New TV
David came to our rescue Thursday night. We got a big ass TV and couldn't hook it up right of course. Why do we always think we can do these things. We are very grateful to David because he has been so busy with his show and I know he is exhausted.
We went to his show Wednesday night and of course were blown away. David, you are the best. And thanks to Marsha and Jackson for sharing their lives with us.
Nurse story: This was a very difficult shift. When I came to work there was an intubated patient that Janice was working on and it went down hill from there. I worked on cardiacs and syncopys, people who were in crisis and needed transfered or admitted. It was good hard work but something was missing. All day long, it was like a piece of my puzzle was gone.
Things slowed down just a bit at one point and I looked at the chart rack and noticed one that hadn't been checked on for awhile. There were orders on the chart that hadn't been done. I remembered seeing this little old lady in a wheelchair being pushed down the hall. I got IV fluids and went to her room. She looked like a skeleton: her lips didn't meet when she spoke. As I explained what I was doing and listened to her answers and questions I realized she was sharp. She cried out often from the pain in her emaciated, cancerous body. I cleaned her, gave her fluids, covered her and went to find the Dr. to get an order for pain medication. I eased her pain and prepared her for admission. It struck me as I ministered to her that the missing feeling was gone. Yes! Here I am!
She had a left radical mastectomy and her chest wall was scarred and red. Her left arm was edematous from poor lymph system function. Her records showed that there was cancer in her colon. I wheeled her stretcher to her room; I felt comfortablle, peaceful, fulfilled. While all the "hearts" were screaming out for attention, this little one suffered alone back in a room where we didn't even walk past to glance in at her. Her cries whent unnoticed.
Up in her room, there was no one to help me get her in bed. Another heart patient was in trouble. Either I stayed to take care of this little one or once again she would be the forgotten, unnoticed one. I stayed and gave her the rest of the morphine I carried in my pocket; a poor substitute for a caring touch. Yet I felt like I had done something far more important than I had all day with all the emergency cardiacs and syncopy patients.