My disablities make me a better nurse!

[ProudofmyNursingart]

I ALWAYS put a positive speal on my disablilities or I could never get by.

I know what it's like on both sides of the bed. So that makes me an incredibly caring and empathetic nurse. And a fantastic Team Mate.

Treating my patients like I EXPECT to be treated myself.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

I am on my very last module for school and gradute very, very soon, but I have just finished a placement ( all of the good stuff is happening at the end of school as hospital admissions have thrown the schedule to the wind.) and I finally revealed to my Facilitator what my actual disbalilties were. At the end of almost 3 years!

She was blown away but asked me how I expected to "be a nurse" with this issues? I told her that although these things are considered 'disabilites' I see disabilities as something that impedes someones life, ability to function and happiness. These 'disablities' although do have their downfalls, I consider them to be 'abilities' because they give and teach me so much.

They had always known I had disabilities ( I will keep on calling that for now) but I never told them what they were.

My facititator took her hat off to me and organised a very smooth placement. And as it was Aged Care, something I have been doing for 22 years, I sailed through it with top marks.

What else did I expect?!

But my facititator was rather concerned at one point when she relised I had put off a very important hospital admission to complete my placement in the time frame.

So what is these disablities????

I have an Achalasia type condition. I will save you looking it up as I am always asked how you spell it? And what it is?

It's inco-ordination of the oesphageal peristelic contractions and lower ESP Oespageal Sphincter Pressure.

In other words, as I don't have the 'true' form of Achalasia, my oesphagus dosn't move things along at all. I have lost my gag reflex. EVERYTHING get's stuck in the oesphagus. Food and fluids don't automatically enter my stomach. Instead they can sit in the oesphagus for days and ferment. Lovely! So I 'manually' move them in myself. I have lost my ability to vomit at all. It dosn't mean I never get sick. In fact the opposite. My stomach won't open to expel the vomit so my body goes through the motions but nothing can come out. It hurts a lot and I usually bleed after attempting to vomit. As my stomach get's heaved up into my diapragm and my oesphagus tenses. A LOT of things now make me 'vomit'. My last bout of gasto caused me to be hospitalised for 5 weeks. And my stomach is now failing to digest. Taking over 12 hours to finish doing it's job on a light meal.

I have had 2 PEG tubes and they are trying to convince me again to have another one. But while food will still go down, no matter how difficult, it's not going in that way.

I have lost 55kg's or 110 pounds and have to eat high fat and high calorie foods to try at keep my weight on. I am not always successful. And my cholesterol is perfect.

I also have a Neurostimulation Implant. It's an electrical implant placed along the spinal cord that delivers direct, small electrical signals across the spinal cord to block pain. And you feel this pleasant tingling sensation.

I have this implanted as the Achalasia causes SEVERE cardio spasm that just rips through my chest, back, arm and jaw 24/7.

Every 2.5 months I enter hospital for a 3 days stay to have my oesphagus stretched so I can eat a bit more normally. This is the admission I put off.

But I never let all this get me down and always turn the negatives (and there are a lot) into positives.

Like:

I can eat whatever I want and never get fat.

And I can lay in bed for 3 days watching TV without the kids, being treated like a Queen.

So if you have a disablity, don't let it get you down. Use it to your advantage.

I have and it has given me such an edge.

I am darn proud to be me and be the best darn 'disabled' nurse there is.

[herecomestrouble]

That's the kind of positive attitude that gets us through our problems,all of us nurses(and non-nurses) who just keep going with all our troubles and "different abilities".I too feel that having been a pt for so long-6 months at one stretch-makes me a better nurse.I have more understanding of what it's like to be sick and have to depend on others to take of me.And I realize how sometimes it's the little things that count the most.Somebody taking the time to stop and talk with you in the middle of the night when you can't sleep,being treated like a real person instead of just another disease or problem.