Revelations

It's always fun to find out you've forgotten to pay a bill, then wonder why something doesn't work, which happened to me this week.  Luckily, everything was quickly resolved.

Some people you work with can be supportive at one moment, then totally against you the next, and back again by the time you walk out the door to say goodbye. I found this out when a philosophical discussion went awry today. The older nurses still look down on anyone with more advanced degrees than they have, no matter how good the person may be.

One e-mail can make you think of a lot. I found out one of my last Saintarama patients died recently. D. was a Marine who dropped out on a maneuver one day. They thought a shell hit him but he was hit by disease which left him paralyzed. D. told me I'd make a fine nurse at Madison and he'd probably see me every so often. I saw D. frequently on the unit. D. was a leader in a major organization in our region that assists people with disabilities. I didn't know it until later, but D. was also a guy who protested and even got thrown (or threw himself, depending on the protest) out of his wheelchair.


D. gave me confidence to be the nurse I am today. "You are a great nurse," D. told me in my very first year. "Go out and get them!"

And so I go again, amid slings, arrows and every manner of object they can hurl, real or imagined. As Momma used to say, "every knock's a boost".

More later...