30 years a nurse. More than half my life. Joy and heartache. Victory and defeat. Life and death. Almost everyday, I’ve thought about doing something else. What if I had gone to college for music like I originally wanted to? How different would my life look now?
This exercise in writing for 31 days about a particular topic has given me time to look back on a lifetime of calling, to ponder just how many lives I’ve had a direct impact on.
I can’t be completely certain, but doing a little mathematical calculating, I can be almost sort of certain of an estimated number.
There are 365 days in a year. Let’s take away 30 of those days for holidays and sick days. That leaves 335 days. Multiply that number by 30 years to equal 10,050 days. Now multiply that number by, oh I’ll say an average of 6 patients per day to arrive at an astonishing 60,300 patients I’ve had a direct part in caring for. This number doesn’t even account for the family members I’ve had direct contact with.
I don’t know about you, but this blows my mind! Who knows what the ripple effect of my service has had on the folks I’ve cared for over the years? I can only imagine.
And it all started with witnessing the funny, compassionate care given to my dad by one nurse 36 years ago. The day the Lord flipped a switch and changed everything. The day I went from almost becoming a musician to completely becoming a nurse.
This is day 31 of 31 days of five minute free writes. Be sure to head over to Kate’s blog to see what others wrote about too and thanks for reading along! It’s been a blast!
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