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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Compassion Fatigue

Some of you may not have heard this term. This is when your Give a Sh*t up and leaves. In my line of work this is a serious problem. I usually have bouts with this once a year or so. Today it hit me hard for a number of reasons...
1. My dog died on Friday.
2. I work hard and I genuinely care for my patients, the owners on the other hand, I can usually do without. Some owners are wonderful and appreciate what I do. Some, on the other hand never acknowledge when all of us go above and beyond to help them and their animal. They constantly forget that we have other patients to care for and that there are times we can not drop everything just to talk to them. I don't know about you, but I feel lucky if I get to talk to any of my doctors for more than 10 minutes in any given appointment. When I have literally poured my self into saving an animal's life, only to have the owner throw it back in my face because it either cost to much, or I didn't talk to them personally every single time they stopped in or called, I feel my GAS tank running on empty.
Sorry about the venting post, but I had to get the bile out. Hopefully I can refuel my tank soon. A TA would go a long way towards filling me up, but just a cute puppy wagging it's tail will usually keep me off empty.

5 comments:

Rachael said...

Go ahead and vent. And grieve for Bogie. You are not supposed to feel good now.

I love you.

wzgirl said...

Totally get it over here. In fact, I had an opportunity to take a training on the subject - maybe next year, I already have all my credits...

Givers and healers are wells, of sorts. I hope you find a way to refresh your reserves.

Hugs, you.

MississippiZen said...

From what I hear ... you may have gotten the "fill-up" that you needed. Can't wait to hear the details!

Mandy said...

((hugs)) I am so sorry about the dog. Losing animals is never, never easy.

Betsy, short for Elizabeth, formally known as Esther said...

Thank you so much for the work that you do! Thank you for your kind words. It has been an exceedingly tough week. Now the nagging question...do we get another car? sigh.