Notes on Nursing

I hope you're enjoying all my posts lately. I have had the stomach flu and don't feel like getting too far from my bed, so I thought I would take the chance and update some things I've been up to lately since I use this as kind of a semi-journal (yes, I am so terrible at keeping a real one). I like to write down the funny stories that happen at work because they are so classic. I hope you don't mind all the stories.

Story #1: I took this cute little 6 year-old black boy (I like to describe them because it helps me remember the situation) back to a patient room to take his vitals before seeing the doctor. I asked his mom, "Does he have any allergies?" He then replied quite seriously, "Yes, I'm allergic to Lama beans!" I said, "Oh really? Lama beans!" His mom said, "No you're not." And then he said, "We they sure smell awful!".... I must say, I've never tasted a "lama" bean.

Story #2: I was, once again, taking the vitals of a 6 year-old, round face, chubby little Asian boy wearing his karate uniform. He struck me as so cute because you usually don't come across overweight Asians and plus, he was so polite to his dad.  While I was taking his blood pressure, he looked at his dad in all seriousness and said, "Dad, while I was at karate today I tried really hard to do a sit up like the other kids." His dad then said, "Yes, you keep trying hard." And he replied, "Oh, I will. One day I'm going to be able to do one."....Working with kids really has it's benefits.

Story #3: This is one from a while back when I was working on the medical/surgical unit of the hospital in Utah. I cam across it and thought it was so funny and I can't believe I'd forgotten it.        So I had this patient who was this older, very big, bed-ridden woman. She had quite the fiery personality.  She also didn't believe in using the call light to ask for my help since she figured her voice was loud enough to just yell for me down the hall if she needed me. I was sitting and charting at the nurse's station and I hear, "Nurse! Nurse! I need you!" So, I run down the hall, thinking something terrible has gone on for her to yell for my help, and found her sitting fine in her bed. 

She then said "I need a razor!" 

Me: "What for?" (we aren't allowed to leave razors in the rooms of patients who are a little unstable for fear of hurting themselves or others)

Patient: "I need to shave my chin!"

Me: (A little confused) "What for?"

Patient: "I have wiskers on my chin and i need to shave them now!" At this point she started to pound her fist on the table with every syllable. She was not messin around about the wiskers.

Me: "I'm sorry, I can't give you a razor."

Patient: "I need it NOW!" and she started to get out of bed and come at me. Holy cow, I was just a little scared. And then all the other nurses came running in to see if I needed help. She just kept yelling, "Shave my chin!"

Now I was not about to shave her chin after our little incident, besides, I had never even shaved a man's face before. So luckily one of the sweet CNA's offered to do it and we had peace and quiet the rest of the day.

Simply stated: The joys of nursing... It may be one of the few professions where you feel you need to wash your hands before going to the bathroom.