Nursing with a chronic illness

[Bailey99]

Hi,

I just need some advice from other nurses. I absolutely love nursing and its pretty much the only occupation I've been in. However, I was diagnosed with an rare illness about 5 years ago. I have primary sclerosing cholangitis which is a progressive disease of the bile ducts in the liver. This disease is silent in it's early stages and I have been fairly asymptomatic since diagnosis.

Lately I've been getting a few colds, had shingles, and feeling slightly run down. My latest blood tests showed my platelets are only 80 and my white cell count low at 2.9. (They have been slowly dropping the past year). In all honesty I feel well enough to work, and you can not tell by looking at me that I'm sick. But I'm starting to worry about working on the wards with a lowered immune system. I don't want to catch a nasty infection landing me in hospital or on life support. But I love my job and don't know if Im ready to give up ward nursing. Should I inform management of my blood results or keep it under wraps for now?

I've been in denial about this illness for a long time and just feeling very anxious about everything now.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Welcome to AN! This "blue side" is actually more of the non-nursing topics. You may want to head over to the nursing side, particularly the Nurses with Disabilities forum. Before discussing things with your management, you should discuss your recent health issues and continuing to work with your health care provider.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Welcome to allnurses.com

Thread moved to Nurses with Disabilities forum.

[Bailey99]

Thank you Rose queen. I'm very new to these forums so I'm sussing out how everything works.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

I would never inform management of my blood test results. Once this very private information is out you can never get that information back. You also do not want anyone to use this against you. I know it should not happen that way but the reality is that it does! Instead, start looking at some areas in nursing that will allow you to use all of your knowledge and maybe even acquire some new knowledge. You need to look at areas that will get you away from direct care. This will limit your exposure to pathogens, and hopefully decrease your stress and fatigue levels. It is time for you to face it and instead of looking at it is as a loss you need to look at it as an opportunity and a time for a new chapter in your life.

[Bailey99]

Yes, your absolutely trght iluvtiv. I think the hardest part is going to be getting out of the wards into something entirely new. I was thinking occupational health nurse, telephone triage, or even radiology nurse. Starting a new nursing job will definitely be tricky but worth it in the long run. Thanks for the advice!