intensively caring

Today, after throwing up bile, a man asked me to hold his hand.

It was my first day in the intensive care unit. Unlike my first day on med-surg, I was assigned an awesome nurse who really wanted to teach me. She went over everything, the patient's pathology, the meds, and the incredible technology. It was a great learning experience, and it's only beginning. We did a procedure to measure the pressure within his abdomen, infused platelets and red blood cells, and suctioned another patient's endotracheal tube. A very exciting day, and I was only there for three hours.

This afternoon I ran into a friend in my neighborhood, who asked me what was most exciting part of my day. I told her about holding my patient's hand. Here's what happened.

He threw up. I cleaned the tub. He threw up. I cleaned the tub. He threw up. I cleaned the tub.

My patient is a 45 year old man, diagnosed with some bad stuff. As I was standing there rinsing out the tub for the third time, I heard him banging on the bed rail and turned to see him. He was motioning with his hand for me to come over. Shaking, he grabbed my hand and whispered, "Stay here with me." So I planted my feet firmly and held his hand. It was a real manly handshake, ya know, the kind you do before a chest bump. We never got to the chest bump. Always the nursing student, I asked him to squeeze my hand, part of a neurological test. He gave me a good squeeze, and kept on squeezing, like a slow, steady heart beat. I asked him if he was scared. He said he was. I told him it would be alright. We held hands like that for a good, long five minutes.

Later, when I was leaving my shift, he told me I was a good man, and that I would make a good nurse.

So that's intensive care. I'll be working there for four more weeks, so stay tuned!

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break time

Not much to report this week. We finished up our ten-week rotation, and are heading into a much deserved two-week break. Just one more final exam to go and then we're done with our first of three semesters!

I'm going camping next weekend with my men's group, and then it's back to New York for my brother's wedding. The night before I leave NY I'll be getting together with a few friends from high school. We haven't seen each other in over 10 years! Well, I guess it's really more like 25 years. That would make me how old?

What I've learned so far working in the hospital:

• Sick people aren't so scary after all.
• Older adults are really, really special people.
  
• It's easy to make a mistake administering meds if you're not careful.
• It's easy to be careful administering meds.
• Some nurses are nice; some nurses are not so nice.
• Some people are nice; some people are not so nice. (Wait, I already knew that)
• Poop ain't so bad.
• People don't like having a plastic tube shoved down their nose.
• Hospitals may generate more pollution than the automobile industry.
• It doesn't matter (to me) if I don't get A's, as long as I'm learning and having more fun than misery.
• As a nurse, it's good to wake somebody up and see how they're doing. They may not seem happy about it, but it's what they need in the long run.
• In two months as a nursing student, I handled more drugs than I did in four years as a high school student. Well, not exactly, but we sure do dish out a lot of drugs!
• Sick people need nurses.
• Nurses need sick people.
• I guess that breaks down to, "We all need each other."
  
• Cool.
  

So what did YOU learn last week?

Macho Nurse out.

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