Registered nurse Dolly Colby shares unconventional path from near-death experience to travel nursing

Dolly Colby, RN, BSN, was featured on Close Up Radio after recounting a career shaped by a cardiac arrest during childbirth, decades in labor and delivery, and later work in weight loss medicine and hormone therapy. The interview highlights her move into travel nursing and the lessons she says newer nurses can take from a nontraditional career path.

Why it matters: - Colby’s story shows how a single medical crisis can reshape a health care career and patient care philosophy. - Her path spans labor and delivery, medical weight loss, hormone therapy and travel nursing, giving her experience across several parts of the nursing field. - Her comments also touch on women’s health, menopause care, fertility, body image and access to treatment.

What happened: - Close Up Radio featured Dolly Colby, RN, BSN, in an interview with Jim Masters on Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern. - Colby said she nearly died while giving birth to her first child when her heart stopped and she hemorrhaged on the operating table. - Colby said she had an out-of-body experience during the emergency and chose to return and raise her son. - After recovering, Colby moved from accounting into nursing school. - She later spent nearly two decades in labor and delivery. - Colby is now semi-retired and working as a travel nurse.

The details: - Colby said she spent weeks in intensive care after the childbirth emergency. - Colby said she underwent dialysis and was told she might never walk again. - Nurses who had delivered her baby cared for him on their own time while Colby recovered. - Colby said that experience pushed her toward nursing. - In labor and delivery, Colby says she delivered thousands of babies and trained newer nurses. - About 18 years into that career, Colby moved into weight loss medicine and medical aesthetics. - Colby said she helped patients access compounded GLP-1 medications when they were less available. - Colby said she tested the medication herself before recommending it and lost 30 pounds. - She later trained in bio-identical hormone therapy, or HRT, using hormone pellets for men and women with symptoms of low testosterone and menopause. - Colby said men with low libido told her the treatment helped save their marriages. - Colby said women with vaginal dryness and low desire reported feeling like themselves again. - Colby described one patient in her 80s who was dating again in a retirement community and asked for help with low libido. - Colby said her own menopause experience left her with few options and led her to get certified in HRT. - Colby eventually returned to full-time hospital nursing because a shift schedule made it hard to maintain outside clinical work. - She completed a master’s degree in biochemistry at Stanford University while working as a nurse. - Colby said the degree changed how she explains medicine to patients, including using neurotransmitters as keys and cell receptors as locks. - Her current travel nursing assignments run seven to 13 weeks at hospitals outside her home region. - Colby said she is preparing to start an assignment in a rural community this month. - Colby said a recent colonoscopy led to two job interviews after clinic staff asked to hire her. - Colby keeps a vegetable and rose garden, which she describes as grounding and therapeutic.

Between the lines: - Colby’s career reflects a shift from acute care to more personalized, specialty-driven nursing roles. - Her comments suggest that hands-on care and patient trust remain central across very different clinical settings. - Her focus on flexibility and open-mindedness signals a broader critique of rigid health care training and career paths.

What's next: - Colby plans to continue travel nursing, including an upcoming rural assignment. - She continues to advise newer nurses to ask questions, think critically and stay open to unexpected opportunities. - More information about Colby is available through her LinkedIn profile and the company’s profile page.

The bottom line: - Colby’s journey runs from a near-death childbirth experience to a long nursing career built around adaptability, patient connection and reinvention.