So long nursing...it's been real and I've learned alot. I'm 48 now and I started all this when I was 27. My feet are flat now...no arches from all the steps I've taken in 21 years. The disc's in my back are bulging according to the MRI I had because of my numb left leg. I loved being a nurse...I felt ten feet tall when my kids would say..."My mommy's a nurse." But you know it was all so different then. In my first job at a nursing home(they call it LTC now) I loved to sit and listen to the stories my patients told me about when they were young. Used to be the afternoon med pass was about one half hour long and I would be able to listen to them while i did my charting. But somehow through the years it all changed. The last nursing home I worked in, I was lucky to get done by the time I was supposed to go home. No time to visit, no time to show them how much you care...just give the pills, do the treatments and hope you can get done. I've done high tech pediaric home care for the last few years, but I missed the facilities. Tried going back to hospital nursing last year, what a joke. Supper? a break? Loved my patients...but it had all changed. No more time to hold a hand...comfort a lonely patient...or just listen like we used to. Not giving up...just giving in. Hope all you young ones with the hopes and ideals that we all had can change somethings. Take back the real reason we all became involved in the first place. Tell all the CEO's that caring and hope can't be bought, and profits have no place in the wonder of healing, and the touch of a nurse on a worried patients hand is something that can't be duplicated. That you need time to be able to listen and sit down when someone says,"I'm scared about tomorrow, won't you sit and talk with me awhile?" I guess I'm not strong enough...my feet hurt too much, and my back hurts every day when I get home. But the thing that hurts the most is my heart that was so excited and beating out of my chest that first day when I put on my white uniform and cap and went to work the first time with a nametag that said I was a nurse. It's a desk job for me...sort of social work. So you guys carry on...make a difference...like I tried to. Good Luck to you all...bye.
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