Wintrsday

I don't know if anyone read about it but recently here in Utah a 6 1/2 year old boy with an inoperable brain tumor, a herniated brain stem and two flat line EEG's was sent home after his parents took the hospital to court to block them from taking him off of life support. The family found a hospice care company that will take care of him at home, the judge went further in making the hospital remove the certificate of brain death from the child's chart because if they left it in the insurance would not pay for the boys care. They had pictures of this sad little boy on the news here. Horror of horrors to me he looked like the pictures the police took of my son after he died of a self inflicted gunshot. That poor little boy is dead and hopefully beyond pain but his parenst insist he is getting better. I understand how hard it is to lose a child, I am just glad that I did not have to face what this family is facing, my son was gone, but I would not have wanted to keep a child beyond help on a ventilator, the parents believe that because his heart is still beating he is alive. Melissa

I don't like working the Holidays but I know that it is part of the job, I am working a 12 on Christmas Eve night this year and have worked Christmas Eve nearly every year since becoming a nurse. Our boys have always just had to learn to wait until I came home for us to open their presents, the key has been to have them come in with their siblings or in with their Dad until I have come home, we also make them eat breakfast, I usually make muffins and hot chocolate when I get home, even my youngest children can wait, they may wake up early and come get in bed with my husband and watch TV but they learn and they wait. Older siblings serve as Santas by helping wrap presents and place them out under the tree, it has become a tradtion.

I would not be offended by someone praying for me, I would like them to pray for me, hopefully while I live not just after I have passed. I often pray on my way to work, asking that I will be able to be in tune with the patients I care for, that I will be able to meet their needs and that I will be able to show them the love they need to heal not just care for their physical needs. I would not pray out loud in front of my patients or their families because they may not believe the same way I do. If I were asked I would participate and show respect for the religious practices of my patients, I am not Catholic but helped a family facing the imminent death of their infant daughter to have her baptized. When my son died the one thing that made a terrible, horrible thing just a tiny bit easier was seeing the officer that was there to take photos crying with us. So I would be honored if someone felt my life was important enough for them to pray over me.

Thank you so very much for you words of comfort, they are very much appreciated. Melissa

I am a nurse, I have been for over 12 years, I have taken care of families experiencing the loss of their children, I have made hand and foot molds of dead infants, dressed them, bathed them and taken pictures of them for their parents, so believe me I know the stresses that a nurse faces in their job. I can have a bit of a morbid sense of humor at times too. In fact until my own child took a gun and blew his brains out I may have even made the mistake of joking about suicide attempters surviving and them not being able to get it right. I hope to God you never face the grief that comes with the loss of a child. And mourning is not a stage, it never ends, it gets different but it never ends. I didn't ask him to change his quote, I asked him to consider it, and I certainly don't think this is all about me. I am not a new poster, and I was not angry with that person at all, I thought very carefully about what I was saying because I didn't want them to think I was angry. But I admit I am angry with you. I may regret posting this because I have found that if I respond people like you, you will just keep on attacking but I just can't let it go, you touched a bit of a nerve. Guess your not one of those warm caring nurses you mentioned. Please take care. I mean that sincerely. Collin's Mom 9mm gunshot to the head

My name is Melissa and three years ago I lost a fourteen year old son to suicide, while I have gotten to the point that I can overlook comments during movies and in signature lines about chambering a round not everyone that I know who has lost a loved one to suicide can, to many it is just a cute and funny way to picture a cartoon character, for others it brings up images of a loved ones death, please consider changing your signature line. I know this has nothing to do with the question at hand and I hope you will not be offfended, but I just wanted to bring your attention to something that you may not know can be hurtful to others.

I would love to adopt but costs are extremely prohibitive, with adoptions costing up to $23,000 per child, I don't think I have seen costs for adoption lower than $18,000. Even adoptions from the foster system are difficult at best and they often put heavy restrictions on who can adopt, plus the kids available are often so damaged that they will not allow them to be adopted unless they are going to be only children.

I voted "no" that nursing educators are not specialists and let me tell you why, most of those who are hired to be nursing educators (I am talking about those who teach staff nurses in the hospital setting) have no specialized training whatsoever. The nurse on our unit who is a nursing educator got the position solely on the fact that no one else applied. The same can be said of other units in our hospital, there are no certification programs required, no special classes or training, only that they have a BSN. For the two nurses who teach clinicals for the college, no special liscensing or training were required, again only a BSN. One is a nurse I have great respect for and am very happy to have teach our next generation of nurses, she is knowledgable, caring and gives great care to our patients. The other I have very little respect for, I hate to follow as the nurse after her, she does not give good care, and she is teaching the next generation of RN's?