The stress has gotten to me. Eleven deaths in about two weeks, five in one day, two on-call nights that had me out all night long! It is time to retire! My last day is April 1, 2013...three months ahead of plan. I feel such a relief and am counting the days (19) until then. I am excited and terrified.
Excited about the prospects of retirement and our plans to travel. Terrified at the prospect of a greatly reduced income. I keep telling myself - "It's only money." There comes a time, I think, when one has to rearrange priorities. This is the time.
Went to a funeral today. My favorite patient died a bit unexpectedly. I had mixed feelings about leaving him when I retire. On one hand, because I was like part of the family, I didn't want to have to go through his death with him; on the other hand, I didn't want someone else to be there at that most difficult time of life. He took care of it for me, by taking a sudden downturn last weekend and dying Monday morning. It was my job to pronounce him. I will miss our weekly visits and will likely stop in to see his wife down the road.
I have one other favorite patient...we will have to see what happens with him. No one expected him to last as long as he has. Either way, I will stay in touch with his wife, who feels more like a friend than a patient family member.
The rest of my patients I will turn over to other nurses easily. I will miss co-workers and the comraderie that comes with working on a team. I will not miss being on-call!
We have some exciting retirement plans that I plan to chronicle in another blog: Two For The Road - about living on the road in an RV. I will likely still post here for a while, but think I will eventually transition to Two For The Road.
You may notice that my "About Me" and its accompanying photo has changed. This is to better fit with the new blog...hoping Jack will post some there too!
