Quickie: I GOT A JOB!!!

I don't think I've mentioned this on this site yet, but my ultimate career goal is to be a pediatric PA (Physician's Assistant). For those who don't know, PAs can do almost anything doctors can -- exams, prescriptions, diagnoses -- and in any area (surgery, OB-GYN, emergency medicine, etc.), but the education is much shorter (just two years). I've got to have a certain amount of experience (plus prerequisite courses) before I can apply to any programs, so I've been working as an EMT for a convalescent company for the past six months, but it's far from being my ideal job. I want to work with children, not old people -- and I want to practice medicine, not drive a van and maybe occasionally inflate a blood pressure cuff. Not only that, but my job's description falls very close to the line of plain old 'medical transporter' -- which many university websites say does NOT count for hours of experience toward PA school. So I've been applying to other jobs, almost ever since I got my current one. I got follow-ups from blood labs, family practices, insurance billing personnel, one OB-GYN place, a few chiropractors, and countless others that weren't the right fit. But finally, finally, finally, my search has paid off.

Today, I was offered a position as a medical assistant in a pediatric practice. MY IDEAL JOB.

I'll be rooming patients, taking their heights and weights, doing blood draws, immunizations, nebulizer treatments, throat cultures, urine dips, and assisting with other random things like stitches, or whatever the supervising physician needs. The office manager told me straight out that I'd be doing essentially everything the nurses do -- plus I'll get $13/hour and 80% benefits (as opposed to the $11.50 and 50% that I get now). And it's with KIDS. And it's the kind of experience I WANT and NEED in order to get to where I'm going. The only drawback is that the practice is 30 miles from our apartment -- but even that, I can learn to live with. I've got one more interview Wednesday morning (for a job I don't think I'm going to want, but feel like I should go through the motions for), after which I can formally accept the position.

Yes -- this was a good, good day.