To me, there is no greater satisfaction in saving a person's life or helping a sick person get better (or as better as they're going to be, considering the circumstances they've faced).
I have been a nurse for going on ten years. I love it, I absolutely love it! I may not make much in the way of money (unless I work nights, and then my pay goes double; same applies to working on holidays or weekends), but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. It is enough to where I can pay my bills and get what I need, but there's just not much afterwards until the next paycheck comes in.
Over the course of these nerly ten years, I have met many patients. Most of them have become a blurry montage of faces or names, but some I find hard to forget. Like the two women from Australia who came into our hospital (one was injured when she'd gotten pinned by a car and ended up losing her legs; the other was an Iraq War Veteran, also an amputee, but she kept having one complication after another). Or some of the head day nurse's kids, in particular, her son, Johnathon, who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, or her daughter, Jodie, who has severe cerebral palsy.
They have become not only patients of mine from the past: all have since become friends. I see them from time to time and they always take the time to thank me for helping them in their time of need. It makes me feel good to know I was able to make a difference in their lives when they needed it the most.
On the other hand, I have dealt with patients who haven't done as well or with families who lost loved ones. Telling a person that their family member is not doing well at all or is dying is probably the most challenging, most difficult aspect of my job. I hate it. I do konw, however, that you can't save everyone: people live, people die. Simple as that. End of story. Yet it still makes me cry and question my validity as a nurse and whether I have chosen "the right career".
Besides the patients themselves, I deal with doctors; sometimes a lot of them act like they think they're God, and I hate their pompous, "know-it-all" attitudes. Sometimes I think I know more than the doctors; sometimes I've proved them wrong, which drives them crazy. I then have to deal with their stupid emotional tirades and I'm ready to wrap their stethoscopes or the blood pressure cuff around their necks and choke the liver out of them! LOL
Another bad aspect of my job is being away from my family. Sometimes I feel as if we've become strangers in the night (or day) because I'm usually at work, and my job governs my very life. Holiday plans are put on hold because "mommy has to work again" and we oftentimes have to celebrate before or after the actual holiday. And whenever the family wants to do something, then I'm usually tired and all I want to do is sleep!
Well, I'm at work now as I write this; waiting for Miss Louisiana to come in and relieve me. My shift is done; I can leave whenever I see my replacement come in. Hope it's soon! I'm ready to go to bed! LOL Thank God I had an easy night! (Worked the MICU; no unexpected surprises; everyone behaved themselves ... for the most part. LOL) I will write in here again soon; until later, this is Gloria Trainor saying so long and God bless! I hear Louisiana's laughter ringing through the halls; that means I can get out of here and go home!! YAY!!
~Gloria Michelle Trainor, R.N.
