My number 29-year-old son just passed his LPN exam with flying colors and I’m just inordinately pleased for him. It’s been a long haul since his 18th birthday, fraught with alcohol and drug abuse, DWI convictions, loss of his license and car, failing miserably at college, depression and suicidal thoughts, bouncing from one lousy minimum wage job to another in order to make enough to go on another binge.
Then he took a ‘temporary’ job at a home for the elderly and it changed his life. For the first time in several years, he was interested in someone other than himself. It was a revelation. Then he met a woman who convinced him that he didn’t need to get high or drunk in order to be loved. With encouragement from friends and family (and financing from me), he started down the road to nursing school, not without considerable trepidation as to whether or not he would have the willpower to stick with it.
And he kicked its ass. I’m so proud of him. Onward to RN!
Very good! It’s a good profession. Just make sure he has plenty of support when the stress is high. Being “strong” is the mistake many of us make.
With his history, he needs to be sure he turns to people when it gets rough.
Good luck to him.
I wonder if his life experience might actually help in his new job? I’m sure it must have deepened his understanding of human nature and improved his emotional intelligence- and that these skills will make him a fantastic nurse.
The one complaint most male nurses have is that they’re usually called to do any heavy lifting or to deal with the more aggressive patients. You let him know that even if he’s the only male nurse on the floor, if he’s not happy doing something, he shouldn’t be doing it, no matter how much pressure he’s put under.
Great news Chefguy. Congratulations to your son for turning his life around and to you and his family for seeing him through. Now, go get that RN license young man.
I know how wonderful it is to see your children finally make good decisions and thus turn their lives around!
He’s chosen a very rewarding and fascinating profession, one with a variety of opportunities and experiences. Many medical institutions provide tuition assistance for advancing a nursing career. And, by the way, nurses today make a decent living wage.
Just a note of caution, however. Nursing has its potential pitfalls. As **picunurse ** said, the stress can be very high. Nurses are at *very * high risk for substance abuse, both because of the stress and because of the availability of drugs. You would be amazed at the number of nurses who become impaired!
I truly don’t mean to rain on your parade – your son has made some excellent choices. He just needs to be on his guard.
Thanks for all the good wishes. I’ll pass them on to him. He does have trouble with heavy lifting because of his old knee problems and associated back pain (at 29!), but I think his days of substance abuse are gone. He also suffers from RLS (restless leg syndrome), which makes for many sleepless nights, but has not succumbed to using pills. He and his wife have a baby due in February (their first together) and he would be hard-pressed to jeopardize what he has. Despite working with the disabled elderly, many of whom have died after becoming friends, I think he has been able to keep a remarkably sunny outlook.
Working full time and going to school at night has been a tough go. He only has one more semester to go for his RN, so it should be a piece o’ cake, now that his confidence level has this boost.
The best part is that he can take care of me when I’m drooling into my soup. Oh wait…
