You bet I would

Yes, I would recomend nursing to those with a big heart, small pocket book. Even after what I have endured.

I was called into nursing when I was no older than 5. I had been in the hospital after dying when I was 1YO, but too young for it have influenced my decision to be a nurse. I know now that God called me to be a nurse even though it took me until 30YO to get started. The following will tell you how bad I needed to be a nurse...I entered nursing school, a week later my cousin, age 26, was killed, just six months before graduating to be a doctor. The depression hit my dad hard and soon he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, I dropped out of nursing school, I tried other medical careers to have more time with my dad, I don't see me as failing these tries, just a reminder from God of my calling.

Dad fought cancer, I reaaplied to nursing school, my grandma passed away, after 3Y in a semi-coma state. Again depressed my dads cancer spread to the bones in his back and hip. I reentered nursing school, dad was put in the hospital and told he had 6mths to live. He came home and I diagnosed Thrombophlibitis just before the blood clot broke off. He came home just to go back again, now being diagnoses with liver and lung cancer. For the month he was in there I woke at 4AM every morning, got ready for school, being a single mother I woke my daughter at 5:30, got her ready took her to my neighbors to leave at 6:30 to be at school by 8AM. I got out of school at 4PM, drove to the hospital, saw my dad, went to get my daughter at a friends, to get home at 6PM, fix dinner, clean up, help my daughter with her homework, get her in bed by 9, then I did my homework and studied until 1AM on most nights just to do this all week.

When dad was brought back home he had a colostomy that needed to be changed, an 8" open insision to be packed BID by mom and myself. The holidays came and went, dad and mom celbrated their 42 anniversay. Dad was driving again, laughing again and spoiling my daughter again. Then in February my ex-brother-in-law died, I had raised him since he was 6YO, he was only 21. On February 28 my dad turned 67 and my daughter 10. Things seemed to be looking up.

Then in April while at church my dad slipped into coma. He was rushed to the hospital to be diagnosed with brain cancer. He was in ICU and I stayed the first night with my mother in the waiting room. A week later on my mothers birthday, April 24 while my daughter and I were getting stuff ready for a "surprise" party at the hospital our truck was side swiped and flipped over. They rushed us to the hospital where dad lay dying, to be checked out okay. The next day the hospital called saying dad was dying, we rushed up and stayed up all night long. Still unable to drive, my brother took me home to get dressed and a friend picked me up to go to school to take a test. I bore a pillow so that I could even be comfortable due to the bruises from the air bag.

That next Wednesday, I received a page at school saying dad was going fast. A friend took me and it was there I witnessed my dad take his last breaths.

In June my great-grandma died of the ripe old age of 105YO. I had school and my daughter had 103 degree fever so I was unable to see her laid to rest.

I graduated nursing school that July and I have made no more than $12 an hour for the hell I paid going through school and today if I had it to do all over yet knew the hell I'd be handed I'd still do it. I do it for the love of people and the call of God. This job is for the passionate people, not the greedy. Yes, I lost a lot I lost my first patient who was also my dad, but I have a will, a calling, a love no one can take away. So when you hear that ringing, pick up the phone it will be the hardest heaven on earth job you will ever be blessed with. [email protected]

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TLynn, yes my dear, you were meant to be a nurse and I know God will bless you in many ways for following his calling. I too believe that nurses are "called". This is often a job with lots of heartache and little reward but our reward has to be in knowing that we did the very best we could and we did make a difference. We cannot be everything to everyone but those we do touch will remember we were there and that is what matters. On a bad day last month, I was sitting at my desk, trying to gulp down a sandwich while doing my charting. I took my glasses off and was rubbing my weary eyes and a spouse of one of my residents came up to me. He had tears in his eyes. He handed me a piece of paper and left, without saying a word. I want to share with all of you nurses what this piece of paper said, for it really hit home and without speaking, this man said a mouthful. It said, " I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." This poem was written by a man named Edward Everett Hale and my residents husband keeps this in his wallet as a daily reminder to himself of how he should live his life. I was very touched that he shared this with me. I had just sent one of my dear ladies out to the morgue, he knew how heavy my heart was, and he took the time to say, without speaking, that he understood my pain and he cared.

"You bet I would" recommend nursing as a career! This does not mean that I would tell people it is easy or that there are great rewards every day, but I would point out that nursing is REAL - real people, real situations, real problems, real lives. Nurses take care of the physical needs of patients, for sure, but doctors also do that. Where a nurse can be of real service and make a difference is in attending to the emotional and spiritual needs, also. Illness is scary for most and there are a lot of psychological issues to deal with. Most of us find our source of fulfillment in helping people maintain (or attain) wholeness and integrity in the face of illness or injury. Unfortunately, nurses are so ingrained with the need to be all and do all for our patients that we "burn out". Duckie's poem is the perfect motto for us - "I am only one, but I still am one". When our work situation starts to get really crazy and out of hand and the needs of our patients seem endless and impossible, we can take these words to heart. Often that one thing we can do for a patient is to offer our undivided attention, if for only a few minutes. It is up to us to be sensitive and to decipher the real needs of our patients. This takes us back to the basics - treating human responses to illness, not just the illness. We need to support our coworkers when the work situation gets stressful, to remind them that they are "only one", but that they are not alone. My daughter saw my struggle to get through nursing school and changed her mind about becoming a nurse, but I am slowly, gently trying to point her back toward nursing because I know she really wants to be a nurse. She knows how hard I work, the hours, the pressures, but she also hears about the more positive, human side of nursing, the connections made with patients, the little things that made a difference. Maybe nursing is a lot like panning for gold - we often have to look for the "nuggets" that make it all worthwhile.

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