When I grow up...

In high school, individuals are asked to think about their future and make huge decisions at such a young age. Where will you go to college, if you decide to go that route, what will your major be, what job are you hoping to acquire after college, what does the future look like to you and what goals are you wanting to achieve? Of course seven years ago I did not see my life where it is now. I decided I wanted to go into the fashion industry, probably in marketing, hopefully be working for my Bloomingdale as a buyer, or something very lavish where I live and breathe all things fashionable. Once in college and coming up on the time to declare my major I realized I needed to focus, think realistically, and really think about what my short and long term goals were. I've always enjoyed helping people, working with children, and obviously fashion. I decided to study early childhood education because I realized I could help students learn, possibly be the only positive role model in their lives, and hopefully help change their mind about school and learning-so many children have learned to dislike school and learning and I even became one of these students at a young age, why not change this?
During my last two years of college I had the opportunity to work with some of the most amazing teachers Coweta County had to offer and learned so much from each of them. The last year I was able to stay with the same teacher the entire school year and considered her my mentor. She was a veteran teacher and I knew I would learn so much more from her, even more than I already had learned. After college I wasn't able to have a job lined up due to the uncertainty of where I would be living while my future husband was deployed. I decided to substitute while he was deployed and then moved to North Carolina, where I was hired on with DODEA as a substitute in dependent schools. I worked with special needs often and was working with Pre-kindergarten through second grade students. I absolutely loved working with the special needs children to the point they became my "babies". I became sick a week before the school`s spring break and was hospitalized for almost the entire week of spring break. I wasn't well enough to finish the school year with substituting but was still on the list for the next year. When discussing work with my doctor she informed me that I could go back to work, which I was afraid my new found illness would hinder me, as long as I wasn't around small children because of the auto-immune disease. WHAT? Working with small children is my job, what my degree is in, and what I love. So what now...?
Thankfully, I am well enough to start back substituting this new school year but I am considering going back to school for a career change. I have had several months and a lot of time to really think about what I want to be "when I grow up" and  how my goals, short and long term, have drastically altered. But what exactly can I do that still allows me to help people and not expose myself to the germs the young children can give me? Then I remembered how frustrated I got during each diagnosis because no matter what dietician I met with, I left feeling as confused as I was before the appointment and still didn't know what I could and couldn't eat. So this is one option, I can help patients like me come up with a healthy new diet hopefully allow these patients the confidence that I lacked with eating. Another option I considered was to study physical therapy. After watching my sweet husband deal with all of his war related health issues and having to visit physical therapist for months at a time I realized they help people restore their body to the condition it was before, or as close as they could at least. Many of these options I consider would take an extended amount of school again but I am willing to do what it takes to accomplish a new goal that is safe for me to live in everyday.
Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated for this as well. :)