitna nandito kasama namin. Working naman na siya pero wala siya ginagastos sa bills pero bumibili siya appliances naman like mamahaling ref ganon or kung ano ipabili ni mommy na medyo mahal. While bunso ako. College student 4th year naman na sa isang state univ.
Ever since nag abroad ate ko, nagpapadala siya pang gastos sa bahay. Nung pandemic, sa padala niya kami nag rely since mahina kita ng business. Then basta nagkagulo fam namin to the point na iniwan kami ni mommy and wala man lang bigay sa akin miski isang kusing. (bigger issue)Thank you sa ate ko sa akin na lang nagpapadala. Talagang siya na nagpa-aral sa akin naging responsibilidad niya talaga ako. (Baon, dorm, other school needs)
last year nagkaayos kami ulit ng fam. Kasama na uli namin si mommy pero tuloy pa rin yung panganay sa pagpapaaral sa akin(same pa rin padala ni ate) pero yung other expense na aside sa baon ko talaga since graduating, kay mommy na ako humihingi. Madalas pag medyo napapakalki na hinhi ko sinasabihan na ako ng nanay ko magtipid maraming gastos at hulugin. Kaso maya't maya bigay siya sa mga nanghihinhi na iba. Narinig ko pa gusto daw niya paaralin yung anak sa labas ng kapatid niya.
ABYG kung deep down sumasama loob ko sa nanay ko kung nagbibigay siya sa iba at gusto niya magpa-aral ng ibang bata? I feel bad kasi na naging pabigat ako sa ate ko na dapat iniipon niya na lang yung pera pero naging required na paaralin niya ako. Mabait naman talaga ate ko na nagpapaaral sa akin at hindi madamot pero minsan noon ramdam ko gaano siya nahirapan dahil sa akin.
Another context: nurse ate ko at 9 years siya nag college. Nag jump siya from one school to another dahil hindi niya dati gusto program niya tas nad-depress siya. Medyo gets ko rin naman na sobra sobra pag bigay ni mommy sa kanya. Pero masama loob ko na parang binigay na ako ng namay ko bilang responsibilidad talaga sa ate ko tapos may ibang bata siya gusto paaralin imbes na ako na lang?

Hi everyone, I just wanted some advice on my current position to see how I can set myself up nicely in the next decade and see how I'm doing at the minute.
I've recently turned 31 and have always been a bit of a finance and spreadsheet nerd, so have always tracked my person finances ever since I earned an income from my waitering job when I was 14.
I feel as though I'm in a reasonably good position, but wanted some advice how to maximise my 30s to set myself up well going into my 40s. I don't know why, I just feel as though the next decade is quite a big one to set my future self up well. My current position is below:
Salary: £75k (expect this to move to £80k in the next month or two) Take home after tax, NI and company car: £3.9k Another form of income brings in an average of £300 Total take home: £4.2k
My outgoings total about £4k/month give or take. My mortgage and bills come to £2k/month and then we spend an average of £2k/month on food and all activities/holiday funds. We're certainly not materialistic but do spend a fair amount on travelling to different places.
Current finances are: House value £380k, mortgage just under £270k, so £110k equity. Workplace pension: £50k Emergency fund spread across high interest savings accounts: £30k Bitcoin: £40k Vanguard account (mainly S&P500): £15k Total net worth: £245k
The last few years have been difficult, with my income being the only source for the house. My girlfriend has finished a nursing degree which has taken 3 years and is due to start a new role in August on a starting salary of £28k. This will bring in another £1.8k I'm assuming.
Based on that, with my salary and my partner's new source of income, we'd have about £2k/month extra which I'm thinking on consistently adding into the vanguard SS ISA.
My questions I'm hoping for some advice on are the following: - Is the thought of investing all outstanding income into S&P 500/World fund (£2k/month) the best plan? There are months we'll have more than this, but I'd say that's the average. - I've been with my partner for 6 years and she's definitely the one. However I bought the property myself 7 years ago before her and she has only ever contributed the food bills etc. I've always paid the full mortgage and bills etc. She has just over £5k to her name. Are we to just combine everything anyway once we tie the knot? - Is my current position pretty good? I've worked hard throughout my 20s whilst still travelling a lot and having an overall great time. I'm unsure whether I'll want to retire early, but I certainly want full financial independence. (Well aware of the FIRE community and read a lot of their posts). Is my plan through my 30s going to set us up well and make us FI if we stay consistent with the additional income?
Last point, no kids yet and will be a flip of a coin whether we have them eventually. If I was a betting man I'd probably say we will in about 5 years time. I understand this would completely change our path, but we'll cross that if it ever happens.
Appreciate your advice in advance and apologies for the essay.

My dad just doesn't love me the same as my siblings. The differences in how he treats us are really stark.
For my graduation, I was the only one who didn't get to attend. All my siblings had huge party celebrations with cakes when they graduated, but I just got a small gift and a “this is your present.” Going out with friends is always an issue for me, but my siblings can do whatever they want. I feel so suffocated. I try so hard to get close to my dad and do well, but he always finds a way to put me down.
This really kills me inside. I've had mental breakdowns where I can barely even breathe well. I have a great boyfriend who I'm scared to even tell my dad about, because I'm worried he'll hate him. At the end of the day, he's my dad and I do love him, but the favoritism is making me hate myself. He's just such a negative and critical person towards me, even since I was little. I just wish he would love me equally.

Good morning all!
I’ve just joined the sub because I’ve got questions. I’m an international student, and now fully qualified (PIN and all) paediatric nurse. My visa expires next month and I can’t afford a graduate visa, but I cannot get a job to save my life. NQN posts are in no hurry because most won’t be starting until October, but I need something ASAP. I’m in Scotland, applying all over the UK, but from the US originally. Any advice on getting a job? Do I have to apply for NQN posts or any post? Any options I’ve not thought of?
I’m not keen to go back to the US, but I may not have a choice.
Thank you in advance! ❤️

Awake in the middle of the night because I tried to drink some water and spilled it all over my bed and johnny, and was lying there with my dick cloud/phallus palace in my lap, soaked in the dark and I thought to myself "hm, maybe this is the lowest I've ever been."
Which I had thought to myself a few hours prior when trying to use a commode because I had a stomach pain. I had been shuffled over with leaked on puppy pads sticking to my butt and sat on the commode and after the nurses left, just farted SO fucking loud and the pain went away. Then I knocked over the nurse call button and I thought, "hm, maybe this is the lowest I've ever been."
Which is what I'd thought about a few hours prior when my boyfriend came to visit me after work and I immediately burst into tears when they walked into my room and gave me a hug. I cried so hard and told them "I just want to go home, I don't want to be here anymore." And I remember thinking as I cried like a kid "damn, maybe this is the lowest I've ever been."
Which is what I thought to myself the day before when I had woken up with such terrible muscle seizes that I was interrupting my nurses and begging for /literally anything/ to make me feel better (it was muscle relaxers and I only needed them twice).
I knew this would be the worst of it. I knew that. I just didn't know how fucking exhausting and humiliating it would be. Luckily I don't have a huge ego and I can take the hits, look at myself from the outside and appreciate the absurdity of my situation, but it's not like... Fun. I'm focusing on the fact that this part is temporary, that I will become independent, that my dick will not live in a giant foam castle in my lap, and I will leave this 80°F room.
So that's the rant out of the way. My actual healing has been really good (knock on wood). My tissue oximeter is steady, my blood can be heard fully throughout whenever they check for it, no signs of infection (yet) (no UL btw, just ALT and burial rn), and it's warm and happy in its little nest. I sleep okay, eat terribly, but I was able to get out of bed for the first time today. Sleep got interrupted by my being an idiot with water in the dark, but I'll be able to sleep a little more before rounds soon. Everyone is very pleased with my progress, and while I don't want to leave their medical care per se, I can't WAIT to be back home where I might be more comfortable and less embarrassed. Nothing like shuffling across the room to a chair while gripping your wrapped up dick with your ass out to humble a man.
The wrap is... Difficult. It's very present. It's hard to ignore because it's essentially like a two tiered cake sitting in your lap at all times and we all just do our best to ignore it. I actually had to call some family members who were going to visit me and say hey... Don't do that. I actually can't handle having a conversation with you while my massive dong/boner home sits in between us.
I know most of my experience is mental health related - actually going to do a second one for that later- but that doesn't change the fact that it has been difficult and uncomfortable by no one's fault, I think it's just difficult and uncomfortable 🤷🏻
Still don't regret it, still have lots of hope for later on, just man. How many new ways will I find to have some personal lows? Does my ego even have a limit of what it can take? I hope it gets better soon.

Hi I(23M) am soon to be graduating in the course of BS in Nursing. Right after passing the board exam, i have been considering to pursue law and i would prefer it to be in manila. So, i would like to ask what would be the recommended and part - time friendly law schools there?

I'll be leaving uni for home in a few days time, but I just got off the phone after talking with my parents and siblings and had felt triggered about the past 2 years and how I almost commited suicide because of all the stress and pressure of putting up with what had transpired. For context, I'm 24 (F) in my last year of uni, and I have two brothers 30(M) and (5M) who live with my parents (Both in their late 50's), who live in the country side. I had been diagnosed with heart disease when I was in highschool and since then things have been tough for me, with losing all my weight and having to go through three different schools just to complete high school because of my health, but since then I have got the hang of taking care of myself and my symptoms, I have gained weight, made it to uni (which was a suprise not only to myself but my teachers as well) and am almost done with uni, and I could not be prouder. However, this past week has been a roller coaster, with thoughts of committing suicide lurking in every corner, I didn't know why at first but after talking to my parents on the phone bits of memories came flooding back to me about how I thought I reached my point of living and that my heart was gonna give out any moment or that it would be better if I'd just off myself with that sharp knife in the corner by slitting my wrists open. You see, my mum had this really bad lung infection the Christmas of 2022 while I was home for the holidays, and I took on most of the responsibility of taking care of her from 5am in the morning to the next morning where I'd sleep at 3am after ensuring she was okay, then wake up to do it all again. Don't get me wrong, I loved taking care of my mum, it made me happy that I could be there when she was at her weakest to lend her the strength and care she deserved after taking care of me all these years. It all happened one afternoon when my brother has come home afted being gone all day and did not even receive an earful from my parents (or mainly my dad) like I did for being out for just 2 hours to unwind from taking care of my mum and nursing her back to health all while not having any contact with friends or the outside world then our yard for almost 2 months, I was called selfish by my dad and told that my actions were stupid that if my mum would die I'd look stupid crying for her just like my mum's sister who chose to go out and meet friends the day her father died, that I was supposed to be at home with mum taking care of her. My dad is a stay at home dad, my older brother dropped out of college and my mum is the sole bread winner of the family. While my mum was sick, my dad would get groceries, attend to church meetings, ensure the yard was kept clean lend a hand when it was needed with caring for mum while my brother ate, slept on time, had time to meet friends, throw his plates in the sink without washing them and not lending a hand with helping mum. Meanwhile I spent my days bathing her, dressing her, feeding her, massaging her body, changing her hot water in her mugs to ensure she stayed hydrated because that's all she could drink without coughing , cleaning her sleeping area and sanitizing it everytime she had to go to bed after a warm bath as well as watching over her as she slept to ensure her pillows were placed in a way that didn't obstruct her airflow all while also ensuring that everyone's laundry was done and put away, food was cooked and served, plates were washed and put away, my little brother was cared for also while doing part of my dad's work around the house to ensure he got enoughg sleep at night, since we lived by the country side there were a lot of chores to do around the house as most of the things were done manually or by hand. I did this until she got back on her feet and was able to do little things around the house without my help. After a week or two when my mum had improved told my parents that I'll be gone the next day after lunch to see my friend and that normally before mum got sick Friday was a free day for me that I get an off day of doing house work. So the day came, I dressed up (I felt pretty after not being able to do that in a whole) and left after ensuring that my big brother was home to assist mum whenever she needed and also checked on my mum to see if she was okay and that she didn't need my help before I stepped out of the house at 2pm. The walk to my friend's house felt like heaven, with sun in my face, the breeze on my face and the skip in my step. I spent the afternoon talking, laughing and having a good time with my friend before going home at 5pm, happy and satisfied that the day had brought me so much joy and relieved my stress. I got and came in with a big Hello, to everyone in the house, my dad didn't say anything, he just sat there looking so mad. And that's when he proceeded to call me selfish and compare me to my mother's sister all while my mother and brother sat there saying nothing, I atleast thought they would've spoken up to say that I needed the break, but they didn't. I cried as ai stood there listening to my dad utter out harsh words until I couldn't listen to him anymore. I proceeded muster up a less shaky voice and said the following "I apologies for going out to see my friend and I apologies mum and dad it won't happen again, but the thing is I needed this, after taking care of mum and the house I just needed a break. My brother gets to go out, meet friend and talk to them and even stay out till late but he never gets scolded but when I do it's different. I do everything in this house, I take care of mum, wash all of your clothes, cook the food, feed you all and even wash up after everything and you big brother can't even wash your own plate or lend a hand. Oh and dad I spend the time I get after mum finally rests during the day to do some of your chores to cut down the amount of time you spend doing them in order for you to get a good night's rest and I go to sleep early in the morning just to wake up after 2 hours and do it all again. So I'm sorry that I had to go out, but I really needed it." After saying all that, I went up to my room and cried the whole night. The next morning I came downstairs at 10am to find my dad washing up and my mum on her phone, it was a quiet day, I thought my brother was in his room, then the we got heard that he had actually left in the morning to go visit my aunt who is a 30 minute drive from our house, where he spent the day hanging out with friends and cousins before coming back home at 6pm with my grandma who came to spend a week with us. My dad upon hearing the news that my brother was had left in the morning just shook his head and said that my brother should have stayed and lend a hand around the house, but after my brother got back I was hoping he'd get the same scolding my dad gave me, well that never happened. I went to my mum and asked her why wasn't daddy scolding my big brother and she did not say anything so I spoke up and said aloud, "wow, so I get a scolding for staying out for just 3 hours but he gets to stay out for an entire day without helping out around here and he gets welcomed home?" I then went to my room because I didn't want them to see the tears that started to fall, then it hit me when I was in my room crying, everything that happened over the years on how differently I was treated, my accomplishments my birthday's and even my sickness. It hit me how differently I was treated, my brother had big graduation foods prepared and his graduations were celebrated from primary all the way to high school and little courses while I just had a well done from my parents even after taking in prices since I was in elementary, thought they'd take me out to eat a celebratory lunch after my high school graduation because it was the hardest part of my life to pass but all I got was a disgusted look and a 'thats what your wearing?' after at my graduation after I took my gown off to take pictures. I can't remember the time I blew out candles for my birthday or when a party was thrown for me, but my brother somehow has a cake for most of his birthdays and he had a really big party once with four big cakes, a whole roasted pig, lots of food and even had all his friends invited. When i reaches the age of 14, the same age he was when my parents threw him a party, I thought I'd have the same too, but I didn't, and still had not one party until I turned 24. The day I turned 23, was a month after my mum got better, I spent the whole day cooking for everyone, was wished happy birthday after realising it was my birthday, I then told them I'd come down to eat later after I take a nap and that they should serve the food and leave mine on the dining table. I came down to find they ate most of the food, and I was only placed only a bit of food in my plate. I got mad and hit my plate on the table with just a little food spilling over, my dad saw this and screamed at me and told me that my future husband would beat me up and that my life will be miserable and bad because of what I did. Well you guessed it, I went back to my room crying, and that blade in my bag looked so tempting against my wrists. I also remember when my brother dropped out of college that I was blamed by my parents, with my dad telling me on my way back from the grocery store that I'm the reason my brother ended up like how he is because they show me too much favour growing up. And when my big brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after dropping out of college after misuse of alcohol and drugs my mum religiously took to the internet to search for diets, information and everything to do with it until he became better and she continued doing so for every little sickness like flu, meanwhile my heart disease was never on her search list. She even signed up for YouTube videos and lessons on everything to do with my brother health, and mind you my heart disease was diagnosed 6 years before he got bipolar. I left for school after the holidays, still exhausted and stressed from the entire experience. My body had reached its lowest point, I could feel my heart was tired, I was ready to die in my bed in my dorm, I had made peace that if my heart passed out before while rest I'd be okay with it. That's third year of uni was hell for me, my body never really recovered, I kept getting sick, had malaria countless times as well as typhoid three times in a row the same year. The stress combined with with the state of my immunity caused me to be sent to various medical officers and clinics to get my blood samples and x-rays to find what was wrong with me, why after being treated and cured my body felt sick. They thought I had tuberculosis, others thought I had STI's but all tests came back negative, and mind you all these tests cost money and my parents weren't happy with what they were spending for me to get this tests. It came to a point when I called my mum to tell her that I feel really sick and I'm stressed with my assignments, only for her to say "you're always sick, everytime we call you're sick. Don't you know we're tired of this, stop trying to get sick!". I'm tired of getting sick too mum, I thought to myself as I got off the call and stared at the pile of medicine Infront of me prescribed by the doctor as well as my heart meds, and they were too much, my mum's words over the phone kept playing in my head I I got my the blade on my study table and pressed it into my left wrist lightly drew it over to cut the skin, the pain felt soothinf, calming even, then I wondered how it would feel if I placed the knife on my study table and fell on it to pierce my heart, would the pain feel good? Would the thoughts stop? Would mum stop complaining? Would they mis me? What would happen to my body? Then I thought better of it and wrote in my dairy ro stop myself from doing ealxactly that then I was distracted by my medicine Infront of me with thoughts of "they would never know if you take all these and overdose, it'll be a painless death." The remainder of third year continued like these, with sickness and suicide thoughts until I went for job internship at a company I've always wanted to work in and life was good because i didnt for home for the holidays and I spent the holidays at school in my little dorm room with friends who looked out for me. Then 2024 rolled around and I'm properly rested, no stress and I'm happy. That's is until a month ago when my parents bought me my ticket to go back home to see them for the holidays that I spiralled, I had completely locked those memories away, but after every phone call this past month I'm left a crying mess with flashes of words said and feelings felt during that time and I go back to thinking of suicide. I nearly commited suicide on the 16th of may, i was truly gonna go throught with it, I wanted to so bad if only I did not see the bible verses in front of me amd if my roommates hadn't come back early. But I know, if I do go home now, I might actually commit suicide, if something like what happened in the past happens again, or if they say another harsh word, I wouldn't think twice of dying, because I'm done, I truly am.

so i got married about 14 months ago and got pregnant soon after. my daughter was not planned but she was wanted so now i have an almost 5 month old baby.
i’ve never met my mil in person, just over video chat (mostly her wanting to see my daughter). my husband didn’t invite her to the wedding because they don’t have the best relationship and now i see why.
she’s done some ehhhhh kind of stuff; not bad enough for me to post on here, but enough for me to have to set boundaries. this interaction takes the cake though.
since our daughter wasn’t planned, we’re not in the best place financially. bills are paid, all her needs are met, we have groceries. but we have no savings and not a ton of fun money. about 3-4 months ago, mil let us know my husbands youngest sister is graduating in early june and we looked at everything and our budget and told her that it wasn’t feasible for us to come down to the graduation since they live in a different state. it would have cost us at least 3k for flights, hotel, rental car, food.
she just texted my husband to say that his sister is graduating soon (which we know. we sent her a small gift) and said she’s upset we “didn’t suck it up and find a way down.” but what really got me is that she said, “your daughter will never have the memory of watching her auntie graduate.”
…ma’am…our daughter doesn’t even remember she has two feet.

So I really wanted to write this post because I think it’s extremely beneficial for everyone to hear this. It doesn’t matter what NCLEX resource you use. It doesn’t matter what your “readiness” scores are. I really want to tell you that what you learned the entire time you were in school is all you need.
Listen, I am type A personality all the way. Let me tell you I was STRESSED studying for this test. And you know what? Not one thing I studied was on the test. My school used ATI and I didn’t even make it past 1000 of their quiz bank. I also used the NCLEX ATI book we got for their 2 live review that I sat through. There was absolutely no way I could remember everything that was in it.
This is what I did - I did 100 questions a day for a little bit using the ATI. I did the CAT on there too quite a few times (waste of time btw - very inaccurate prediction). I went through the entire med surg chapter and highlighted again. I used the free bootcamp and what it had on there, but only did one of the case studies. And I tried the 7 day free trial on Uworld and took that test they had. I never made it past the 89th percentile for moderate on the ATI board vitals CAT. My dashboard told me I was at 68%. Did pretty bad on the Uworld thing. Did great on the bootcamp 100 question test. I also watched their videos on how to do case studies. BUT THEN 3 days before my exam I found Dr. Sharon’s YouTube channel. & let me tell you… the interview she did with mark klimek really eased my anxiety. I started watching her videos and tbh I think that’s what really helped me the most. Also, I didn’t do the extra case study offered on free bootcamp until after I watched Dr Sharon to see if what she was telling me was doable - it was!
So this is what I WISH I had done from the get go - use ATI board vitals on study mode to assist in reviewing content and reading rationales (because I barely ever went back to review the tests I did). - Just use the bootcamp for their tests (again, to review content) and also the case study walk through. - And had just watched Dr. Sharon’s YouTube channel for strategies and watch her do a bunch of SATA. I also found the day before my test, that there is a 3 day trial to get access to the updated NGN videos she’s done. I only watched the case studies she went through on there. - Possibly throw in a couple of the ATI CAT tests, but only to get used to the level of questions fluctuating and that is really all that would be good for.
Now this one’s for you, who is also stalking Reddit trying to figure out wtf it is your supposed to do and how to do it; I was you too!
You do NOT need to spend anymore money than what you have already emptied your pockets in order to pay for your BON app & NCLEX. You DO however, need to learn how to answer these questions on the NCLEX. Because they were like nothing I was expecting. The klimek review channel with Dr. Sharon explains the priorities of the questions. She explains how to read the question and understand what it is asking from you. And also, because you ARE going to have to do this, she tells you how to make educated guess and use a great process of elimination when you don’t have a clue what the answer is. I even looked up the answers to some of the questions that I had to guess on, and those strategies really DO work.
There are sooo many free resources you can use online to assist you in passing the NCLEX. Don’t even worry about finding out what your “readiness” is. Go to Dr. Sharon’s YouTube channel and start with her interview with Mark. Take that advice and go from there. I honestly wish I had done that from the beginning instead of wasting a lot of time trying to cram an extreme amount of information in my head for a few weeks.
Don’t rush through the nclex, take your time! I finished 85q in 2 hours and 10 minutes and I have no shame in saying that 🤷🏼‍♀️ read the question make sure you understand what you’re being asked. Read the answers, unbiased. Read the question again, then choose your answers. It’s basically almost all common sense. Don’t be anxious! I promise you, it’s not going to be as bad as you think.
One more thing - when I got back to my car I sat there and thought wtf even was that? Want to know why? Because I thought it was going to be SO much harder than it was. Even the “higher level” questions! I thought I failed it tbh LOL. Because they honestly weren’t even that bad. I’m not going to deny it wasn’t hard, but you just need to think more in depth without reading too much into it. There truly is really no way to study for this exam. All my questions were all over the place about so many different things!
So I really hope someone found this useful and takes at least some of my advice! Because you are more than capable to pass this NCLEX! Everything you need you already learned! You graduated from nursing school right? So breathe, take a deep breath, and learn the strategies!! You got this!

hi guys. i’m a 23 year old EMT. i graduated with my bachelors of science in nutrition from a relatively nice university coming up on two years ago now. i decided halfway through undergrad i didn’t want to pursue dietetics, and wanted to pursue physician assistant. i started taking prereqs for that, got my EMT license for patient care experience, and have been able to shadow an MD and a PA for my applications.
the downside is i didn’t realize until two months ago my science GPA is too low for a fighting chance at an acceptance at any program, and it’ll take at least a year of taking and retaking science courses to bring it up to a decent level.
i make, give or take, 33k/year. i can support myself but i’m not saving and i feel like im always working. my hours are long and hard on me physically. it’s daunting looking at another year to two years of this before MAYBE having a shot at a PA program.
recently an account manager for a staffing firm reached out to me and expressed interest in recruiting me. after a 3 month training period, i would be making 66.5k/year salary, plus commission. the workplace culture does seem pretty cutthroat and competitive, though ive heard that this position has lots of room for upward mobility. it’s not healthcare - i would be tasked with finding, recruiting, and managing educational staff for a nearby school district. but it’s a livable wage, it’s a company i can grow in, and i will be making plenty to support myself. am i passionate about this industry? no, but it’s a solid job.
looking for some guidance on if i should jump ship from healthcare and go for this position or not. i’ve already passed the first interview, but there’s more to go before a job offer. i’m leaning towards thuggin it out and staying the healthcare route, but if PA (and/or nursing, an alternative route that is unfortunately also competitive) doesn’t work out, i’m worried i won’t come by this kind of opportunity again.

ive come to the point where everything is numb and indifferent. I genuinely dont feel happy or sad. Thinking about ending my life honestly gives me relief and I actually thanked Allah for giving the me the opportunity to do what im going to do.
At first I was tired and exhausted of life but now I just dont care. idc about the people the job the house the car the family or the few friends I have.
Ive tried everything and anything to bring myself up. I went to therapy, took the medications and switched them up when i didnt feel like they were working
actively lost the weight and graduated nursing school. I did everything i had to do all while struggling through my mental illness.
I am very content and happy within myself which is the reason I want to end it. I deserve better in life than this.
All the stuff I stated above may seem fine but no. My home life is shit, i lost friends and my extended fsmily doesnt talk to me anymore either.
Ive tried and am still trying to get better. Its not written for me.

Dear New Graduates,
Congratulations on successfully completing the rigorous nursing classes and exams! Your hard work and dedication have brought you this far, and you are now ready to embark on your nursing career. As you prepare for the NCLEX, I want to leave you with a few important reminders:

1. Do Not Compare Yourself to Your Peers
2. Study and Practice Questions Daily: Consistent practice is key to reinforcing your knowledge and building confidence.
3. Just because a peer did not pass does not mean you will fail. Stay positive and focused on your preparation.
4. You can pass with any number of questions, whether it's 85, 98, 103, or 150. Do not panic if it goes past 85.
5. Use a Few Resources: Stick to one content resource and one question bank to avoid overwhelming yourself.
6. The question bank you use does not determine if you pass or fail. It's about how well you understand and apply the content and critical thinking.
7. Some will pass, and some will fail. If you fail, do not give up. It does not mean you are unintelligent or slow; it simply means you need to improve in certain areas.
8. Work on Your Anxiety: Use techniques like deep breathing, taking breaks and reminding yourself that "you can do this" to manage anxiety.
9. Just because a friend found the test easy does not mean it will be easy for you. Keep studying and trust your preparation.
10. If you fail, learn from the experience, seek help, improve your content knowledge or critical thinking skills, and try again.

I wish you all the best.

Long read
I had this originally written under a previous post asking about potential health effects of Quetiapine in this sub. I thought it might be a little much to blow up on someone else’s question. So here is my (long ass) experience and current investigation underway with my rheumatologist in Boston who was an adjunct professor and graduate from Harvard with an expertise in pharmacokinetics.
This will be a dumbed down version the best I can explain as layman with a mere masters degree in physical therapy. While I have a strong grasp of the concepts and language, I may get verbiage or premises incorrect but I believe this will read mostly correct. If you’re a medical professional or chemist, feel free to correct me. Im no writer and I’m sure this will be evident by poor grammar and run on sentences but I did try to do a quick proofread. It’s Reddit though, so…whatever lol.
This is a super individualized account to my neurobiology. Much of it will read as though I’m trying to scare off anyone from ever taking this medication. If you get through it, you’ll see that my doctor’s theory mostly shows the opposite, and the safety profile is extremely good. The people at the highest risk of suffering my fate, that is if he is even correct because this is still just a theory(but well backed) are people in the large cohort of patients being prescribed Quetiapine off label for sleeplessness or “insomnia” as a primary diagnoses.(Spoiler: insomnia is not a real diagnosis, it’s a secondary symptom and why the manufacturer warns physicians against prescribing for sleep).
Seroquel destroyed my life. Prescribed by a “Noctor”(mid level nurse playing with shit she doesn’t know thinking she’s as smart as a doctor) an insane dose of 300mg a night for simple nighttime induced anxiety that messed with my sleep.
This was after suffering an issue where I was on the road and didn’t sleep at all for 4 days. I was really struggling and my employer paid for me to see one of the top psychiatrists on the planet that works specifically with people in my industry(entertainment). We happened to be coming up for a stop in Nashville(where she practiced) and they setup the appointment. I had 6 hours with her where she walked me through the fallacy of insomnia as a primary diagnosis, and that I needed to find the physical or psychological root cause. 90%+ of “insomnia” is just a secondary symptom of mild anxiety with a nighttime onset. That is what she diagnosed me with. Simple anxiety that was triggered at night because my career was so mentally vigorous and non stop that all anxiety was building up with no where to be expressed other than the only time my mind wasn’t occupied by work…laying in bed.
She sent my diagnosis back to my primary in New England and wrote me a script for 8mg of Xanax a month with instructions that I had 2x1mg doses per week to utilize as an emergency med but the goal would be through therapy and self moderation of work to utilize the medication as little as possible.
When I got home from my work trip the only appointment I could get was with the Noctor as my primary physician was booked out for almost 2 months. She looked at the diagnosis from a world class psychiatrist and inserted her own biases about Xanax use under any circumstance being extremely dangerous. Even as an emergency or rescue medication taken a couple times a month. So she choose to nuke my fucking brain with a high daily dose powerful antipsychotic for some night time anxiety.
For a year it was fine other than a little weight gain. Wasn’t too bad for me though because I worked 16+ hours a day on the road 9 months a year.
Then the nightmares started. Like insane, traumatic, horrifically vivid nightmares that would make Stephen king blush. I’ve seen every person and pet I’ve ever know or loved, including myself murdered gruesomely in the most gorey ways in realistic acts of violence, accidents, as well as supernatural monstrous hell fuel.
I’d wake up soaked, covered in sweat and my back and neck would be sore from my entire body being contorted and stiff in terrible positions whilst waking up completely hypertensive due to the vivid hellscape I just awoke from that was indistinguishable from reality.
I went back to her and begged her to change it because I was no longer feeling like I was sleeping. I was just going from one world to another and waking up feeling like I was just in a car accident. She told me it was the only thing she prescribes for sleep because everything else is addicting and dangerous. So I tried to tough it out but after a few more weeks couldn’t take it anymore. I got another appointment and told her I was done whether she liked it or not. I wasn’t getting any rest and I’d wake up in pain like I was hit by truck. She then essentially threatened me. She told me the only way to get off it was to see the psychiatrist at my practice and told me if I went anywhere else she would flag me as a drug seeker. The first date available with that psychiatrist…6 months. So I set an appointment as early as possible with my actual physician(nearly 2 month wait) and figured I’d start weening myself off and by the time I saw my doctor I would be fully off or mostly off.
About 2 days later(I hadn’t even reduced my first dose yet so I was still on 300mg) I was hospitalized. I woke up from my normal nighttime alternate universe of horror completely immobile from my armpits up. I wasn’t numb, but I woke up with my head kinked under my right arm and bent almost completely around. Any movement felt like my spine from my upper thoracic all the way through my cervical spine was going to snap. My wife had to call an ambulance because it was not loosening up like it normally would. While the paramedics tried to board me from my bed I went into shock from the pain and went unconscious.
I woke up in the hospital a few hours later where I learned the doctors had to pump some drug into me that essentially made all of my muscles go completely limp in order to move me out of the position because my muscles were so rigid they couldn’t untwist me. The ER doc said he had never seen anything like it outside of some extreme situations of rigor mortis when someone was found dead in an awkward position and the body locked into that position.
Even once released from that position I felt like I had a knife in my neck. The ER called into my primary physician to update them and they moved my appointment up. In the days that followed my neck only got worse. I couldn’t stand, sit or lay in the same position. I obviously stopped Seroquel immediately. I spent all day flat on my back crying with my wife encasing me in and changing ice packs every 15 minutes. I was ready to kill my self the pain was so bad.
When I saw my doctor a couple days later we were going over my records and I emphasized this was a direct result of the Seroquel that I begged to come off several times because of the side effects and I had learned that even the drug manufacturer didn’t approve of it being used off-label for sleep. She was shocked I was being prescribed 300mg for sleep. I asked her that if she was shocked, why would she approve it considering she was the supervising physician for the noctor that prescribed it to me? She showed me the offices internal notes and the noctor has diagnosed me with mania and disassociation.
Like, WTF!?
There was no record in the practices notes of the diagnoses and recommendations from the psychiatrist I saw in Nashville other than “patient saw a “pill doctor” out of state”, “says he has “anxiety”.
Reading through her notes it essentially accused me of psychosis and drug seeking because I saw a doctor out of state that prescribed me a medication she didn’t agree with.
On my doctor’s end in her oversight of her nurses prescribing she just saw that she was prescribing a patient Seroquel for manic episodes, which is a standard course of action. She agreed that this was a horrible misjudgment, viewed the physical copies of the notes I brought home from Nashville, and immediately changed me to that physicians plan of Xanax as an emergency/rescue med vs 300mg of Seroquel daily.
It was too late though. The pain in my neck never went away. I couldn’t move, I was completely bed bound. The pain in my neck felt like I was wide awake whilst someone dissected my cervical spine with a rusty box opener. They sent me to “interventional pain management” where they then did more non-fda approved “healthcare” by repetitively injecting corticosteroids into my spine.
It only got worse and worse. The pain began to spread from my cervical spine, down into my thoracic spine. I started losing feeling in my arm. Then it was neurological medications like gabapentinoids, muscle relaxers, high dose NSAIDs, tricyclic antidepressants, physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy etc…within 8 months that noctor was no longer employed at the office(I don’t officially know if it was from her destroying my life).
After about a year there was still no answers. I lost my job that I had busted my ass for over a decade climbing the industry ladder after getting and advanced degree, and was on the verge of losing my house because I was still completely bed bound 90% of the day.
My doctor out of desperation and lack of answers starts me on narcotic pain management. I had never once touched opioids outside of anesthesia inpatient surgeries related to sports injuries growing up. I was staunchly against the use of opioids outside of that setting. Other than some moderate cannabis use after college(when I was no longer being drug tested for the first time in 6 years) I was pretty brain washed by the drug war zealots. Now I’m a pariah. Both doctors and people in my social circles keep me at an arms length because people drank the koolaid and believe anyone taking an opioid must be a raging addict sucking dick for heroin.
I’ve managed to claw back and slow down the total collapse of my entire life because my pain is now controlled to about 60ish% by pain meds while I go doctor to doctor trying to figure this out. By working as a part time consultant in my industry I’m making just enough money to stop complete asset loss but I’m still eating into my retirement and investments. If it wasn’t for the fact that my wife makes a decent salary we’d already be homeless. Even then we’re hemorrhaging money and are likely going to have to sell our house. At 32 I was on track to retire by 50 and travel the world. Now at 37 I don’t know if I’ll be alive by this time at next year as the inflammation and connective tissue deterioration runs rampant.
Doctors absolutely hate and refuse to try and pin serious medical conditions on bad medical professionals or bad medication. I’ve been through every major “world famous” hospital system here in Boston and they’re willing to look for the answer everywhere accept where I’m telling them it started. Until a few months ago.
I hired a high profile private patient advocate. A woman who is a former internal medicine expert that was the lead in a department at Brigham with a PhD/MD from Harvard and her law degree from Cornell. She found me an expert here in Boston that is a rheumatologist who investigates pharmacokinetics. He produced several redacted papers by the patent holders on Seroquel that show them shutting down the research by a hired lab that found Tumor Necrosis Factor spikes in high doses of Seroquel administered to mice with normal neurological function. 3 other labs confirmed the research and wanted the medication held for retrial in humans.
TNF when not properly regulated by the immune system causes a cytokine storm attacking healthy tissue without the presence of disease/damaged tissue. This is the foundation of most autoimmune diseases.
Seroquel regulates various neurotransmission and endogenous processes in the brain when they are not at their normal levels. Even then the science isn’t perfect on it so often an SSRI is prescribed along side because SSRIs are better understood and it’s kind of a protection from the unknown actions of the Quetiapine(Seroquel).
If those neurotransmitters are functioning correctly and neurological function is fine, introducing something like Seroquel in high doses at constant intervals can be incredibly dangerous.
This is where the black box warnings and requests for bans from the manufacturer of seroquel about off label prescribing come from. They only reported redacted and halted research on TNF production increase associated with the drug because they only ever confirmed the research with mice.
This rheumatologist has essentially shown to me with pretty indisputable evidence that I’ve likely developed a severe medication induced autoimmune disease that is rapidly destroying the connective tissue in my spine and is now jumping to organs. It falls outside the diagnosis of any single autoimmune disease and can only really be classified as MAS(multiple autoimmune disease). Because the research papers are all heavily redacted and were never entered into peer review for final patenting and fda approval there is no case or action for me to bring.
Furthermore seroquel has a pretty high safety record because it’s statistically more normal to have an imbalance of the neurotransmitters that it regulates which means it’s rare to cause the reaction the research found with the mice. Most people have some form, even if mild, imbalance that most often goes without symptoms. But the manufacturers did know the consequences of introducing a high dosage of the compound to a perfectly balanced brain.
I fell into a perfect storm. My neurotransmission was such that a small dose of Seroquel daily likely wouldn’t have hurt me but it was as close to equilibrium that flooding it with a drug that regulates neurotransmission that I exhibited the same outcome as those mice forcing my immune system to drive up TNF production. There is a well known list of medications that can cause autoimmune diseases and the way the drug was patented and approved it escaped this labeling given the uncommon instances of the phenomenon.
I am now in the phase of trialing every biologic/TNF inhibitor known to man to try and get it under control before it completely disables me, or jumps to a vital organ and kills me.
This is still only a theory by an extremely educated expert in the field as autoimmune diseases and tumor necrosis factors are only recently in the last couple of decades becoming more understood. We got a more substantial confirmation that he is correct over the winter when I got my first case of Covid19. I rarely get sick. I am an extremely healthy person that exercises regularly(as much as possible through my pain now) as a former division 1 athlete and eats super clean and balanced. This was the first time since this began to see what my immune system did under duress.
My pain dropped by easily 50%. Meaning my immune system had something to do other than attack and inflame the healthy tissues in my joints and organs. While I felt like shit of course, my neurological pain dropped significantly. Within a week of recovering I had to increase my pain meds back to normal as everything became inflamed again.
The entire point of this rant is this: Seroquel is extremely dangerous…to a small population of people. This isn’t uncommon of most pharmaceuticals. It is a cautionary tale about the off label prescribing of this drug for sleep, and sleep only. DONT ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN TO YOU.
If a psychiatrist, neurologist, or behavioral therapist has well documented diagnostics and evaluation that leads them to believe you have a significant neurological imbalance that leads to a true psychiatric diagnosis you will almost certainly be just fine with Quetiapine.
Unfortunately Seroquel is the most prescribed off-label sleep medication on the market. It needs to be stopped. The primary indication for Seroquel cannot be “insomnia”. The manufacturers tried to hide the pharmacokinetic reasons as to why, but they did black box it and request physicians not to prescribe it for such. Read the insert. Back, neck, and joint pain are all warnings to speak to your doctor immediately and this is why.

Hello, I recently just passed the NCLEX and am ready to start apply for jobs. I want to work on a surgical floor but there doesnt seem to be any NGG programs specifically for surgical units either on the government website nor on any jobs listings. Anyone know why that is the case? Also, if anyone has any advice on how I could get NGG for surigcal units that'd be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I am a new graduate of BSN from the Philippines, but I am a US permanent resident. I have an SSN. I am planning to go back to the States as soon as possible and take the NCLEX, but I am worried that not having my license here in the Philippines would cause me problems in employment. For Filipino nurses working in Illinois, was your PH license an absolute requirement?
Thanks!

I (29M) have just transferred to Oregon State University as a mechanical engineering major. I completed two years at a community college, but I was initially going for computer science so I’ve only completed a few classes for my current degree program. As it stands, I have about 120 credits to complete, and I’m hoping depending on how many credits I can take per term to have this done in about two and a half years.
My wife and I started school together, she is going for nursing and was recently accepted into a program so she’ll be starting that in September and hopefully graduating and becoming an RN in June of 2026.
We have just received our aid offers and it should all be just enough to cover our tuition, with maybe a tiny bit leftover for living expenses. We have kids, so I stay home while she works per diem at our local hospital. Our monthly expenses are about $1,800 and once she is in the nursing program she is concerned about how many hours she’ll be able to work- if we’re lucky she may be able to bring in about $1,300/month after taxes. She also has to commute 65 miles one way for school, four days per week- so we’ll need at least $1,000 (probably more) set aside for gas each term. I do some “crowdsourcing” work online and can earn a few hundred each month that way, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with that during the harder engineering courses.
At this point we’re panicking a bit about how feasible this will all be. I’m heavily considering taking a private loan to supplement- that way we would have a bit more refunded to us each term to help cover living expenses. My COA left for school after federal loans and Pell grants is about 16,000- so I’m thinking I could take out around 40,000. I have a credit score of 700 and my wife made about $38K last year so I’m just assuming we’d be able to qualify for something- hopefully I’m not wrong.
I understand that private loans are a very bad financial decision in most cases- my question is, if I’m fairly confident that my wife and I will both be able to find gainful employment when we graduate, would this be a reasonable risk to take? New grad nursing positions in our area start at $40/hr, and I think I should be able to find a job paying at least $60K per year so theoretically as long as neither of us fail out, we could be making over $100K combined as new grads. I’m just very worried about the risk of having too-large-to-handle loan payments (we’ll also have our federal loans to pay back, but she can expect at least some tuition reimbursement in her line of work) and wrecking our credit to the point that we can’t buy a house for our family (which is the entire reason we decided to go back to school together). Our oldest son is 11 now, and we wanted to buy a proper home for him before he’s old enough to move out- hence the pressure we are feeling to get this done ASAP and not put it off any longer than we have to.
I’m sorry that’s so much info! TLDR: would a $40K private loan to complete my degree be a bad idea considering the industry I’m hoping to go into (mechanical engineering), combined with my wife’s potential future earnings as an RN?

For context,I come from a huge Mexican family. My mom has 5 siblings.I have 11 cousins , and too many nieces and nephews to count . After my grandparents passed away my family became quite distant from each other. I’ve always been really quiet and awkward so I’m not close to any of my cousins . As a result of my shyness, i became really insecure. I stopped having birthday parties after the age of 8 cause I was so scared of no one showing up. I barely gained back my confidence and had my first birthday party after like 9 years with some friends. For my graduation I already knew half of my family would be busy. My cousin gave birth a couple days ago and one of my nieces got really sick and is in the hospital . It was easier for me because I only had 10 graduation tickets. I kinda had a feeling not everyone would show up but my mom was excited to have a little celebration afterwards. Although I just wanted to go out to eat with my mom and sister,my mom ordered 80 tacos and decorated our house. I don’t even really like tacos . I wanted to object but felt bad since she already ordered it. I also wanted a cookie cake but my mom doesn’t like them so she didn’t buy one.Although I didn’t want the celebration, I was kinda excited . I always go to my friends parties and celebrations and they are always so fun. I get jealous that their family cares about them so much. Again I knew that half of my family wasn’t coming but I was so shocked. Only one of aunts came . None of my uncles cousins nieces or even my dad went. They didn’t even offer an explanation . My mom didn’t seem to care but I was tearing up in my car .The decorations in my living room made me feel worse. Like expected I didn’t even like the food that much. It feels so unfair. I’ve sat through everyone’s graduation but no one could do the same for me. I feel so grateful for my mom sister and aunt but still can’t help but feel so shitty. This has always been one of my biggest insecurities so having this happen feels like opening up old wounds.

Would it be worth it to go through with transferring to wgu for nursing I have about 2 years left at my university to have done with my degree as long as everything goes as planned? Could I graduate earlier? Is there a different in the quality of education?