Something we can relate

Yes, I'm sure many of you who come here may have witnessed a scene like this one in this recent Well article from the NY Times.

Lots of drama. Lots of noise. Lots of "hell no" going on in the background,  even if no one explicitly says it.
Reminded me of Head Nurse's recent post of the cheerful ED nurse.

Makes me miss the drama of the clinic I worked in a few years ago with the character who screamed he was in so much pain until he got shipped off via ambulance and got the Dilaudid. Our character hadn't used that in the Washington ED before, so staff got him/her the goods.

The greatest generation among us

Mr. N. was a character. From the moment the referral nurses talked about him, they weren't really sure if he'd even make it to the Hotel. He was old. He was sick. He was unconscious. He was deaf as a post without his hearing aids. He was as we say, "day to day."

He lived and for a while, Mr. N. inhabited a bright sunny room, where he had a good view of the construction going on nearby. Once he got his hearing aids, he talked. He was very opinionated, having worked for one utility, he had a pretty good idea what was going on outside his window.

In a way, Mr. N. reminded me of my father. He had the same ethnic look and the same blue eyes. He also had a gravelly voice of a man who smoked a few Chesterfields in his day. We talked about a number of things once we connected. I could always ask if it was really true what the guys said about his battle (the "no purple hearts" part).

Mr. N. even introduced me to his children. I got to meet all of them, including the bossy daughter ("she runs everything" he said). They were nice. They were amazed that their dad did as well as he did.

One day, Mr. N. came to see me, looking for change to get a soda. I didn't have any so I checked his chart.I realized he was not diabetic, so I offered him the soda Bubba made me take to work, in case I got snowed in.

His eyes brightened when he saw it. "Ooh!" he said. "The good stuff. Sierra Mist." He thanked me and rolled away down the hall for a cup of ice.

Mr. N. came by to see me when it was time to discharge. He said, "I hope to see you again. Thanks for everything." and winked. He left the next day to go to the nursing home.

We were told the other day that Mr. N's "bossy" daughter called. He had passed away in his sleep that day. His weak heart finally gave out. This week, with more than 500 others each day, he joined history. 

And I am thankful I have one more story about World War II to cherish, told by a man who made history in the Battle of the Bulge.

Gotta love the pharmacist

The Cynical Pharmacist, that is. I follow him on Facebook, and I enjoy many a rant, er, post about the vagaries of serving the public from behind the counter.

This post was there today (see below). Since I deal with specialists regularly in the SU, it was quite entertaining. Unfortunately, the infectious disease, renal and transplant folks were left out. Sorry docs! (I love you, but many folks never know you exist until they get superbugs, bad kidneys or need a liver).

CP, I am thankful you are here. Here in RehabLand, we love our pharmacy folks. They are the only ones with a sense of humor as macabre as ours.

Enjoy!
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Thanks to Shiraz for sharing...

The American Medical Association has weighed in on Obama's new health care package.

The Allergists were in favor of scratching it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.

Meanwhile, Obstetricians felt certain everyone was laboring under a misconception, while the Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.

Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, "Oh, grow up!"

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.

Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing and the Internists claimed it would indeed be a bitter pill to swallow.

The Plastic Surgeons opined that this proposal would "put a whole new face on the matter."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.

Anesthesiologists thought the entire idea was a gas, and those lofty Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.

In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the assholes in Washington.

Thank you Grumpy

I'd like to take this to work and put it on my door.

Please try to keep in mind that medicine is a team sport. When you view other doctors (or nurses, or whatever) as the opposition, the only person who really loses is the patient.

You can read more of this Grumpy post on his blog.

Hits too close to home...

In so many ways, I can't even count.

Thanks Grumpy for your post about Karl. Brain cancer is a bugaboo I hope, one day, will be resolved and cured.

If you want peace...

MJ, I don't have to agree with everything, but I do agree that social justice is largely misconstrued in this day and age as socialism.

Why is taking care of people such a radical notion?

There but for...

The grace of God go I...the old saying goes.

I absolutely loved the following line in one of KevinMD's posts entitled, What this doctor learned when he was a patient.

Dr. D’s orthopedist has about the communication skills of a mentally-retarded clam.

Sometimes we nurses say the same thing...about everything I just mentioned. Thanks KevinMD having such a great guest post. It's a great story.

Bubbling...

Not frothing, mind you, bubbling, like a nice pudding cooking on the stove.

There's a post in my mind that I just can't get out. I'm hoping my writer's block is not contagious, nor long-lasting. Grad school started for me yesterday and the assignment list is pretty long.

Off to clean and cook on today's day off...more to come, so come on back a little later.

Channeling Change of Shift

Yes, it's that time again, and the latest and greatest Change of Shift is up at Florence dot com.

Yours truly will be the next host on June 25, so if you're feeling so inclined, send us your nursing or nursing-related stories. Thanks Kim!

I'm looking for real people, people, so put those fingers to the keyboard and tell us about life in your world. Nursing is 24/7 and that includes holidays. While mine's not a holiday edition per se, feel free to drop in your favorite working the holidays stories, if you're so inclined.

Wanna submit? Check out the submission info via this handy, dandy BlogCarnival link or e-mail me at hotelrehab at nyms dot net.

Ahoy! CoS is up and running, mate!

Yes, it's Talk like a Pirate day today, and so the latest installment of Change of Shift has a pirate theme over at crzegrl's place.

This swabby even has a post noted there. Thanks a ton, mate!