The time Has Come......35 years ....can seem like a lifetime to some and others may look at it as a blink of the eye! I vacillate between the two...
It has been that long since I began my career in nursing. So young and inexperienced - ready to "save the world" from illnesses and diseases! I laugh when I think of my salary back then - started at $5.65/hr and thought I was rich!! Ha! Gone are the days of "PM care" where patients got back rubs and a snack every evening! (I actually had some new young nurses ask what PM care was - and they were amazed that we did that!)
My dream was to always work in the OR and that was fulfilled about 2 years into my career.
After working at 2 different OR's for 1-2 years, I settled at Bethesda North and it is there where I have stayed the remaining years.
I have seen MANY changes over the years, as expected, and one of the real true reasons I loved the OR was to "see" how they fix the problems in people. You can't look into someone's body and not be in awe of God's design! So intricate and complex that only someone like He could engineer. Ingenious!
I have experienced a lot of joy and also sorrow....which is how life is. So difficult to have a young child come into surgery for a brain tumor and not immediately think of your own kids and how blessed you are! On the other side - So fun to see the happiness people have to be able to be cured of cancer and getting their ports out because they no longer need Chemo.
And so many more things in between.
I was blessed to have made many friends with my co-workers over the years and to know that they "got your back" if ever you were on the "other side" as a patient! Truly a great privilege to have that! And to have a great rapport with most of the doctors and know also that you could call them in times of trouble for you or a family member. I will miss that.
But I wont miss the paperwork which has become out of control, or the new computerized system that is supposed to make things more efficient but to me has a "coldness" to it. Seems like things are more focused on that machine than the patient....but maybe I'm just "old school"!
I wont miss getting out of bed on those cold dark mornings and driving to work in the snow.
I wont miss the late shifts when your legs are "screaming" because you have been standing on them for 8 plus hours and now you have to do another case and "oh, by the way, this is scheduled for 2 hours! This aging body I have is slowly needing new parts and repair! A "tune-up" now and then, as my husband likes to call it!
But I will miss that medical "connection" that you have when you work in a hospital.
And I will miss all the good conversations that go on during surgeries, the interesting people you meet and how grateful they are that you are there to help them.
I will always be a nurse - its just now taken on a new dimension in my life and I hope to use my time helping people in other ways when I can. Its just now I get to decide where and when! When my friends got to stay home with their little babies way back when and I was working....well now it is my time to enjoy my time with my family and explore new and creative ways to share and give back.
So I have one more day to be an OR nurse....and then who knows where the Lord will direct me from here! I can't wait to see what he has in store for me!
