My mother doesn’t have a clue about me or my professional life. She saw an ad on TV advertising for a company who provided people to go out and play games with the elderly. She said I should try doing that.

I politely told her that I did much more than play games with my patients. I also told her that jobs like that don’t pay the bills.

As I am training for my new job I realize more than ever what a worthy profession nursing is. In my field of home health it is so much more than just taking vital signs. It is assessing the environment, health and welfare of the patient and any caregivers present.

Not only do we have to assess every little detail and report to the physician any inconsistencies or problems but we must document in a very detailed and professional manner. If we don’t do this correctly the agency doesn’t get any money for our hard work.

Sometimes we arrive at the patient’s house and find a crisis that doesn’t even involve the patient. At a job I had in 2012 I pulled up to a patient’s house and found her middle aged daughter lying on the driveway covered with blood. She apparently had had a mishap with her car. Once I got the EMT’s to take her to the hospital I had to care of my patient who was in the daughter’s house. I had to find someone to stay with my patient because she had Alzheimer’s disease. (Try getting contact numbers from someone who can’t remember what they had for breakfast. It isn’t easy) It took 2-3 hours to get everything arranged.

I got the same amount of money for that visit as I would have gotten for a visit which only took 30 minutes. It was worth it though because the family was very thankful.

I think sometimes people think that being a stay at home mom like my mom was is easy. I don’t think it is. I think it is a very difficult job. I have stayed at home at various times in my professional career and during those times I have battled depression and a feeling of worthlessness.

My mother has never payed a single bill in her life. She has no clue as to how hard it is for me to pay mine. That is why I can be polite when she suggests that I should do something stupid like work for a company where I would merely play games with the elderly, when I am a highly trained professional. She doesn’t have a clue as to what my life and my profession is about so how can I judge her?