At forty, I felt like my life had hit rock bottom. With three sons, two under the age of four, a violent husband, and imminent back sugery on the horizon, I was having a bit of a problem focusing on anything positive. I knew my days as an operating room nurse were over
and I knew that, for my own personal safety and that of my children, I needed to find another living situation. I was scared and worried about the future. The surgery, to repair a disc
problem suffered in a fall in surgery where I worked was growing progressively worse. After getting a second opinion, I felt that there was no delaying the operation any longer. Totally
terrified, I had my bilateral, two level laminectomy and fusion. My eleven-year-old son was heroic, helping incredibly with his two younger brothers and pitching in wherever he could. I began the long slow process of physical therapy and healing.

For almost a year and a half, I was disabled and could not work. I felt overwhelmingly depressed, knowing that I could not return to the operating room or psychiatry, areas of nursing where I had predominately specialized. Both might put me at risk, with my postoperative back. One day, I noticed an ad for my local city and county for a new specialty of "forensic nursing," working in the field of adult and child sexual assault.
I was hired and here I am, twenty years later, about to retire from this incredible specialty that helps those who are victims of interpersonal violence, as well as utilizing nurses in areas such as death investigation, legal nurse consulting, and in correctional facilities. In 1992, I was one of 74 nurses that met in Minneapolis to form the International Association of Forensic Nurses. We now number over 2500 members, world wide! When I began in this field, we were not even officially recognized - in 1995, the American Nurses Association gave forensic nursing its recognition as an official specialty for nurses. How exciting it has been to be part of this almost from the beginning!

From adversity and despair, I was able to regroup and embrace a specialty in nursing that has
given so much meaning to my life. As my nursing years come to an end, I will alwayw cherish the colleagues I have met in the nursing, criminal justice and scientific fields and feel blessed that I may have helped victims of violence I have encountered along the way.

Learn more about this author, Carmen Henesy.
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