I have to admit one more thing--we have a good RN program here at the local
university--two years and I would have an RN (and an Associate of Arts
degree to add to my alphabet soup!) (and a higher rate of pay).  I am
worried that doctors would then say, "Oho!  Now we have you pegged!"  and I
was honestly hoping for more respect that my observations lead me to
believe most of our RNs receive from most of our MDs.  My gamble is that
keeping them from making a generalization or stereotype about me could work
out to my benefit, power-wise.  It may be a stupid mistake on my part.  One
of my good friends, who also has an MS in Nutrition and has run the
University's Employee Wellness Program, before it got axed, decided to get
her RN this year.  But she's not thinking of it as a terminal degree by
this point.

So, despite the fact that I am overwhelmingly busy all the time already, I
am thinking of going back to school in fall of '97, to get either:
an RN
a PA
a PhD
an MD

Why?  To give our Lactation Clinic more clout, as well as myself, and to
earn enough that economics does not always mean emergency.

I do hope to regain my lost sanity before then and abandon the project
altogether, for my sake as well as my family's, so I can settle in and
enjoy a few years with my kids before they are grown.  But I know a lot of
other LC's who are going through the same agonizing temptation.

Arly Helm                                       [log in to unmask]
(MS, Nutrition & Food Sciences, CLE, IBCLC; LC for IHC)