I got a new position just over a month ago as a Vet Assistant for surgery. My role includes prepping patients for surgery as well as recovery after surgery. The longer into it I get, the worse my intrusive thoughts are. I’m constantly scared an animal is going to die on my watch. A particularly upsetting thought was that one cat of a bonded pair would die, and the other would be alone and sad the rest of their life. It’s getting to where every day I have off, I’m just NONSTOP thinking about how scared I am to go back to work. I’ve talked to my therapist about it to some extent, but I do plan on going more into it this week. It’s also affecting my home life- I’m waking up in the middle of the night in pure terror that one of my own pets has passed.
Had anyone navigated anything similar? Do you have advice, or just want to talk about it? There are so many things about this job that I do like, and I don’t want to have to quit because of this :(