I went to nursing school to learn what was happening with my son’s heart

May 9, 2018

“It has been a hard five semesters in nursing school but I have learned anything is possible. I am from Panama and moved here ten years ago to learn English. I met my husband and we have a beautiful six-year-old son. I love it here. It has been hard to be a mama and go to nursing school because it is intense and there was not much time to focus on family. It took me longer because English is my second language and then nursing is a third language. I had to read everything two or three times to understand. My husband has been so good helping me through this but I am excited it is almost other.

I will get a job this summer and go back to school in the fall for my BSM in nursing.

My son is my motivation. He was born in Panama with a heart condition. I wanted to have him there to be close to my family and it was also cheaper to have him there. But when he was born he had a coaractation of the aorta and needed heart surgery right away. We could have done the surgery in Panama, but there was a 50/50 chance of survival. He was starting to have congestive heart failure and trouble breathing. We had to get him a passport to get the United States to get back for surgery at UAB I was very naive when I had him and didn’t understand how dangerous this was because I couldn’t understand much of what the doctors were saying. That is why I went to nursing school. To learn everything that was going on with my son’s heart. He is good now. He has so much energy.

I never thought about being a nurse. It seemed like something smart people did. I didn’t even know how to be a nurse. I tried to go into international business in college but it didn’t work out. I needed to know English. I came here to learn English, then got my GED and worked through college. I want to work with older adults now but my dream is to go back to my country and work there. Maybe I will be ready to work with kids then.”

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