My Limits Are Temporary
Thank you for all the well-wishes. I have been very neglectful in my blog reading lately. You’d think a person who spends all day sitting in the same place, with no real work to do and nothing but Project Runway re-runs on would have time.
Truth is I’m still busy. Filling syringes. Even sick people have stuff to take care of.
Thankfully, it turns out I do not have MRSA. That is a blessing in itself, but I do have a rather nasty staph infection that I can’t say, let alone type the name of on here. Nasty enough that they inserted a PICC line (not fun at all), and I will be on IV antibiotics every 8 hours until February 11th. Sound like fun?
As I listened to the home health nurse explain to us last night how to draw up syringes of this medicine and that medicine, I thought about all the medical care really sick people go through. Especially those who have the responsibility of caring for a sick child and all the work that it entails.
I spent one summer during college working at a place called Bradford Woods. They hosted 1-2 week camps all summer for children with various illnesses and disabilities from Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. For 11 weeks I lived in a cabin that was not air-conditioned and took care of 8 campers at a time who required 24 hour care. I did this with 4-5 other counselors.
They called us counselors, which was really a joke. Our main role was as a nurse. The various camps included a week of children with down syndrome, a week for children with cancer, two weeks of children with cerebral palsy and several two week sessions that included a broad range of diagnosis’s (that included everything from AIDS to spina-bifida to children assessed at a cognitive level of 48 months).
There were very few campers who did not require constant attention, but to see their faces light up when they arrived in “the woods” as they called it, was priceless. Most of them had only known the inside of their own homes and hospital rooms as scenery. To live in an actual cabin and trek through the miles of paved hiking trails, was a dream come true. This was chance to be a regular kid by camping out under the stars.
The amount of physical work that went into this job was unreal and taxing on my own body. If only for a mere 7 days, I knew what it was like to be their caregiver on a 24 hour basis and it was hard - physically, emotionally, mentally, even spiritually. One of the areas they did not touch upon during our 3 week training was how affected you would be by these children.
I found myself falling into love with each of them, but in-particular there would be one in each session that just stole my heart. You wanted to make them all better and fix their problems, but the issues were well beyond my control. Learning that took most of the summer.
If anything the experience made me appreciate my own health. I was offered a chance to return the following summer to work there, but as much as my heart grew during the previous summer, it also ached. Instead I choose to follow other interests and I always wished I’d given those children one more summer of my time. Now more than ever, as I sit here trying not to wallow in the physical abilities I don’t have, I wished I’d chosen differently. Because my limits are temporary and theirs were for a lifetime.
WOW - self medication. I hope you are able to do this at home and not have to go back to the hospital.
I bet working at that camp about tore your heart out.
Oh so true. I spent one spring break helping get a camp like that ready for summer. It was really neat the way everything was handicap accessible. I wish I’d been able to be there when the kids were.
I know you tagged me awhile back… I’m just not sure I can come up with more random things right now!
So glad it’s not the really bad staph…I was holding my breath there for awhile.
Glad to hear you are doing better!
That camp sounds like it was tough in a way, but good in another - like so many loving things are.
why are staph infections the “new black?” it seems as if they are always reporting on staph infections in the news, and i’m very sorry to hear that you caught one of these “super bugs.” this really is the LAST thing you should have to worry about, but i know you’re strong and you will come out like a warrior!
that camp sounds like an amazing life-building experience. i just saw a show on tv about a horse farm in TN that uses horses to help chronically ill children recoup and recover from treatment. hearing your story right after seeing this program yesterday really touched me and made me understand the importance of and art of both care-giving and care-receiving.
hugs!
I can’t imagine being a caregiver 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I just don’t think I could handle the physical and emotional aspects of it.
Glad it isn’t MRSA, but it does suck you have a PIC line; I definitely don’t ever want one, they just look painful or at least a bother.
I had to wear a catheter home after my hysterectomy and other surgery; it sucked, but it didn’t hurt.
Just take care of yourself so you don’t have any other problems.
Doing that for ONE summer is amazing. You’re amazing…. I’m relieved to hear it’s not MRSA. I told you STAY OUT OF THE HOSPITALS, aiight! sheesh! ((hug))
I’m surprised you can type so well with the Picc in. I should remember more about them because I used to be a nurse. Lately I have been reconsidering reentering the profession, but I am torn, mostly by the things you mentioned you learned at the children’s camp… emotional attachment, exhaustion, lots of meds…. caregiving as a job comes with lots of secondary stress.
Thanks for your visit to my blog. I’m 52 and I like Hannah, so don’t think twice about liking her when you are 30.
So glad you are getting better. Eat yogurt to replace the good guys.
A summer is a big time commitment! It sounds like it was a wonderful experience. I hope you feel better soon.