Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Thinking of "Careers" ...

WELL IT'S LATE Tuesday morning: I slept for ages and ages last night. Have been wondering what careers I could do. Do you know I've always been attracted to the idea of medicine. I don't know that I'm bright enough to be a doctor but I'd be up for training to do nursing. I'm not qualified to do any career at all you see, so I want to learn a "trade" ... Of course the one problem that arises with nursing and being a former addict (I wouldn't do the course if I was still using, I'd HAVE to be a former addict) is the issue of handling painkillers. But I've met a doctor at NA who got high on his own supply of drugs, cleaned up and was still practising into his sixties. My drugs are street drugs, so the associations with medication are weaker anyhow (addiction works by associations, it turns life into one big vicious circle). I was pondering this possible career like a teenager all weekend and only at the end of it realized my addiction might affect it. But I don't know that I should let that put me off training at all. I don't know, well it's an idea ...
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12 comments:

  1. Women on the Verge6 March 2007 at 13:38

    I think it's a great idea... it means you have hope, and that is wonderful.

    E

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  2. Anonymous6 March 2007 at 14:52

    God gives everyone a purpose. You might be amazed what He has in store for you. Jeremiah 29:11

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  3. Anonymous6 March 2007 at 16:01

    Thanxx. What I was getting at is when you do nursing (nonpsychiatric general) you have to obviously do a bit of everything at least in training which would mean administering the morphine/diamorphine which isn't something I would relish. But I'm sure there are branches of the profession where such pain relief is less likely/unlikely to be required so I suppose I'd go for that.

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  4. Whitenoise6 March 2007 at 16:05

    I was in treatment with a bunch of doctors and pharmacists at the now-defunct Central Ohio Recovery Residence. They have their own sub-group of NA called Caduceus. NA and AA are both full of nurses. Anything is possible if you have a good recovery program.

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  5. Paul FooDaddy Brand6 March 2007 at 17:41

    Don't sweat it man. Most of the stuff you're likely to encounter as a doctor has a more potent (and expensive) street variant.

    Is that true? I dunno. But it sounds encouraging. Believable, even, if you're cynical enough.

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  6. Anonymous6 March 2007 at 22:48

    No matter what, it's good to think about your future. It's patiently waiting for you to grab it :-)

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  7. Deb7 March 2007 at 06:55

    when I worked at the treatment center pilots had their own AA group called Birds of a Feather.

    Just the very fact that you're considering things like this puts you halfway there. Start at square one and start working towards it Gled. Little baby steps will turn into great strides over time. I'm so hopeful for you.

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  8. RUTH7 March 2007 at 11:30

    You certainly would have an insight into many drug related problems; maybe you could use some of that knowledge...mind you you'd have to be clean before you could help anyone else.
    Rx

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  9. S7 March 2007 at 18:33

    I think it's a wonderful idea too! My dad's friend who was an addict got clean, and started working in a clinic for at-risk-youth. He loved it and the kids really could relate to him, being as he had been through it and understood what they were dealing with. I say go for it!

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  10. Gledwood10 March 2007 at 21:37

    Thank y'all. My family said I wouldn't even be allowed to start the training but I don't see this has to be true. I met a still-practising family doctor at several NA meetings. He got "high on his own supply" for quite some extended time until his colleagues put an ultimatum to him, clean up or be discharged and unable to write out all those prescriptions anyhow ... and HE is still practising to this day unless he is retired. Of course he only became an addict AFTER qualifying... but addiction is so widespread today I cannot see that that ALONE (as long as it is in the past) should stop anybody ...

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  11. Claire11 March 2007 at 19:08

    Well i am training to be a counsellor at the moment and there is definitely room for drug and alcohol counsellors but you would have to be clean.
    My cousin matthew is training to be a mental health nurse, he loves that and hes not the brightest spark, not implying that you are not bright, more that if he can do it, you can.
    Shame on ya for calling Ruth a Pensioner, lol.

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  12. Anonymous11 March 2007 at 23:10

    Hello~

    First time I've read your postings/musings and trying terrifically hard not to be offended by your casual remark that since you are not "bright" enough to be a doctor, you could be a nurse. As a nurse, I assure you that although we do not go through the *formalized* postgraduate education, we are by far as a lot, not stupid. Please do not sell us or yourself short by implying that although perhaps you could not make it through the rigorous academia needed to become a physician, that nurses are any less intelligent. I myself choose nursing as a profession, not because I wasn't smart enough to go to medical school (4.0 gpa, valedictorian of college class, major in biochem) but because I wanted to practice the art/profession of nursing and healthcare. The model of nursing is very different from the traditional medical model of practicing medicine.
    Stepping off my soapbox.

    Tamra

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