~Thankful Thursday~

I'm a little late, but I'm posting my Thankful Thursday any way, because I want to. I really like Thankful Thursday posts, and they way they make me think about what I'm thankful for even more than I normally would.
This Thursday, I am thankful for my job.
For a very long time, I've known that I wanted to work in the medical field. When I had children and started taking them to the pediatrician (all the freakin' time, it seemed like!), my interest really intensified. I was always floored when my friends told me their kids were sick but they couldn't remember the medications they were on or even the name of the diagnosis. I soaked in all of that like a sponge. After a while, when the kiddos got sick, I could diagnosis them and predict what meds they'd be given with amazing accuracy. If I had a prescription pad, I could've skipped the ped visits altogether! (I kid, I kid)
I myself have spent some time in the hospital; appendicitis when I was 9, major leg surgery when I was 11 after running into a glass door, and severe pneumonia when I was 13. Then, I had 3 c-sections. I've done my hospital and doctor time!
Then I had kids. My girls have always been pretty healthy, other than the normal kid stuff. But that son of mine! Tubes in his ears twice, tonsils & adenoids removed, and he banged himself up hard enough 3 times to warrant ER visits and staples or glue. And then, his Chiari decompression surgery.
Naturally, at this point, hospitals are like a second home to me.
So, at last, in October of 2006, I got a job at the biggest hospital in our town. It's a very well-known hospital and people travel from all over the place to come here. I love working here. I love saying I work here. I love almost everything about it.
I love working nights. I love the majority of my co-workers. I love what I do, and what I help others do.
And the benefits are great. The health insurance is enabling me to get my gastric bypass surgery. I can't say enough about how thankful I am to have that. Many policies exclude this surgery or make it VERY hard to get aproved. Not mine.
We get prescription discounts and they will payroll-deduct your meds. We get silly things like theme park discounts, and they payroll-deduct that, too. I love me some payroll deduction! I swear one day, I'll have no paycheck at all because I'll have already spent it. Woops!
Being here today for all of my pre-op stuff, I LOVED the feeling that I belong here. I'm 'one of them'. I'm not an outsider. And when I'm here post-op, I'll get a private room, and VIP treatment. Woot! Some of the fees and co-pays are waived, as well.
And one more thing.........they will send me to college and pay for everything, as long as it's a medical field. So hopefully, after I recover from surgery, I will be enrolling in school. I have some prerequisites to get out of the way, and then I'll start nursing school. During that time, I will work only 20 hours per week, but I will get paid for 40 hours a week. Just one more benefit of the job.
I love my job.