When I was growing up as a kid, I'm always been inundated with nice stories as to how beautiful the West is, awesome pictures taken by my relatives ignited my ambition to make it as my ultimate goal. Especially, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. My parents are of conservative upbringings, contented with the life in the Philippines. When I was 13 yo, my dad died of a tragic accident, he was our breadwinner. Although my mom was still working at that time, it was not even enough for herself and most decision-making has to be entrusted to me at such a young age. Good thing, I was done with my degree in nursing, I made it a point/ goal in myself that my mom will never be struggling to work to feed us. I have to migrate to the US to uplift my family's standard of living, which is true to all wannabes.
With God's grace, I was able to come to the US via working visa, H 1 after 3 tries of the CGFNS. I don't know why, but it took me 3 tries, and always pass the english not the nursing part. They said, its because of the US yearly quota for foreign RN's. It only took me 3 months to wait, I was able to fly-in to US via Chicago. There I met 55 nurses who where recruited by my past recruiter and we were given jobs as aides or CENA's to start with in different nursing homes in the outskirts/suburb of Chicago.
We were given full-time hours and forced overtime by the nursing home I first work so that, consequently, we won't be able to review and be prepared for our NCLEX exam, state board exam for nursing; and we'll surely flank and be there forever CENA and at there mercy. We're only given six months to find a petitioner that can petition us in a full time capacity RN. The administrator of that nursing home is also a filipino, so he feeds into the character of each filipinos- "hiya" and "utang na loob". Subservient, never question people of authority. So, we can't really say no if they call us to work last-minute.
I really struggled, never been in an apartment with 6 people in it, with different characters and attitudes. Noisy, messy and its very hard to concentrate on my review, plus the constant reminder from back home to send some money. To add a monkey-wrench into the fray, I got sick with chicken pox a week before I took the exam. I contracted it from one of my patient. I do believe in twist of fate. Despite high fever and chills, and constant itchiness all over my body and face, I was able to study and prepare for my NCLEX exam. I was left alone in the apartment, forced to stay at home because chicken pox is a communicable disease.
Exam day comes, we took the computer exam for RN's in downtown Chicago, hitching rides with friends. I was so dead scared and very nervous because at the hindsight, if I fail, i will be struggling to find full time petitioner within the six months time frame. I'm a very goal-oriented person, it's hard for me to accept defeat and setbacks so easily. When I took the exam, together with other filipino nurses I worked with, I was one of the last person to come out of the exam room, you can just imagine how I feel. The computer exam has a total of 265 questions. A minimum of 77 questions, the computer will shut down and it also shuts down when an examinee reaches question #265. Most of my co-workers came out at 75 and 125. I was already resign to the idea that I failed and I better start preparing for the next asap. Guess what, luck was in my side, I passed!! all 55 nurses but one failed, I really empathised her.
To cut my long story short, I end up working in Michigan. My relatives took me in, give me shelter, and make me a part of there family when I ran out of money and nowhere else to go. It was really difficult to find a full time petitioner then in Chicago. I personally work on my own immigration papers, just securing the service of an immigration lawyer from NY, only for guidance and his signature. When I finally become an immigrant, my mom ask me in her own nice little way, if I could petition her. At that time, I wasn't sure where I really wanna settle in, I just feel like I just found my new freedom and I wanna explore the world with my new hard-earned status. I turn her down in a nice way and promised her when I become a US resident, then and only then I will petition her, it's much faster. As the years pass, I finally was sworn-in as a US citizen. My mom was surprised when I ask her if she wants to migrate. Now, it's her turn to say no. According to her, it'll entail yearly travel to and fro to the US plus she can't stand the cold wintry months in Michigan. So I didn't press the issue any further. Now, reality check, I'm sad to inform you she's dying with breast cancer, stage 4 that has spread to her lower spine. I'm so shell shock when I find out how much it entails for the entire chemo and radiation therapy for one year, there in the Philippines. Especially, when money comes out of pocket and no health insurance and much worst, I'm the only child. Had I petitioned her long time ago, it could have been easier to do her chemo over here, much more to deal with death and dying. She could have experience the state of the art medicines here. Deep inside me, I failed her, I promise to give her the comfort she could imagine, it's too late. So, my advise to you dear wannabes, follow your instinct, don't put off decisions later or you'll suffer the consequences.
To cut my long story short, I end up working in Michigan. My relatives took me in, give me shelter, and make me a part of there family when I ran out of money and nowhere else to go. It was really difficult to find a full time petitioner then in Chicago. I personally work on my own immigration papers, just securing the service of an immigration lawyer from NY, only for guidance and his signature. When I finally become an immigrant, my mom ask me in her own nice little way, if I could petition her. At that time, I wasn't sure where I really wanna settle in, I just feel like I just found my new freedom and I wanna explore the world with my new hard-earned status. I turn her down in a nice way and promised her when I become a US resident, then and only then I will petition her, it's much faster. As the years pass, I finally was sworn-in as a US citizen. My mom was surprised when I ask her if she wants to migrate. Now, it's her turn to say no. According to her, it'll entail yearly travel to and fro to the US plus she can't stand the cold wintry months in Michigan. So I didn't press the issue any further. Now, reality check, I'm sad to inform you she's dying with breast cancer, stage 4 that has spread to her lower spine. I'm so shell shock when I find out how much it entails for the entire chemo and radiation therapy for one year, there in the Philippines. Especially, when money comes out of pocket and no health insurance and much worst, I'm the only child. Had I petitioned her long time ago, it could have been easier to do her chemo over here, much more to deal with death and dying. She could have experience the state of the art medicines here. Deep inside me, I failed her, I promise to give her the comfort she could imagine, it's too late. So, my advise to you dear wannabes, follow your instinct, don't put off decisions later or you'll suffer the consequences.
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