wasted opportunity....not

**Self-fulfilling prophecy that if you show complacency
That you might set your spirit free
Wasted opportunity might change the paths of destiny ...**

Thank you so much for posting this in the favourite song lyrics thread.....this relates to me, i think.

some of you know that i have a job where the employers are pretty difficult to work for. it's a dialysis clinic and one patient died due to their incompetence..then we lost two more.....one unexpectedly and one from a brain aneurysm..i was close to all three. i really got down and could hardly function. then i got the diagnosis of bi-polar and new meds and that lifted me up from the bottom....

i'm constantly looking for another job....BUT until i get one, i'm going to learn everything there is to know about dialysis. i study from the tech book daily and i ask the doctor questions if i don't understand something. he's actually treating me differently..which i don't care about one way or the other...(we photocopy our time cards..that's how sleazy these people are...my check was short this week) anything that i don't understand about dialysis, i either ask or i watch the RN as she takes care of the patients. it sure won't hurt me to know about this process and it actually is very interesting to learn about what causes renal disease...diabetes and hypertension are the culprits about 98% of the time. i'm learning about the history of dialysis..the improvements of the machines and the process of cleansing the blood...each patient has their own filter and a set of protocol concerning how much "weight" is taken off during treatment. AND i've learned that i need to quit drinking all sodas and watch how much salt is in my diet and exercise more.

this thread isn't about you telling me that this is so cool that i'm taking the lemons that i've got and making lemonade...it's about all of our "wasted opportunities" that we didn't waste..think about what you've changed lately when things didn't go well...how you recovered and made it work....it can be anything. and we can celebrate this because we already have enough to deal with . (of course, you CAN tell me i'm cool.....all positive affirmations are accepted here. ) my point being is that we make recoveries more often than we give ourselves credit for. Ray inspired this post....her take on this site really made me think....i don't think that i would have done what i'm doing..without psych central. this place gives me the opportunity to run things by others..to read how someone else is handling things and to ask questions of the posters.......

Psych Central so rocks!!

You are uber cool Pat!



pop is bad for our bodies......don't get me started on soda and cigs......

xoxox and hang in there honey

This place is wonderful, isn't it? It has inspired me to make some very positive changes in my life and to begin examining my inner self in search of a better understanding of my illness. It has also offered me support and comfort in the down slides of bipolar disorder. This is a wonderful post and we should certainly have more of them. Thanks for this.

Ry

Very interesting that you should post this...for about the past 24 hours, I have been struggling so much with something that I wish so much I could fix, but I don't know who I need to fix it with. I've been having such an "elephant in the corner" feeling all week, and I have never been one to ignore those elephants, but I can't seem to identify it enough to even say, "hey, there's an elephant in the corner." And it feels so much like a wasted opportunity.

But perhaps the opportunity is there for me anyway. It is in my nature when I have a problem with someone to address it with them and try to find common ground. But if someone has a problem with me, there is nothing I can do to insist that they act according to my nature. But it is also in my nature to reflect back the feelings I get from others, be they positive or negative, and there is certainly something I can do about that. I can chose to treat people with love, even if they may not feel love for me.

Sorry if I have made this about me, but I do appreciate your post for opening my eyes. Thank you!

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{pat}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

Jo

This post was an excellent post!!
i was wondering is this a part of nursing you will stay with after you learn what you have??obviously not with this clinic but somewhere else?
one year ago this past jan 28th..i lost my best friend to this illness..she was 27 years old..it has been very difficult for me..i guess im asking you if its something your staying with cuz i too saw a unit i wish my friend could have gotten better care...

i don't think that i can stay in this area of care. when i first started working there, i knew nothing about renal failure. i was going through charts one day and realized, to my shock, that every patient there was in "end stage renal failure".....every one of the patients is dying. they might be in different stages of their disease, but they are dying. i was so shocked that i had trouble for a few days dealing with that. so, i probably won't stay in this type of nursing...nor will i work in geriatric or with adolescents. the seniors die and it's a huge loss ( to me) and you want to kill the adolescents.......so....i'm going into ER work. i really like it and the patients come and go..not enough time to get attached to them. if this sounds petty...it's just me. i get really attached to someone who is sick and i think that i'll be better off in an area where i'm not experiencing loss so frequently.

i'm sorry for the loss of your friend. i'm just blown away by this disease...xoxox pat

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nor will i work in geriatric or with adolescents. the seniors die and it's a huge loss ( to me) and you want to kill the adolescents.......so....i'm going into ER work. i really like it and the patients come and go..not enough time to get attached to them. if this sounds petty...it's just me. i get really attached to someone who is sick and i think that i'll be better off in an area where i'm not experiencing loss so frequently.

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That's hardest part about your field (I think). Losing people. Honestly, I don't know how nurses (and doctors) do it. I totally see your perspective, Pat and have to agree. I'm that way about teaching. Any kid over about 4th grade annoys me. So I stick to elementary. It's a personal choice that you have to live with. Like I said, makes perfect sense to me.

As far as geriatric...I also agree. lol I was better before my grandfather died. Now...seniors just make me sad. Purely selfish reasons (for me). So I avoid working with them. It takes all kinds of people to make things work. Find out what works best for you and stick with it. I'm glad this job has made you learn more about yourself and what you want...though I wish it was easier.

i can understand ur relpy..when i started out in the work force i worked as a cna in a nursing home..grief and loss is very hard with depression..but it sure sounds like no matter what aspect of nursing you decide to go..youll be great wherever you go..you sound very dedicated no matter where you are at the time.. no matter how hard it is...your patient is lucky to have you...

Hi Pat --

You are a fabulous woman, and I feel so grateful that you and other wonderful people here who are on a mission of self-improvement and helping others. It really helps, I think, when people share very specific ways that their thinking changes.

I teach communication. One of the most challenging things, for students, I think is to take research and theory and see how they can apply what they've learned to improve some communication dilemma in their own lives.

I think the same goes for CBT and other strategies that we learn. This post certainly also would have fit on the wonderful self-esteem forum that Dr. John started for us.

Fay you and everyone on this forum help me make it through each and every day
Angie

thank you very much........xoxo

someone mentioned that their post was "about" them and apologized.....that's what i want from this thread...so if you want to post something about an experience of recovery... do it!

Faye, I'm so impressed about how much you have taken and learned from a job that has been so difficult for you. Others may simply punch the clock, do the minimum, and punch out, never thinking about work again until the next day. You truly care, and I can see you are on your own path to self-actualization. You must be a joy to be around. And I bet that joy shines off of you onto the patients you work with.

Thank you for being you.

gg