I have received a few messages over the last month all asking the same question.

Why don’t you write about your nursing experiences any more?
Is there a book coming?

Well here is the thing.
I worked as a nurse for 35 years. The vast majority of that time was spent working in a very busy Emergency Department.

35 years is a long time to be working in such a challenging environment. Make no mistake, the stories and experiences of my nurse life are thick and they are deep. I worked with some truly inspirational people.

Without doubt I fully expected to look back on my career from the perspective of having a great satisfaction in my work.

I thought I would retire feeling I had made at least some sort of positive difference to both colleagues and the wider public that fell under my care.

But that is not how things panned out.
Honestly, I think I was part of a team that did a lot of good work. We made a difference to many peoples lives. I made good friends. I had some amazing times.

But the last 5 plus years of my career were drowned out by a crescendo of awful.
I found myself really struggling amidst a pernicious leadership culture of bullying, political group think and personal smothering.

Largely due to my social media activities I was labeled a “risk to the organisation” and ultimately found myself denuded of both self-confidence and professional commitment.
I was increasingly embarrassed at the intensity of my newfound bitterness. I became flummoxed and withdrawn.

Eventually I fell out of love with nursing. It broke my heart that I was becoming the very bitter-and-jaded-nurse persona that I despised so much…and in truth my retirement came just in the nick of time.

I know I shouldn’t have let the negative activity of a few poison the highlights of my 35-year timeline but I so totally did.

Wait… dont fret. This not a sad ending.
My retirement from nursing was a rebirth of sorts. I hope you can get a feel of that from my posts. Life is beautiful.

But the bitter residue is that I really do not have any mojo for revisiting my nursing life.

Well, that turned out to be an overly long and rambling way of saying: sorry but no…there will be no book or reflections back on the whole big thing. There are a few old stories here that I have transcribed, you can see them in the ’related’ links below this post.

On the other hand, if you want to hear about my hair raising ride racing a storm surge down Brown mountain in Ripley, or my quest for the perfect Brussels sprouts recipe, or my deep interest in sitting still and staring at the floor for long periods of time, well stick around brothers and sisters, ’cause I’ve got a story for you…