Travel is a vanishing act
We're booking a lot of trips out of the Hotel Rehab in the next few days. Some people have to get out before the insurance runs out. Some people just have plans to be anywhere but with us for the new year.
I'll miss some of these people. We've had some really nice folks lately. Mr. S is the guy, who escorted me and a co-worker to the door late one evening when we got a strange call on the intercom, along with his roommate. "Don't worry, girls", he said, "We're coming with you." Mr. C. is going home with his daughter. I know his roommate will really miss him, too.
The second best comment I've ever gotten as a nurse came today, from Mr. Q., who will also be leaving soon. "You know, you should really be a teacher," he told me, "because you're good at it." I replied, "Mr. Q., did you know that's part of my job as a nurse? We all teach folks how to do stuff, like your ostomy care." I did thank him for the compliment. It's nice to be appreciated and for the patient to be able to perform a task after you demonstrate it and let them do it.
As I watch all the vignettes on the news and on the internet of the famous people who have passed away, I think about more than a few of our people. Two folks died on the unit, and I had taken care of both of them for a good while and grew to like them. A few of the ones who got away and discharged also passed away. A couple just had the look, the look of the despaired, that vacant look that tells you they don't really want to live. Living was a burden from which they wanted relief. They got their wishes, and the rest of us just wonder.
More later. Stay tuned...
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