I must have missed the reason we're doing this, but it's sure an easy one to
answer.

Lactnet may very well be what has kept me in this field.  It's lonely out
here.  We're in a tiny profession that's poorly understood and way
underappreciated by society at large, and we have to stay on top of a body
of knowledge that keeps changing, and that requires scientific, political,
historical, social, and interpersonal skills.  That's a recipe for burn-out
if ever there was one, especially for those of us who work alone.

Lactnet's first gift to me was cameraderie.  I wasn't alone any more!  The
friendships I've made on Lactnet get stronger every year.  I *know* many of
you, whether I've ever met you or not.

The second gift came the very first time I asked Lactnet for help.  I got
something like 4 *entirely* different suggestions from 4 people at the top
of the field.  The most important message to me?  This really is art as much
as science, and often there is no single, obvious, right answer.

The third gift came when I asked for other Lactnetters who wanted to form an
"e-mail group practice" to allow for more trivial, more frequent contact
than is reasonable on Lactnet itself.  The nine of us that correspond that
way have been fast friends for 6 years now.  Because we're scattered across
the country there's no sense of competition, only of support.  Sometimes
there's greater strength in smaller numbers!

The fourth gift has been my ability to say to a client, "If you like, I'll
check on Lactnet."  Often I really do need the help.  Sometimes I know the
answer but the client needs the reassurance of multiple responses.  It makes
a real difference to her to know her question has been pondered and
addressed by specialists around the world.  All of medicine should operate
this way!

And Lactnet's fifth gift is the forum it offers me in which to give back.
It gives every one of us the chance to be one small brick in the huge wall
of information that is the Lactnet archives.

I'm honestly not sure what I'd be doing now, if it weren't for my 3,000 best
friends.
--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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