I was a candy striper in 8TH grade, I always had an afinity for being around the hustle and bustle in hospitals.  I loved the nurses in their uniforms, they always seemed so professional and seemed to know so much stuff!  I wanted to someday be able to wear a uniform and answer hard questions, say words that sounded really really smart, like ventricular fibrillation, hemodialysis, apnea, and pheresis.   When I entered college, the first year I took an Advanced BSCS anatomy and physiology class.  We actually had the opportunity to work on real cadavers, and I thought I was in heaven!  I remember the first day of class when the instructor told us that we were to never disrespect the cadavers, there would be NO jokes, off color remarks, or funny names given to the people who had donated their bodies for our education.  If one single remark of disrespect was heard, it meant immediate failure of the class, and we would not be permitted to return.  I learned a lot that year about the human body, and the selflesness of people who wanted to help save others lives by donating their bodies to science.   I realized I wanted to join the ranks of those people who made a difference.  I have never looked back.

Lundellhull

Lundellhull,

I know what you mean exactly about everything you said.  I was also a candy striper and desperately wanted to understand the joke all the nurses were giggling about one day  the punch line was:

"And he said she didn't have any P-waves!"   Man how I wanted all that knowlege.

My brother was very sick when I was a kid and I spent a lot of time at Boston Children's Hospital.  The Nurses used to let me sit behind the nurse's station and color.  I loved the white uniform and the caps.  I tried to copy the way they wrote so fast, by scribbling with my crayon like a real nurse.

But it was my grandmother an LPN, who was my true inspiration.