I'm only 22 years old.

Nurses General Nursing

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My friends are finishing up college with majors like sculpture and philosophy. I just moved away from my hometown in June. I don't have a lot of close friends here besides the boyfriend I live with. I'm only 22 years old. Am I really supposed to be seeing this much suffering? To face these problems? Am I really the LEADER in the hospital experience? I'm only 22 and I think people that only have breast cancer, no mets, are the luckiest people in the world. I think that people with cancer everywhere, who are combative and try to get out of bed and don't know who they are and need to constantly be on narcotics are the norm. I am ONLY TWENTY TWO.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
omg...why do you keep saying you are only 22, especially weird is when you did it in all caps at the end. You are a grown up. Most people graduate college by 21, so what is up with your fixation on age? I'm confused.

The point she is trying to make (if I may be so bold as to speak for her momentarily) is that she has seen more at 22 than most people see in a lifetime. Most people don't see suffering and death and dying on a daily basis like onc nurses do, in the same way those of us who have never been in a war zone will never understand it. 19-year-olds who come back from Iraq (or Vietnam, or A-stan) with PTSD, unfortunately, do.

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I am way older than you, but I think I understand what you mean. I started as a naive aide and grew up fast in some ways, but much more slowly in others.

Your generation has been pampered in some ways, tossed to the wolves in others. You must have great compassion or you could not inwardly cheer when a cancer is Stage I rather than progressed. Your friends may continue their art. I hope they do. We need beauty just as much as we need nurses, or plumbers, or other professions that seem to have a practical basis.

If you think you want to continue in oncology, do so. Yes, you are 22 years old. You don't have to do this for a life time. You have to live with yourself for a life time. This may or may not be a good time to move on.

I congratulate you for having the courage to write what many think, but are not willing to say. They are scared, as are we all. No one wants cancer. You may care for me or some one like me. I hope you cheer if I come in with a Stage I, because I will need your support that it is not the end of the world. If I come in with a Stage IV, I hope you will be there for me. I will need your warm hands, your loving attitude.

In order to be there for me or the next patient that comes through your door you will need to care for yourself really well. You, more than many, must walk, eat right, laugh, enjoy others. And yes, you can enjoy your friends art work.

Best wishes with your career. Don't let others make decisions about staying or leaving for you.

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Exactly. I dealt with a lot of crap before I was 22. It made me older than my years and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. 22 is quite young.

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Thank you for everyone's beautiful words of encouragement, wisdom, and hugs. I wrote this in between several really challenging night shifts with very symptomatic patients, scared family members, too many patients and short tempered doctors. It was really overwhelming! At some point, my soul was screaming "I am only 22! I don't know!" I have been working on approaching nursing with less fear an more love but the last couple of nights it was difficult. I agree that nursing is helping me grow everyday, and I appreciate that. I have thought about trying a different specialty but I want to give it some more time, because my coworkers are fantastic and oncology does have incredibly rewarding moments. I have been trying to really embrace my off-time, staying active, doing fun stuff, reading a lot. Thank you for helping me see that other people have seen this, felt this, and lived. Several of you posted about looking into counseling resources at work, I heard you and will really think about it.

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Specializes in LTC.

Honey, I'm only 19 years old:p... and yes I'll be a nurse when I'm 20 years old. Once you are a nurse age doesn't matter. What matters is being a competent nurse while being compassionate. When I'm at clinicals pts don't care about my age or how "young I look", they just want to get better:)

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Specializes in LTC.
omg...why do you keep saying you are only 22, especially weird is when you did it in all caps at the end. You are a grown up. Most people graduate college by 21, so what is up with your fixation on age? I'm confused.

I agree ! I'm 19 years old, and will be a nurse at 20... but pts. have no idea unless I tell them, which there is no point to brag about being young.

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Honey, I'm only 19 years old:p... and yes I'll be a nurse when I'm 20 years old. Once you are a nurse age doesn't matter. What matters is being a competent nurse while being compassionate. When I'm at clinicals pts don't care about my age or how "young I look", they just want to get better:)

honey, come back and talk to us when you've worked oncology a while.

would love to hear how you're 'dealing'.

leslie

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Specializes in LTC.

I've been a CNA since I was 20 and am currently in nursing school. I've found myself in simular situations a lot of times. When you're working in healthcare you have to grow up really fast.

It's frustrating when the bulk of your age group is still slacking off and you're4 facing real world issues and tragedies. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "How can you deal with death so often?" and then I start to feel really weird about enjoying my field.

When you work in nursing it's hard to fit in with non-nursing people in your age group. There are somethings that they just don't get.

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Specializes in -.

Well I'm only fifteen. I just recently (about two years ago) got intrested into nursing. My mom is a RN, and an Administrator at a hospital and I just got intrested one day. I won't go to college for another two years in a half, which stinks because high school truly stinks. I'm actually taking a class in highschool right now called Healthcare. Its the basics of nursing. We learn things like correct procedures to putting on equipment, CPR, heart rate and pulse testing, blood pressure testing, abbreviations, and etc. This summer I get to do an internship at the hospital and I'm very excited. Your twenty two and i'm fifteen, imagine how anxious i am.

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honey, come back and talk to us when you've worked oncology a while.

would love to hear how you're 'dealing'.

leslie

Exactly. Age tends not to matter when you're young. When you get to the point of feeling extremely flattered when the bartender asks for ID ;) you start to realize that with age and experience comes wisdom. Certainly age is not the only factor in competence, but as we age and experience life, we gain perspective we did not have before.

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Specializes in Paediatric Cardic critical care.
i consider 22 yo's to be extremely young adults...

and not yet naturally equipped to be dealing with persistent trauma and death.

leslie

I find this quite offensive - a very sweeping statement to make

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I'm only 23, and nursing is starting to give me grey hair...:no:

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