Originally Posted by neonatal3
Hello all,
It is oh so helpful read that some of you have also experienced medical problems and have been forced to retire from nursing earlier than you had planned! Good deal that many of us are able to get past feelings of bitterness about forced retirement and are able to move on to focus on positive ways to spend our retirement time!
Like some of you I retired early (57) and live on disability (SSD). Unlike most of you my boss woke up one morning and decided she no longer loved me so she suspended me and gave the chief of hospital security several months to develop a pack of lies about me. After over seventeen years faithful employment at the largest private employer in the city, he spent several months painting a picture of me as a dangerous psychopath. It took me six months to realize that in an "at will" state my boss could "retire" me at any time with no notice and no reason. I think she only gave me a "reinstatement (AKA Kangaroo Court
) hearing" was so that I could spend six months (with no income) thinking I might be allowed to resign. Those stinkers even contested my six-months unemployment, dragging it out in court for eighteen months by delays, and then failing to show up for the hearing--so I did eventually get my "money."
I tried the EEOC. the state civil rights commission and several dozen lawyers, all of whom told me that I definitely had a case, but as soon as they found out with whom they would be dealing, they refused to take it (unless, of course I could give them $10,000 cash).
Four months after my "reinstatement hearing" (at which they neglected to follow their own "disciplinary procedures" and fired me on the spot), I had to go downtown and talk to a representative from the state to answer my former employer's allegations that I should no longer keep my license. Of course I have the letter from the state capitol which speaks to how unfounded their allegations were.
The stress of having a career which I loved taken away from me and the near homelessness of NO INCOME for nearly three years exacerbated enough physical and emotional illness to render me totally disabled my doctor said so immediately and after almost three years, the judge finally said so too.
The minute we could, we abandoned our "predatory mortgaged" (not for a big screen TV, but just to keep going) house, moved nearly two thousand miles away to a small, friendly town with a beautiful climate and a much lower cost-of-living (our rent is 1/3 of our former mortgage; our utilities are 1/4 and insurances are 1/5 of what they were). In four days driving, we went from twelve degrees, with falling snow, to t-shirts, shorts, sandals and three hundred days of sunshine.
My wife, my son (36) two cats and dog have only been here two months but we loved it when we got here, and we love it more each day. My son got the first job in his life that he really likes.
I recently renewed my license in my former state and will soon convert it to this one. As soon as I do, I will volunteer at the city volunteer corps, and at the senior citizens' center (where my wife and I already joined a writers' group and are soon to take art, craft, birdwatching and conditioning classes, and I may teach beginning guitar). I will be glad to do B/P, glucose and vision screening, and dispense nursing advice, (which will always end with, "Be sure to see your physician.")
I worked in mental hospitals for five years, emergency trauma centers for twenty-two, and had NO IDEA how stressful it was until I stopped
. I also had no idea how stressful living in a dying, crowded. nasty city in a state whose terrible climate is only eclipsed by its government debt, unemployment, foreclosure, crime and out-migration WAS until I started living here
.
At least once a day, I thank God (I am often driven to tears) for my deliverance from the forced labor that constituted my last years of practice in the busiest ER in town.
Conventional wisdom says, "once you work in a large urban trauma center you can work anywhere." HA! My boss always needed me to work a shift that should have had ten RNs with only one or two others. Whenever I applied for a job elsewhere she would see to it (by "blackballing" me) that I could not leave.
I am hoping to keep up my license long enough to have "RN" on my tombstone. I know that when I stand before Saint Peter
, I will be proud of my contributions to the profession of nursing
:. Although I have already forgiven them, I doubt that old Saint Pete will not expect some explaining by those who wrecked my profession and drove me from my home.
What am I doing in retirement? I am spending a lot more time singing
in choirs, open-mikes (twice a month in a nursing home), watching birds, stars and planets, rock-hunting, playing with my pets, my musical instruments, reading, writing. socializing and making music with my new-found friends than I ever thought possible.
If anyone who reads this is curious where I now live, send me a P-Mail and if you tell me who and where you are, I may tell you--as long as you promise not to move here.
Owney
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) I have basically spent the last 30 years working to get to where I am today. Advice? Start that 401k,403b, 457 and/or IRA TODAY!!!! You won't ever have enough extra money to start one, and after a couple of paydays you won't miss the money you're putting into it. I'm serious, start it TODAY! I mean, could you spare 25 cents? 25 cents per hour times 80 hours per 2 weeks equals $520 per year. That's not enough to retire on, but it's a start. Then whenever you get a raise put most, if not all of it, into your retirement account. Put at least 80% into the stock market, more if you're under 40. If you have the temperment, consider joining the military as a reservist. I'm collecting nearly a grand every month from Uncle Sam due to my 22 years in the military and it helps. Sit down and do the math at 520 per year and 8% return on your money in the stock market. (8% is conservative) and then you'll run to start your account. Just remember, no one cares about your retirement as much as you do. As trite as it sounds, no one plans to fail, but many fail to plan. Student Nurses, yeah you 20 year olds, take this advice to heart and 37 years from now you can be writing this letter. Take care everyone. And if anyone has questions, just message me.
It's my time now. I try not to make too many plans or look too far ahead. I live in the now and try to make the most of each and every day. Ever mindful that tomorrow is promised to no-one, yet hopeful for many many tomorrows! 
