School and advocacy

Today, I'm happy because I feel like I've actually accomplished something today. At least, I broke away from the depression enough to actually go outside. Of course, I also had class (Advanced Illness, Death, and Dying) in the evening too. It was a good class, too. It was all about cultural considerations, decision making process, and the nature of pediatric care in hospice and palliative care. There was a pretty good discussion going on too, as there usually is. Maybe I'll go for that palliative care minor after all.

God knows I really miss that aspect of nursing. I love speaking with patients and just listening to them. Sometimes, I'd get thanked just for being there and listening, which always touched me; just doing what comes naturally to me can actually make a person feel better, and even help with recovery! One time, I sat with a lady for about 20 minutes - this was at night, when I actually had more time - explaining what hospice care and palliative care entailed, and answering her questions about it. It was easier, since her husband had passed away under hospice care, so she was ready to talk about the possibility of trying it herself. She had inoperable, rapidly metastasizing cancer at that point, and was having a fair amount of pain from it; she knew she was dying and was more worried about being a burden on her family at that point. It was a good conversation, and afterwards I felt really good about accomplishing something that really helped someone out on a deeper level. That high lasted the rest of the shift, too.

On a different note, still no luck with finding that part-time nursing job yet, but I'm in no rush. Soon, I'm going to be immersed in doing research both for the paper due next Thursday and for the question and answer session Governor Rendell will be holding after his speech on health care reform tomorrow evening. I will, of course, bring up my pet cause. Hopefully, Governor Rendell provides good answers, and maybe we can start the ball rolling on nursing home reform (fingers crossed). With any luck, I'll be too busy to be depressed.