Cookielea RN

I certainly wish you the best in your struggles. I also think that part of the problem is what I call the new "alphabet soup game" in Nursing. I think it is a great disservice to the profession that more emphasis is placed on the letters after the name, than the experience. I know that my nursing school was one that crammed 4 years of nursing skills into 2. Many of my classmates, including me, already had 4 to 6 years of college. The point I am trying to make is that I see a frightening pattern here where, even if nurses organize, they will have traded a historical trend of "at the hospital admins' mercy, for now being at the mercy of "graduate level" nurses who may or may not have much real world nursing experience. I am not trying to discredit the efforts of those who seek higher levels of education. I have just learned that much of nursing is learned in the field; just as is police work, fighting fires,etc. I, unfortunately, believe that we are still many miles from "taking care of our own". I would love to hear others views on this.

Thanks so much for the support!:heartbeat I am struggling every day just to walk. I am actually more than a little scared that I am just disabled enough to not be able to continue nursing, but not disabled enough to get all the SS $$ back that I have paid into the system all these years. Recently I have begun to wish that Nursing as a profession had all the support systems that teachers, firefighters, and policeman have, as they age and develop work limitations! I do truly love working with the geriatric patients that we serve!

So glad to find this thread today! Got official dx of NIDDM in Dec 08, but probably had symptoms for a few years. Also have pretty severe osteoarthritis/necrosis in both knees. I now have work as a "Director" in an AL facility with many ICF level residents. I have been working several hours over, every week and on my feet a lot of the time. This past winter I was also diagnosed with neuropathy in my legs and feet. I am working in a lot of pain. When I do get a day off, all I want to do is sleep. Anyone out there with diabetes who can tell me if what I am experiencing is "normal" with this disease? I also have bouts of profuse sweating, not related to low BS in most instances. I know I need a good physical and am waiting for insurance to kick in in about 2 weeks. I am starting to wonder if I am going to be able to work in this capacity anymore. I am 55 years old, and been in healthcare for 28 years.:idea:I would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.