What'd you do this week? Here's what I did:
Sunday: work 630-7
- had a patient say to me "I really trust you"
- had a patient go into vtach just raising his head to take a drink because his heart is so weak
Monday: Chemotherapy 9-130
- decided it is very disturbing to watch somebody in a gown and monster gloves hook something up to another human being that can't even be taken out of the bag it is in
Tuesday: Breast Center 9-4
- held a frightened woman's hand while she had a breast biopsy done
Wednesday: work 630-7
- coaxed frightened patients it really was ok to get out of bed, even though their chests had been cut open
- collaborated with my fellow nurses to send a singing-fat-suited-lady birthday telegram to one of the heart surgeons
Thursday: Breast Conference (big meeting with every type of oncology MD) 7-8
- listened to a big group of burly men and a few women talk about how to best preserve and protect women's lives
Radiation 830-12
- entertained the thought that the patients in the radiation department are probably 2nd only to Walter Reed in missing body parts
- concluded that I would have to think long and hard and long about whether I'd personally have radiation or chemo
- was disturbed again by watching a person get shut in a room behind a foot thick gigantic door so they could be torched by a beam
Friday: Home Heath 9-4
- asked for directions at what was called a gas station in Whitwell (pronounced as a one syllable word sounding something like Whutwull) but was hardly able to understand the answer
- walked into some houses where I was more scared to touch anything than in the hospital
- got hugged by a smiling retared girl who had something unmentionable all over her shirt but I just smiled and hugged her right back subconsciously thinking "I'm going to wash this white lab coat as soon as I get home"
* Decided nursing can either be the most rewarding or depressing field depending on your perspective
2 comments:
what about the highlight of your week when i came to town for a falafel?
Wow. Jobs can be crazy huh? If I was sick and having chemo, I'd want you as my nurse. :)
Last week I edited a few press releases on the crisis in Sudan, and did a book review for our online magazine on "Desert Flower" by Waris Dirie. You need to read it. FGM will have a whole new, terrible perspective. Then I "sold babies" as Erik likes to joke. :) I love my job. I love helping people. I guess the difference between us is that I do it via writing and phoning and talking to the other side of the world and you do it by helping someone's body and mind right in front of you.
PS What do you want for your birthday?
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