*LA*

I totally agree hey, thanks for sharing that

I totally agree hey, thanks for sharing that

thats EXACTLY how it went ! the talking, then the pauses.... I really hadnt heard of this before (but they dont talk about this stuff in the OR) Im glad to know that there are others it was just, and thats the perfect word, "surreal" you know what though, my thinking chnaged a bit after I "saw this". its strange, isnt it

I didnt realize that others had had this happen also. it was strange though, she just seemed more lucid than she had been ina week. it was just a very bizarre epxerience. ps thanks for replying, appreciate it

I graduated from a diploma program in 1990 and the amount of clinical experience was invaluable. you can always go back and get your BSN after you graduate (which is what many of my friends have done) either way, I wish you all the best ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ps > as far as I know, you only have to take the exam once? JUST NEED TO PAY FOR ANOTHER LISCENSE WHEN MOVING TO ANOTHER STATE (osrry, didnt realize that the caps btuuon was on) dyslexics of the world untie !

thank you thank you thank you soo much Ive been visiting ( my urologist is in the same buildling so I would visit the OR, when I'd go to see him) I applied and they said they be happy to have me back, will start in May.(knees knocing here...lol) it seems the same as when I left (which is good and bad) but overall, its OK. The longer I stay out, th emore nervous I get. I figure that I will go back to what I know and then take it from there. again, thhank you, its appreciated

I dont have anything to add but this stuff is FUNNY ! now anyway ,lol

I saw this once on a chart under "social history" for a new admission "patient lives with wife but works part time in a whorehouse" (the resident was learning English. he meant "warehouse")

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ tap tap tap Is this mic on ? anyone out there ??? tap tap tap

Again, Im sorry of this doesnt fit. I am an RN but I work in the OR and Ive rarely seen death there. This is another personal experience but it relates to how the nurse dealt with "us", my father had alzheimers and my mother had been dead for almost a year when he was hospitalized with pneumonia. he was actually on the upswing after 5 days on IV antibiotics and then one day., he woke up, and smiled at me, and waved and went to sleep. his labs came in from the noight before and the doc looked startled when he read them (my dad had been doing great) he called us (me and my husband) out of the room, everything was suddenly failing. every system. he told us not to go anywhere........ well, long story short, this wonderful nurse came in and sat with us. Im sure she had other things to do but she sat with us. she asked my moms name,(nancy) and she quietly said to my dad (his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow) "go on Ed, its OK to go. Nancy is waiting for you. your daughters are fine, go on, its Ok to go now" then he peacefully took a breath and died. Im not a mushy type person, but what this woman, this nurse did, really was wonderful. I cant explain why, but it was..... I know that youre looking for stories from us, as nurses experiences but this si what Ive got

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *** this probably doesnt fit here, since its a personal experience, but I left it here anyway*** ( I can probably delete it if needed) Ok, well, here goes. m new here. I actually found this site when I was looking for "white nurses clogs". I googled that phrase and a journal from this site came up. ( Im going back to work soon, after being home for 4 yrs and am nervous about it, so while i was here, I posted in the OR section, if anyone has any tips, feel free to share them there on my thread. thanks) Anyway, here goes long story short, my mother was given 6 months (Ca). she was NOT religious woman, in fact, she sort of made fun of people who were devout. well, it had been 5 days since she was released from the hospital, to go home and etc..... she wasnt ale to walk so she was in bed. well, that day, she was very lucid and making perfect sense. I was waiting for a delivery (pain meds) from the pharmacy and worried that she would be in pain. she wasnt complaining. she was very clear headed. I was in the other room when she screamed for me to "get in here this minute". when I went into he room, she insisted that I "get rid of that man right now" (she was very angry. she went on to tell me that he refused to leave and she wouldnt have a strange man in her room. there was no one in there. she was sooo insistant and so clear headed that I actually thought that someone has maybe broken in, knowing we had strong pain meds in the house etc etc well, this went on and on all day long, and each time that I went into her room, she was having a definate conversation with someone?? she actually seemed to be listenning and would stop and them respond "no, Im not going anywhere, I dont know you and you dont tell me what to do anyway" I was actually getting scared because she seemd so insistent and coherant. Ok, so the end of the day, she tells my sister that "this man here is telling me that if I go with him, I wont be in pain anymore" ( she had metastatic breast ca). then she calls me in and say to me, "here take this, its a check for your borthday and I want you to have it" (my birthday was the next day). that week she had been given 6 months and I told her that she could give it to me herself tomorrow. So, went to bed. when we went in her room the next morning, she was gone. I am STILL trying to make sense of what went on that last day and I dont have an explanation. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this happenning before? I still dont know what to make of it. thanks LA ps I am not crazy, cross my heart

Im so sorry that I didnt see this thread. I just now wrote something that I think would fit. I'll see if I can cut/paste it and put it in here in this thread

sorry about all the typo's. I excel at them :)

Ok, well, here goes. m new here. I actually found this site when I was looking for "white nurses clogs". I googled that phrase and a journal from this site came up. ( Im going back to work soon, after being home for 4 yrs and am nervous about it, so while i was here, I posted in the OR section, if anyone has any tips, feel free to share them there on my thread. thanks) Anyway, here goes long story short, my mother was given 6 months (Ca). she was NOT religious woman, in fact, she sort of made fun of people who were devout. well, it had been 5 days since she was released from the hospital, to go home and etc..... she wasnt ale to walk so she was in bed. well, that day, she was very lucid and making perfect sense. I was waiting for a delivery (pain meds) from the pharmacy and worried that she would be in pain. she wasnt complaining. she was very clear headed. I was in the other room when she screamed for me to "get in here this minute". when I went into he room, she insisted that I "get rid of that man right now" (she was very angry. she went on to tell me that he refused to leave and she wouldnt have a strange man in her room. there was no one in there. she was sooo insistant and so clear headed that I actually thought that someone has maybe broken in, knowing we had strong pain meds in the house etc etc well, this went on and on all day long, and each time that I went into her room, she was having a definate conversation with someone?? she actually seemed to be listenning and would stop and them respond "no, Im not going anywhere, I dont know you and you dont tell me what to do anyway" I was actually getting scared because she seemd so insistent and coherant. Ok, so the end of the day, she tells my sister that "this man here is telling me that if I go with him, I wont be in pain anymore" ( she had metastatic breast ca). then she calls me in and say to me, "here take this, its a check for your borthday and I want you to have it" (my birthday was the next day). that week she had been given 6 months and I told her that she could give it to me herself tomorrow. So, went to bed. when we went in her room the next morning, she was gone. I am STILL trying to make sense of what went on that last day and I dont have an explanation. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this happenning before? I still dont know what to make of it. thanks LA ps I am not crazy, cross my heart

Thank you very very much Leslie. I appreciate it and Im very sorry about your mom. I think that it almost seems harder when youre the "nurse" of the family. I dont know, people just seem to expect more. both deaths were difficult, but for differant reasons. my mother and I had had a strained relationship, BUT the good thing about kowing that she was dying was that it gave some time to "remedy" our oil/water way of getting along. My dads death was difficult because it was unexpected. Also, I felt/feel guilty for being mad at them for being sick . I know thats not rational, but........ what was really hard with my dad was that when my mom died, he came to live with us, and for months afterwards, he would wake up and ask us if my moms had heard about her test results yet....... we had to retell him, almost every day, for the first time, that she had died. it was a very ugly few months. anyway, Im sorry to highjack the topic but I do apprecaite what you said, I really and truly do. ( I started a topic on the OR section, Im going back to work soon and am nervous, feel free to add anything , suggestions etc etc) thanks again, very much

that was a good post Leslie. Im sure that youve helped a lot of people.

HI ! you should go and read my post ( Im new, meet me, aka the chicken) In fact, I saw youre post and though, "gee, that would make a great title for MY post" ......lol Anyway, Im an OR RN and Im going back to work. Im nervous too. (been home for a few yrs and feeling ruusty etc etc) Everyone was once in your shoes. everyone of us. You can do this and you will be fine. You know more than you think and you'll adapt much sooner than you realize. You want to do this and that alone will help yoi get past your case of the nerves. Its normal to feel this way, in fact, if you didnt, Id think that something was wrong. You'll be fine. its the people who are concerned about doing their job well and learning it etc, who care, and who end up being good at it. Just try and take a deep breath and think, " I can do this, its going to be Ok" I hope this helps some Oh, and its nice to meet you, thanks for sharing this, you HELPED ME ! Im not alone ! :)

Hi Everybody. Im LA. Im an RN (since 1990) and Ive been home for about 4 years. (parents were sick, stayed hom to care for them, they died and, Ive been hme since) ANyway, I am going back to work soon, part time and I a teensy bit anxious ( Ok, a little more than teensy). See, I do want to go back to work, and I think that Ive been staying home because I got into a rut and I felt confortable at home, BUT I do, sort of miss having some thing outisde of the home ( I have a husband, kids, pets etc etc) When my parents died, I stayed home and we bought a new house and Ivee been sort of hiding out in it ( to be honest) Ive let myself become very comfortable in my routine of "stay at home mom" Ok, now I got the bug and Im going back. I made a decision to go back, I didnt want to lose what I had worked so hard to acheive , and I was afraid that if I stay home much longer, I will never go back, so see, I want to go back but have been letting the fear stop me. I wasnt a nervous person when I was younger, dont know whats gotten into me ( Im 41) I know the place where Im going back to, ( worked there yrs ago) Im just feeling a little rusty and have a case of the nervous nellies I guess . I dont think that Ive forgotten that much, but Im just nervous anyay. its a pretty nice place, typical suburban hospital ,so its not like Im walking into a totally new situation but (and I cant explain this) Im just about as nervous as can be I really want to do this, I just need to get past the nervousness Im sure I'll be fine, dont pay me any mind, Im just venting here. well, thanks for listenning (reading) ps Its nice to meet evrybody AND dont worry, I dont usually talk/write this much :)

Hi, Im new. LA here. ANyway, I really like the Dansko brand but theyre very exoensive so Ive been looking at them on EBAY. They have them brand new in the box and theyre usually usually about a third to helf off of what they are in the store. I bought a pair today in fact. They feel great and I can slip them on and off, no ties! ( I hate totie shoes and I like to be able to slip them off when I want) ps> nice to meet you

Thank you. My mother was at home, and had had one visit from the hospice nurse , before she died. My father had been at home prior to his hospital admission and died unexpectedly, after one week in the hospital. The hospice nurse was great even thought it was only one visit and it was a meet and greet type visit (since we expected my mom to last for six months) ANyway, off the top of my head.... 1) even when the family members of the patient are RN's, dont assume theyre thinking clearly ( I wasnt) and it helped to be treated like I had forgotten everything I had known. 2) TRY to be a little light hearted. everyone that comes to see the patient has this very grave mood and while Im not suggesting that the staff go into a jay leno type routine, just try and be light. these patients get enough death and dying looks and gloom and doom talk that they can use a littlecheer to change from the usual. 3) keep things in the present. with my mom, I tried to say things that staye din the present tense and focused on the positive (unless my mom felt like "talking death and plans for after etc..." ex> how did you sleep (vs how are you doing) I cant verbalize why exactly, but when people asked my mom how she was doing, she sometimes said "how do you think, Im dying, Im doing terrible", BUT if you ficused on things like " did you sleep" or "anything hurt worse today", it didnt confront her with the honest answer shed need to give. 4) with someone like an alzheimers patient, I would ask the family, to make plans for what they would do, if an unexpected ilness came up (which it often does), that way when confronted with it, they arent forced to think on the spot, which would be awful and most people (me) dont think clearly when in a stressful acute situation. Ok, probably I can come up with more later on sorry to skip around but Im going with what come soff the top of my head. Oh, one more thing, when dealing with a terminally ill patient, in a hospital, make sure EVERYONE that comes into that room introduces themselves and explains their purpose for being there. I mostly ran into this with docs ( and my mom was at a major cancer treatment center when sh was hospitalized) but I was shocked at how many people came into the room and didnt even introduced themselves (residents on rounds for example). This room is the patient home for the time being andits incredibly intrusive to not say "Hi, Im so and so and Im here for etc..." I had to point this out to many people who came into my moms room and said nothng, but just stood there ready to take notes, as if she was non hearing, non seeing entity. ( its almost funny to observe, we used to make fun of them) ps> sorry to babble but I hope this helps some I'l be back (if I havnt put you to sleep yet,lol)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I wouldn't let a nurse recruiter determine your future. You know who you really are inside not her. Job shadowing is a great idea. Who has the time to mess around doing things you really don't want to do." I SECOND THIS !!! Hi there Im new here. Im an OR nurse and found this site by accident. ( I was looking for "white nurses clogs" on google, and this site came up) Im going back to work after having been home for 3 1/2/4 yrs and I am nervous ! feeling excited but very nervous. anyway, I wanted to tell you that I like the above persons response ( I forget whose it was, but I agree wholeheartedly). dont let yourself be sidetracked everybody has to start somewhere ! GO FOR IT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ps> its nice to meet you all

Hi there. well, Ive done both.( OR tech and now and OR RN) I started out as an OR tech and then went to nursing school and became an RN. I guess that becoming an OR tech is one way to get into the OR, but if I had it to do over agin, I wouldnt go that route. (thats just my personal opinion though, it would very well work out great for you that way) Personally, I would just go directly to nursing school and look for the one place that offered a training program (theyre few and far between, but they do exist, I saw one last mont in my nursing spectrum magazine) The reason that I feel this way, is that for me, the OR tech program ended up being an extra year worth of work AND, even more difficult, was the added expense that I had to pay back, in addition to my nursing school loans.WHen I went to the OR tech program and then to nursing school for my RN diploma, I was then a divorced "single parent" and was struggling financially and I could have avoided an extra school bill, if I had just gone directly to nursing school. ( Im not aware of any OR tech to Rn programs?) If you do consider going straight to nursing school, just call around at the area hospitals ,prior to you starting date, and ask , "do you have an OR training program for new RN's", the larger university hospitals are more likely to have this. I have seen them offered from time to time. No matter what you choose, I wish you the best of luck. ps > (nice to mee you)

Hi there. Im an RN and this is my very first post. I found this site by accident, I was looking for white clogs and this place came up on google? Im about to return to work after having been "at home fulltime" for 3 1/2 years. Im an operating room RN, since 1990. ANyway, long story short, being in the OR, I have dealt with death almost never. and I liked it that way. So being painfully ill equipped to deal with death, and happy t be so, I had a crash course when my mother called me to tell me that she had metastatic Ca.... After dozens of tests, over a period of six months, she was told that she had approx 6 mos. She actually had 6 days. My birthday. well, not only was the whole ordeal a shock, but it was on ethat I learned to deal with in a baptism by fire kind of way. Shortly before she died, she also revelaed that she had been keeping it somewhat a secret (she lives in another state) but she told me that my father had Alzheimers disease. (was much further along that we had realized) Well, when she died, he came to live with us (me , my husband, our 3 kids, 2 cats and 2 dogs). He was physically fine otherwise. He died almost extactly one year later after a very brief case of pneumonia. OK, so I wanted to write this to help you but Ive ended up babbling on and on and have probably put you into a coma or made your eyes bleed and still havnt gotten to the point..... Anyway, I am going to gather my thoughts and come back to this topic because I think its a good one and I think that I might have something to comtribute, since Im an RN, who had to be on the other end.. ( nice meeting you guys, by the way) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ look forward to talking to you guys again on a happier note Nice to meet you all ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ps I dont usually talk this much