The journey

I guess in hindsight three years isn't a long time, but trying to juggle full time study at university, a part time job, three teenagers, one husband, one cat, one rabbit and the family home is hard work. The only way to deal with uni was to break it down into manageable chunks. Every time I thought "3 years" I panicked. So I split it into semesters (6) and then even further with the mid-semester breaks. At any one time I only thought about surviving that 7 or 8 week block of classes, assignments and exams. It helped that I made some wonderful, supportive friends at uni. We studied together and cried on each other's shoulders when the going got tough.

In first year we would spend one day each week in clinical workshops, learning the basics of nursing such as assessment, bathing, medication administration etc. We only had three days clinical experience on the wards - mine were in a urology/neurovascular surgical ward. In second year and first semester of third year we spent two days per week at our clinical placements. During these placements I was in the oncology/haematology ward at The Canberra Hospital, Paediatrics and an aged care facility. In our final semester we spent three days per week in the hospital and my placement was Hospital In The Home - a great learning environment with a supportive team, and a nice change as I was able to visit people in their own homes.

My part time job in a nursing home also helped. It enabled me to practice some of the skills I was learning at uni and in the hospital and at the same time paid for my textbooks (which were very expensive!). I loved working with the elderly but found that there was never enough time to give them the care they required.

During my final semester in 2006, my father-in-law became ill while on holiday in Switzerland. It appeared that his lymphoma had relapsed, he needed to a nurse to escort him home, and the insurance company was refusing to pay. In the end I flew to Geneva to bring him home. He was admitted to The Canberra Hospital and less than two weeks after our return he died. We had some very special time together in his last days and a number of conversations about my nursing career and what I wanted to do. He inspired me to consider specialising in oncology nursing so I was very pleased to find out that my first placement for my new graduate year would be returning to the oncology/haematology ward at The Canberra Hospital. On December 18 2006 I graduated at the top of the class (80+ students) and won the Royal College of Nursing prize.

The next step? A European vacation with the family before starting work full time!