judybsn's Nursing Blog

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The following are articles I have written and shared with the nursing community. If you enjoy an article please leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Forever Changed: Wisdom Gained from Mothers End of Life Journey

My mother, an extraordinarily healthy and physically fit little lady of 83, had never had any encounters with the medical system as a patient except for the delivery of her four daughters. She was gaining fluid in her abdomen and that lead us to look for a doctor for her. The diagnosis was grave- stage 4 ovarian cancer with about a 4% chance of survival. Sometimes I wish they would tell people these things so they could make an informed decision but she didn't ask and they didn't say. She... Read More →

Retirement Bliss

Retirement, is something we dream about and look forward to for many years. I'm here to say it isn't really all it's cracked up to be. In fact for me it was quite miserable and resulted in depression, as absolutely nothing could fill the huge void that absence of nursing had left. I had liked the idea of retiring early at 55, it appealed to me. I was retired for a year and a half before I went running back to nursing. I think sometimes we underestimate how much our work does for us. ... Read More →

The Operating Room

In training I spend four months in the Operating Room, that wonderful, scary, fascinating, educational place. The O.R. always evoked strong emotions for me. I loved the O.R., I hated the O.R., I was enamored by the O.R. and terrified by the O.R. all at the same time. The educational aspects of seeing the human body from the inside thrilled me to the core. The thought of not getting everything right for the surgeon caused me anxiety and gave me diarrhea before I even got to work. I... Read More →