Personal Musings/ The end of a startup/What's next!
I look back at my career path to see the stepping stones that led me to where I am today. I had seven years of critical care nursing experience before I had my first child.
Everything shifted when I became a mom. I was working in the pediatric unit of UCSF. With hormones raging, I remember weeping along with the mothers of my patients when their little ones needed to get a new IV or endure a painful procedure. I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky I was to have my healthy baby. I felt so deeply with the parents who weren’t so fortunate. It was draining. I realized that I was ready to move on from working with severely ill children in the hospital.
I have little doubt that I could have learned to find a balance if I had remained, but I answered a small ad in the paper for a position as an advice nurse at Noe Valley Pediatrics in San Francisco. I ended up staying in that job for 31 years.
As with most new jobs, there is a learning curve. I was so used to working with the rarer and more serious conditions, that it was a huge relief to realize that more often than not, most things are normal and are easily treated. No, that healthy infant with jaundice did not in fact need a liver transplant.
During my time at NVP, I expanded my role beyond being the office advice nurse. I recognized that parents needed something extra. My patients embraced my philosophy that there is no such thing as a silly question. They needed some basic guidance about when they should be worried about something and when they could relax and let time take care of it. People needed a sounding board about so much more than just poop and runny noses. They had questions about behavior, sleep, relationships, and solid foods. They needed a safe place to vent without being judged.
I cultivated deep relationships with many of my patients and families, but I had the desire to reach more people. With this in mind, I started offering a variety of parenting classes.
I also started writing. It was clear that there were many issues that were very common. The genesis of my blog was frankly a way to avoid repeating myself over and over again.
I must confess that I had some mixed feelings that my posts on head lice and pinworms went viral. It wasn’t exactly the claim to fame that I had been seeking!
I called the blog Nurse Judy’s approach because while I try to lead with data, I also tend to focus on more natural remedies when possible. Many of my readers tease me that I suggest putting breast milk on everything.
The blog became a hobby with an eclectic mix of topics. It ranged from talking about poop, to stories about my own life and family.
I am blessed to have a very close relationship with my husband and my two daughters. Fortunately they gave me permission to write about them. They got used to being out in the neighborhood with me and having me be recognized, “Oh my goodness, it’s Nurse Judy, are these your daughters? Which one is the one who climbs mountains and which is the social worker?” At a restaurant once, my husband was actually referred to as Mr. Nurse Judy. Now my delicious grandsons are the next generation of having blogs written about them.
I retired from NVP in 2019. Sandy and I proceeded to do several months of traveling. Who knew at the time that there was a pandemic looming? We were so fortunate to be able to take that trip when we did.
Within days after I returned home, I received an email from Oath co-founders Michelle and Camilla inviting me to meet with them. Their vision to create something that was going to change healthcare as we know it, energized me and pulled me right out of retirement.
Unfortunately, startups fail more often than succeed and that was the case with this one. It shut down just a week ago. Yes there were tears.
However, ultimately the time I had working with the Oath team was an absolute gift.
We built a platform that offered support and community to new parents. It was a wonderful several years, filled with deep connections, learning and love.
I will confess that I never loved the name. It was meant to be based on the Hippocratic Oath, but I spent way too much time clarifying that we were not the right wing ‘Oathkeepers’. We were as far from that as could be. If it ever manages to rise from the ashes, it will certainly be called something else.
It turns out that there is such a thing as a non-toxic work environment and that was Oath. Things that went wrong along the way were celebrated as learning experiences.That frame of mind made sure that nobody was afraid to try something new. Indeed, we had many successes. One thing that is certain is that we helped countless parents feel less alone during the pandemic.
So what’s next for me?
For now, I intend to continue with these posts. I will still be doing some of my classes on an ‘on demand’ basis. I have some potential opportunities and collaborations that I am exploring. Mostly I plan on being grandma and traveling more with Sandy.
I also am intrigued by the thought of writing a book. Some of you might recall that I was toying with this several years ago. That one was going to be all about poop, rashes, head-lice etc. While I expect that I will keep those topics going in these posts, that isn’t the one I want to write.
The BOOK that is pulling at me will have a very different flavor. It’s not exactly ghost stories, but it will be telling a collection of random, true unexplainable coincidences. (With maybe some friendly spirits?)
I have shared some of the nutty stories in the past:
https://nursejudynvp.blogspot.
https://nursejudynvp.blogspot.
Do you have your own experiences to share? I would love to hear them.
As I mentioned in a recent post about gratitude, I am thankful for those of you who have stuck with me for all of these years.
Wishing all of you a healthy and happy holiday.
XO
Nurse Judy
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