Step 16 - Know the difference.

I had a post planned on baking and pictures of a program we ran with clients. And now I am just frustrated and feeling inadequate at my job. I am providing some worst-case scenario post exposure counselling. And it is tiring and rough and I am learning not to bring it home.

Sometimes I get frustrated working with doctors who don't get it. And the virus itself is frustrating; a person gets tested after accidental exposure and it will take three months for them to find out. And sometimes a client doesn't want to take post-exposure prophylaxis, the drugs that could inhibit the disease from taking hold. The side effects are brutal, and the effectiveness is undetermined. No cure, no vaccine, no easy answers. Sometimes all you can do is be there.

And sometimes...

... this job...

... just sucks.

There are no fixes in this industry. I wish I could make AIDS go away.

 
Time to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.