dschueler

I don't know, why ask me?? Because I am a Christian? (considering the post directed to me about marijuana).

I also believe in Hospice, and it takes a special person to do that job. I would imagine you become attached to your families and patients, and knowing they will die, its got to be hard to bare week after week, and year after year. That part of nursing is a true calling, as is LTC nursing. I really enjoy geriatric patients, and I can see myself working at certain LTC facilities like the one my grandmother is in. Its called Baptist Village in Waycross GA, and when you go there, its like going to a posh hotel, and very clean, and no urine smell, and its very bright and the nurses are soooo nice and the CNAs are just absolutely wonderful!! That is a good point you make....if someone's pain is controlled, and they are not anxious, I don't think they would want to end their life if they can go peacefully and still have all the time to spend with their families. I personally would rather live as long as I can so I can have those precious moments with my family. Sad to think about, makes me even cry to think of it. I hate seeing people suffer, its awful. I wish there was an easy way, but as long as we have death and dying and disease, dying will never be easy and pain free. I just wish there were more medications available to help with patient's pain control. I personally don't think there are enough good ones out there, control the pain without making the person a complete mess. Hard call. Great post, makes you wonder, thanks for that....it brought yet another facet to the multi faceted post. Deb

Thanks so much Noel, me too!!!!!!!! I soooo badly wanted to not stay back a class, but so what, right? Its just 4 months, and that will mean a lot to me. I just wanted to be done in time to start the RN program with them as well. I was doing well too just for the first day, medical terminology, and that was awesome easy!! Blessings to you, and thanks again for the well wishes Deb

THANKS for your thoughts and response!! :) I have just felt awful the past 2 days, so I know it was the right decision to just hold back until the next class in October. That makes more sense to get this bile duct straightened out so I can concentrate and study and pass. :) Maybe I will take a few online classes for my pre-reqs that I have ignored for the past few years, algebra!! YUCK and Micro, so I can have those out of the way to do the LVN to BSN thing with Indiana State. Does anyone on here do the Indiana State thing? Just curious how it is going with them :) Thanks again!! I will get it done, just will take a few months longer, oh well :) Deb

LET ME TELL YOU........I was told the same thing my old mean MIL, and I dropped out once, due to guilt, and then we moved 2 other times from my RN program and another LPN program....so here I am 14 years later and trying to get through LPN school again!! I am dealing with medical issues right now, so I had to postpone to start with the next class in October, and I regret not doing it ever since. I would have been more help to my kids and it was only 1 year. She won't remember this time in her life, and if you wait, there will NEVER be a good time. Don't you let your sister or anyone sabbotage your efforts and kill your dreams. You have to live YOUR life, not your sister. You can love her, but you don't have to like her, and its time to tell her to stay out of your life, and you love her for her concern, but if she is going to keep on you about this, you will not talk to her about it anymore. She sounds jealous and you are doing something to better yourself and your daughter. You be the role model for your daughter. In a few years, you might want to go get your RN part time, and that would be something great for your daughter to see. I find kids respect how their parents are, not by what they do or buy them. Don't be guilted into quitting, and I am really begging you of this as I don't want anyone to do what I did.....if you quit, you may never get the gumption to go back again. Life has a way of getting in the way of living, so you may never get the chance again. Just tell her you love her, and you have prayed about it, and this is the time in your life for this, and thank her for her concern, and that is all I would say. Please don't quit, and I will pray for you :) Keep us posted!! I hope I didn't offend you, but I just hate to see you quit and you sound sooo good. We need nice nurses like you out there!! :) Deb PS.....After reading other posts.....my hubby is a pilot, retired from the Air Force. I don't have to work or do anything. He works for Boeing in Long Beach now, and is gone a lot flying. My 2 kids are in college, and mama is home all the time, no friends, nothing to do. Well, now I am sick, but not for long. SO....I need to do this for me. I wish to God I had done this way back when, and I would be an RN now, and would be able to work PRN when I wanted to. We all need to have a purpose, and if something were to ever happen to my husband, health wise, I would have something to fall back on. I don't like some people "planning for divorce" that almost sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy and that is not something I want to plan for....and while I know reality is 50/50, I am not blind to it, just not going to put that prophecy out there to become fulfilled. After 20 1/2 years, I sometimes wish I could throw him off the balcony, haha, but I am so grateful I have a supportive hubby. I need to do this for me. If you are going to be a stay at home mom who won't be happy deep down inside, your child will pick that up. Don't ever make her feel she was the cause of you staying home...no regrets!! YOU GO FOR IT GIRL!!! I AM PROUD OF YOU if no one else is, but sounds like your hubby and I will speak for your daughter, and say that she is proud of her mommy!!! Don't quit!!! Get your LPN, then you can do your RN part time and one day you will have something very good to be proud of!!! :) Love ya Sweetie!!! next year at this time you will have a cutie pie daughter who is still young, but will have her nurse mommy who will be happy!!! Then when she goes to school, she will be well rounded, and you can work while she is in school!!

UPDATE... I wanted to say thanks to all of you had prayed and asked about my mom. She had her Femoral Arterial bypass yesterday in her left leg, and did wonderful! She was in ICU for less than 24 hrs, and other than her back really hurting her from having to lay flat for 2 days, she is really doing well. She is going to go home on Friday, and my son who is 21 is flying home to take care of her He is getting his BSN. I am still having major problems with my clogged Bile Duct, and have been in tons of pain for the past 2 days, and I am on Actigall, its not working ( gallbladder out in 94) so I am trying to avoid having a PTC done, because I would have to wear that like a drain for 4 weeks!!! Then they are talking about doing another ERCP, except I have to have it done laproscopically because of the gastric bypass, no E tubes. So, then if the ERCP doesn't work again due to the scar tissue, they are talking about just sewing my bile duct directly to my duodenum, however, the doc wants me to see a liver specialist at UCLA before we jump into surgery again. So, I had to postpone nursing school to start with the next class in October. I hated doing it, but better to do that now, then to have to drop out and hang back until October, when someone else can have my spot....I would have felt bad if someone couldn't get in because they are full, and now that will allow someone else my spot. They are holding my spot for October, and hopefully I can get all my stuff taken care of. I know its the right thing to do right now. I just have been sooo sick the past few days, nauseated, RUQ pain. I did go yesterday to my first class, and did wonderfully. I loved my instructor and she said I would do great, so I am not worried about the material....just getting well enough so I can go and be a part of it so I can graduate! Thanks for allowing me to share here, it was easier than emailing many separate emails :) Deb.

Oh, Sorry, I am sorry for the mulitple posts, but I wanted to say thanks to all of you had prayed and asked about my mom. She had her Femoral Arteriol bypass yesterday in her left leg, and did wonderful! She was in ICU for less than 24 hrs, and other than her back really hurting her from having to lay flat for 2 days, she is really doing well. She is going to go home on Friday, and my son who is 21 is flying home to take care of her He is getting his BSN. I am still having major problems with my clogged Bile Duct, and have been in tons of pain for the past 2 days, and I am on Actigall, its not working ( gallbladder out in 94) so I am trying to avoid having a PTC done, because I would have to wear that like a drain for 4 weeks!!! Then they are talking about doing another ERCP, except I have to have it done laproscopically because of the gastric bypass, no E tubes. So, then if the ERCP doesn't work again due to the scar tissue, they are talking about just sewing my bile duct directly to my duodenum, however, the doc wants me to see a liver specialist at UCLA before we jump into surgery again. So, I had to postpone nursing school to start with the next class in October. I hated doing it, but better to do that now, then to have to drop out and hang back until October, when someone else can have my spot....I would have felt bad if someone couldn't get in because they are full, and now that will allow someone else my spot. They are holding my spot for October, and hopefully I can get all my stuff taken care of. Thanks for allowing me to share here, it was easier than emailing many separate emails :) Deb.

Tazzi....off topic, but I am wondering if you are someone that I saw on TV before?? Have you cared for a famous person?? I keep thinking because of your name, you are someone else?? I am trying not to say the name I think you are. If not, its a good chuckle! :) Deb

Tweety, I don't accuse you of anything :) I have really, really truthfully enjoyed reading all sides to this. I envision all of us sitting around a nice fire, and having a cup of coffee and having an honest, hard look at a very difficult topic. I really, really appreciate all sides, and I want all to read all sides. I really hope I haven't been offensive to anyone, and one of the great things about this is we can talk honestly, and openly....perhaps because we are able to not be divulged of ourselves, and this has really helped me to see and understand more if I am ever faced with something that I personally don't approve of....I still have to do my job, and I would have something to look back on, and can take or gleen from that so I can use it in the future. I hope that something I have said might be a catalyst for someone else in a position that perhaps isn't their own "way or belief" but maybe it will give them something to say to someone in that position. One of the best nurses I have ever had (I unfortunately have been a patient more than I care to say) I was brought in an ambulance with what we thought was an intestinal blockage....can you say MAJOR PAIN?? I asked my nurse if she was a Christian, and she didn't say no, but what she said was, "I will help you pray if you like, but I don't pray often, and I think I can uphold your belief in God". I told her I only asked, because the pain level I was in, was causing me to pray out loud in tongues...my belief, and I didn't want to freak her out. She held my hand and prayed with me, and later she said she wasn't a Christian, but had really felt something and learned something from me. I told her (no pain meds were allowed until they diagnosed the kidney stone...I felt I was delivering a baby...however, no time between contractions if you get my drift) she was absolutely wonderful and she was the best nurse I ever had....she was more than tolerant, she cared deeply for me, and respected my belief. I love that woman to this day, and if I left her with a tiny seed of faith she can use later for someone else, then God did that, not me. We both respected each other's position and she said she had never been asked by a patient if they offended her and she said "you are what I want Christians to be like, and are not". That hit me like a ton of bricks. No wonder people have bad impressions of Christians that are abusive, arrogant and uncaring. So, that is why I love reading all posts Much love, and I hope to be like that nurse!! She is why I wanted to finish my RN :) Deb

I actually agree with partly what you said about one MD should not have all the say so. My dad actually told me something today that I never knew. When my grandmother had a massive stroke due to the neglect of her cardiologist (no pre op tests were run before her pacemaker was put in) in the end it did bring good that the surgeon said he would never the rest of his career take a doctor's word that the patient was good for surgery....he would order his own damn tests and would make sure the patient was ready for surgery, and admitted that "we as good killed this woman". No other doctor would respond to her room when she stroked out in front of us. She obviously threw the clot on the table and they sent her up to the room with nothing, and I noticed she was gagging and was unresponsive. ANYWAY....my dad said on the death certificate (she was moved to a LTC because my mom could not care for her, and she refused all nourishment, and my mom wanted her on IVs for comfort, but it didn't matter, she died 9 days later)....the cardiologist idiot who did not pre op tests or pre medicate her prior to surgery, listed the cause of death as "family instigated non nourishment against doctor's orders"....my dad said he hid it from my mom all these years as my mom always blamed herself, and what the doctor wrote was an utter lie, as she was the one who would not put any IVs in and my parents requested it....she lied on the death certificate. My dad said he had never hit a woman, but came close that day when he ran into the cardiologist in the hallway, and believe me, between my dad and other people who knew the story and its a small town....her practice suffered. The surgeon who was a family friend even turned in the doctor. In the case of PAS....no, I don't agree, but if a patient is a vegetable, and has no brain waves, comatose beyond hope....I do not advocate leaving someone hooked up to machines such as a vent or other machines....if the patient is alive and only has an IV....and is able to live that way, that is fine until the their life expires naturally....and I know that is sometimes debatable about what is natural, but I think the basic fluid for the administration of medications for comfort levels....which can hasten death, that is emminant anyway...to me that is not PAS, or suicide...which is different. I totally agree with medications to keep a patient in the end stages as comfortable as possible, because to me, that is being humane....give them the morphine to lessen the pain. They are going to die anyway.....and you are probably only talking hours or a couple of days, and who wants to be in that much pain indefinitely. I totally support comfort measures, and sometimes patients will die because of those measures, but nothing anyone does will bring them back anyway. As a Christian, I have no problem with that. I do not, however, support people calling up Dr. K. and asking for a cocktail because they may or may not die in the next year or so.....I don't agree with that. Its a very hard thing and is so personal and brings about so many emotions. Again, this is a very helpful thread. When I am a nurse, I hope I always can do what I think is the right thing for my patient within the law, and that I never have a patient that would say I caused them pain or even prolonged a painful end....I think we all agree with that. I hope I can be a healing and comfort hand to my patients, and I do wear my heart on my sleeve, so if anything, I hope to be a caring heart, and can be someone my patient can lean on, and cry with, and hold their hands when others won't. I very much respect a person's rights to live or die the way they want to, but I could never support PAS as I think its described. :) God Bless everyone, and may I never have to question my motives or actions, and I just pray that God will direct my path :) :) Deb

Well, my clogged bile duct is starting to hurt again, and I was afraid of this, so I decided to postpone and hold back to the next class starting in October, that way if I have to have surgery again, it will give me a few months to get well, and heal up. It really pained me to do this, but my doctor had asked me to wait, but I just didn't want to admit I should not start now, but when I woke up this morning, so nauseated I could barely lift my head off the pillow, so I called the director this morning, and I told my instructor yesterday and the DON what had been going on with me, and that it had taken me months to get to the point where I finally was getting into the doctors now. I had gastric bypass 19 months ago, and plastics last December, and also a lap assisted ERCP last October, where they did a sphincterotomy since I did not have a gallbladder since 94. My body is making bile stones...and they are getting lodged in my sphincter, as well as the scar tissue we think which has clogged it again. I feel really good somedays, and somedays I have lots of pain. All I could think about today was, I could tough it out all year, feeling sick, and when I graduate, I will have (to myself known) that I would have really done twice as much "work" having to deal with the illness on top of school, so it was stupid of me to try to push it now, but no worries. The DON and director of the college both said to just get well, and no worries, I can start with the next class in October, and I will.....better be, healed and feeling 100% then. :) Don't be scared....I had a blast yesterday, except because I had been in RN school before and used to be a lab tech in Microbiology and worked in both PACU and the Lab for 3 years back in the 90's, we were doing all medical terminology this week, and I was the only one who knew all the answers...so I was bored to tears yesterday. There was one other guy who was an EMT, who also knew a lot, so I was really glad I had all my background experience. I know I could have taken all the tests and done well even if I missed the classes, but you cannot legally pass and miss classes even if you got 100's on everything. SO, I also did not want to seem arrogant or want people to think me a "know it all" so I made sure not to answer all the questions yesterday unless no one answered, and the teacher kept asking for someone to answer, then I did. I am sooo upset I can't do it now I really wish I could, I just know I won't feel well enough, and the director told me not to even think about it, my spot is safe, and my tuition will stay the same since I already paid, and for me just not to even worry. I just get so mad that I had been telling them since last February that I was feeling bad again, and it took this long to get all my tests re-done and appointments with specialists....good grief. I know its the best thing to do, but it doesn't make it any easier to have to hang back. Oh well, if I did it part time, that is 2 years, and by holding back, it still will be quicker doing that, than a part time class. So, I wait an additional 3-4 months, who cares, right? It will still happen, and in the mean time, I can study like crazy and get ahead even more. Take care, and much love....you will be fine!! Lots of studying, and time consuming, but you can do it!! Just be glad you are not sick like I am, and can do it now, and it will be fun. You will love it!! Best wishes, and my thoughts and prayers are with all of you on your first day/weeks. :) Love, Deb

Funny this was the topic on my email when I just got home from my 1st day of nursing school, LVN, in Orange County. The RN, BSN, CNOR, said today that hardly any LVNs are being hired in hospitals anymore, and to just use this to go for our RN, and they are actually going to teach us beyond what the textbooks/state require, they are going to teach us BSN level care plans, because the majority of people go for their RNs anyway. She made the hiring options sound so dismal. I just want to finish. One girl in my class had all her pre-reqs for over a year, and was told the wait list for her BSN would be another year or two easy....so go get your LVN, then transfer over for your BSN so she could get right into the program, as LVNs can bypass regular students. Anyway, I am praying I can just get right into my RN program when I am done with my LVN. At least my old nursing school experience paid off today, I knew all the answers and thank God, it was all review for me. Thanks for this thread. If nurses are soooo understaffed, and needed so badly, why won't they use us? They will hire MAs and treat them better it seems than LVNs, which is a Nurse, right? A Medical Asst is not a nurse, so why are they looked at better than LVNs in some instances? I am confused...anyone else? Can anyone shed light on this predicament? Thanks, and have a great day! Deb

Well, let me be one to tell you that I am proud of you no matter what!!! I will be there next summer, and I will say to people if they say that to me, "No, I am an licensed practical nurse...they do much more with patients than RNs, and if and when I decide to get my RN, I will be sure to let you know, as nursing school was very difficult and I am happy where I am now". Or, "what makes you think LPNs are not real nurses? They had to go through just as much school, just not as many years". I admit it irkes me to hear people put down what "we" not me yet, do. Best wishes to you, and remember where your selfworth :) God Bless!!! You are to be congratulated!!! Deb

I just heard something on tv from a pastor, and he said "we get into trouble when we take matters into our own hands.....like when Adam and Eve chose to doubt God's word and followed their own path. Like also Abraham took matters into his own hands when he doubted about having a son, took matters into his own hands and has made consequences that have carried generations over, looking to the middle east today, and then Jacob who doubted God's word and took matters into his own hands about his birthright, and had to resort to stealing it. Throughout history sin comes when man chooses by free will to doubt God's Word, and started when Lucifer wanted to be like God, and to put himself above God, and God threw him out of heaven, which was his favorite angel, and he took 1/3 of the angels with him, who are now the demons." Just thought I would share since it really did pertain to what I had stated earlier. I just thought he said it very well, so I wanted to copy it as I heard it. See how God allows us to hear a message when He wants to tell us something? It makes me notice He cares enough about this thread to respond Himself :) Hebrews 4:15, 16 "For we have not aan high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." God hears the pleas of his people and responds, and does not sit up in heaven on a throne while His children are suffering, He suffers with us and grants us grace and mercy for the situations we face, He is with us :)"

she wanted the docs to make the decision..anybody but herself. i told her the decision was already made..that he'd made it when he chose to be a dnr. she was only respecting his wishes. we started a morphine gtt, made him comfortable, gave her support, and waited for the end. a peaceful end. and yes, i knew the morphine would hasten the end, but it was the humane thing to do. my prayer is that my wishes are respected at the end, and that somebody has the humanity to make it as peaceful as possible...even if doing so speeds up the process. personally, i don't consider that suicide, assisted or otherwise. i consider it not interferring with god's plan. me either, i don't consider that suicide or pas, it was making the patient comfortable....and if god chose to intervene and awaken him and heal him, then that was god's choice.....he doesn't want us to suffer as much as we don't want to suffer. we are allowed free will!! :) had the doctor come in and said, we need to terminate him now....in the next 2 minutes, and did measures that would make that happen...to me that would have been pas...what you did was comfort measures and it happened as it would happen....1 hr, 4 hrs or 3 days.....god's hands, not ours :) i hope people can see the difference....what you did was exactly what i would have done, and what we did do for my grandfather :) deb