I guess my journey started in 1992, my son who was a year and a half had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. I didn't even know back then that children could get cancer!
He was in the hospital quite a bit, but whenever I had the chance, I kept him at home ( which meant that the nurses had to teach me how to do things such as nasogastric intubation, caring for port sites, and morphine injections).
With learning how to do this, I was able to let him pass at home in my arms, peacefully.
Then a couple of years later I was asked to care for my dying step grandmother. She passed after a few weeks, holding my hand and that of my step mother.
I knew at that point that I wanted to help people, but it wasn't something i could do at the time.
I had children and I was married to a controlling husband that did not allow me to work outside the home....
It took a few years, but i left, taking the children with me, and took me another 6 years before I went back to school.
The kick in the pants? My oldest son came to me one day and said he wanted to be a tow truck driver when he grew up! I try to tell the children that they can be whatever they want to be! They just have to believe in themselves! So how could I expect them to reach for the stars if I wasn't.....
Lorrie Ridge PSW
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