NURSE

EMPATHY: from the Greek empatheia; from Pathos 'feeling'. The intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

As a nurse I have a problem with 'Empathy', I have a problem with boundaries. I have tried so hard over the years to put on a protective armour, a 'teflon coat' so nothing sticks! but I just can't seem to. At least it's not as bad as it used to be, I remember waking up in the small hours of the morning fighting for breath once, as I was dreaming about a patient I was nursing. He had a carotid tumor encroaching on his trachea & would eventually either die of a massive hemorrhage or suffocate. Yet another time I lay in bed & could not move... not for the life of me, not to even wiggle a toe. This was just after I had been nursing a man with Motor Nuerone Disease.

Due to this problem I only work as a nurse part time, otherwise it's just too exhausting. But yes, it can be rewarding & I am privileged to be let into the personal space of people who are ill - not that they really have a choice.