Kris, if I may be so presumptuous as to pass on some unsolicited words of wisdom, I'm going to tell you what I wish someone had told me from the start:
It's okay to not feel sad about it.
Mostly you'll hear variations on "it never gets easier" and "even when you know it's the right thing, it's always hard" and that is mostly because that's what people want to believe--that when you're putting their beloved horse/cat/dog/hamster to sleep, it's just as hard for you as it is for them.
And you know what, sometimes it is. Sometimes you'll cry along with them, and sometimes you'll agonize over test results and prognostic indicators and quality of life and they'll say, "Eh, not worth it, just put him down." But it's totally okay if you don't feel it every single time. It's actually kind of necessary, as a matter of fact; if every single euthanasia I did made me sad, I'd be in a mental institution (and you've seen how well I'm handling it lately).
People's reactions to being Dr. Death are highly individual and frankly, unless you're whistling "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" while you're pushing the plunger with the owner standing right there, it's nobody's place to tell you how you should handle it.
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2008-05-09 13:14 (UTC)It's okay to not feel sad about it.
Mostly you'll hear variations on "it never gets easier" and "even when you know it's the right thing, it's always hard" and that is mostly because that's what people want to believe--that when you're putting their beloved horse/cat/dog/hamster to sleep, it's just as hard for you as it is for them.
And you know what, sometimes it is. Sometimes you'll cry along with them, and sometimes you'll agonize over test results and prognostic indicators and quality of life and they'll say, "Eh, not worth it, just put him down." But it's totally okay if you don't feel it every single time. It's actually kind of necessary, as a matter of fact; if every single euthanasia I did made me sad, I'd be in a mental institution (and you've seen how well I'm handling it lately).
People's reactions to being Dr. Death are highly individual and frankly, unless you're whistling "Always Look On the Bright Side of Life" while you're pushing the plunger with the owner standing right there, it's nobody's place to tell you how you should handle it.