The Boo Hoo Hoo Post: In Which I Expose the Depressing Moments of Life in my World

Now is that long (or maybe it won't be long) depressing post that was scheduled for a few days ago and never happened.  If you don't feel like listening to something of a small rant, I suggest you click the little x box up in the upper right corner of your screen and ignore me.

I am not depressed--let me say that straight out.  I may tend to frustration and discouragement, but not depression.  This all started 7 days ago exactly when I talked to 4 different people with 4 different kinds of problems.  It all came down to 2 categories--two very, very familiar categories.

The first category is this: family problems and depression.  I lump the two together because I think that family issues tend to lead to depression at some point whether people admit it or not.  Think about it:  if you don't have a good family relationship to fall back on, life is going to be so much tougher to face.  It's sad how many good "plain" homes are corrupted with family strife and disagreements and distrust.  It makes me sad that behind all our plain clothes and conservative lifestyles, hides a world of hurt.  But that is a whole other post all its own.

The second category is: I get tired of caring about people and their health and them not caring.  Eventually, I just want to throw up my hands and say, "Fine, go kill yourself by not following recommended protocol.  See if I care."  But I do care is the long and short of it.  It makes me sad.  It makes me sadder to see the 60 year old man spend the rest of his days with the results of a stroke because he decided he didn't need to take the medicine and would go with something natural.  (Now, here is where I want to make a disclaimer:  I know this is my blog and I can write what I want, but I want to be sensitive to people who might read this and think I am full of wind with my medical perspective.  I am not opposed to natural things under certain conditions, but there are certain drugs that cannot be replaced by natural things and one of those is a blood thinner medication.  I have yet to find a natural herb that takes that place; if there is, it should still be monitored carefully every month with blood work to make sure it is working properly.)  He made it okay for many years and then he stroked.  The same evening, I had a firm conversation with a man's wife about his need for blood thinner.  He wasn't feeling good and decided to blame that particular medication and go off of it.  That is NOT okay.  I don't get too heated up generally, but when explaining that your heart doesn't pump like a normal person's and because it doesn't, you can throw blood clots; those clots can go up into your brain or heart or lungs.  At best, they will kill you; at worse, they will leave you paralyzed and maybe unable to speak for the rest of your life.  Then who is going to be feeling bad from the medications?

I feel mean telling people they could die from not taking their medication; but am I not also mean by withholding that information? It's tough sometime being a nurse and listening to people who have heart attacks and still don't care about their cholesterol; they take liver cleanses hoping to lower their cholesterol and then are completely shocked when their blood work shows their cholesterol is a little worse rather than better.  I do feel bad for these people; I understand that medication doesn't always have the best side effects and that it is nicer if you can take natural things for your diseases, but sometimes your body is too far gone for the natural to work.  And for starters, the best natural way to start is to eat healthy--that is the most important natural healer you can put in your body.

I think my rant has gone on enough now.  I still love me job--even though there are days I want to shake people and say, "Don't you understand?" I need to go do some blood work.