Tribute to Nurses
I've been unfortunate enough to have needed the care of nurses on more than one occasion and fortunate enough that there is such a profession. There have been many times when I've talked about how great a good nurse is, so now I want to put it down in writing as best I can.
I've been admitted to the hospital four times in my life. My last stay was 5 days long and I just got out a few days ago actually, which is why all this is on my mind. My longest stay was three weeks in the ICU, but I guess my most significant one was the first time I was admitted, where I stayed for 19 days after having surgery and a lot of complications. That was the time that I was least able to help myself and needed more assistance than ever before or ever since. When I was discharged, I was so weak that I wasn't able to walk. I had to work myself up from a wheelchair, to a walker and eventually to a cane.
I was so weak that if I slid down in bed a little, I couldn't move myself. I couldn't reach any parts of my body below arms length, and that only in front. If I had more than a sheet lying on me, I felt like I was being pinned down by a boulder. I could go on, but the point of this is that I couldn't do anything for myself.
That is where a good nurse becomes your guardian angel, benevolent fairy, loving mother, your bodyguard, your strongest advocate and many other things. You have many reasons to be depressed. If you had major surgery you soon learn that that alone is enough to traumatize your body and to randomly send you crying after the fact. Odds are that if you needed surgery in the first place, you're not in best condition to begin with. Though surgery might have saved your life, it might also have brought about big changes. Add to that mind and mood altering medications, and maybe a physical state like I was in, where you can't do much of anything for yourself, and the odds are you're not feeling very good about anything, least of all yourself.
Enter your Nurse. The gentle helping touch of a good Nurse lifts your spirits. Her benevolence can warm your bones and psyche in the loveliest ways. She understands your plight better than even your close friends or doctors. She shields you from harm or pain as best she can, regardless if it's physical, emotional, or something as simple as embarrassment. When you are really sick, you walk in the loneliest place there is. Yet, your nurse will find you in the depths of your pain and abstract loneliness and grasp for your hand. All the medications and treatments in the world would mean nothing, if it wasn't accompanied by her helping loving hand.
If you are sick enough and your Nurse is good enough, I guarantee you that you will feel strong affection for him or her regardless of what size, shape, gender and level of attractiveness your Nurse is. He or she becomes your Hero. And although she doesn't know it, and you might forget it after a while, and though short lived, she will play one of the most influential roles in your life. She has the power to change lives for the better on a daily basis and when the use of that power is motivated by her good will it showers those under her care with a healing power as, if not more, important than the medications you might be getting.
Needless to say there are plenty of bad nurses too. And as much as a good nurse can lift you up, a bad one can tear you down without knowing it. Thankfully, at least in my experience so far, the are enough good nurses to make the bad ones bearable.
As for me, I want to actually do something for the nurses who helped me though this stay. Donuts, thank you cards, I don't know. I could offer them all a free consultation on top of everything, but I just don't know what's acceptable and what would be most appreciated. I'll have to think about it for a few days and come up with something. I just don't want time to pass again and me to think in the future "I wish I had...".
If any of you have any ideas, please email or message me. I respond to all emails. If I don't respond, I didn't get it.
I've been admitted to the hospital four times in my life. My last stay was 5 days long and I just got out a few days ago actually, which is why all this is on my mind. My longest stay was three weeks in the ICU, but I guess my most significant one was the first time I was admitted, where I stayed for 19 days after having surgery and a lot of complications. That was the time that I was least able to help myself and needed more assistance than ever before or ever since. When I was discharged, I was so weak that I wasn't able to walk. I had to work myself up from a wheelchair, to a walker and eventually to a cane.
I was so weak that if I slid down in bed a little, I couldn't move myself. I couldn't reach any parts of my body below arms length, and that only in front. If I had more than a sheet lying on me, I felt like I was being pinned down by a boulder. I could go on, but the point of this is that I couldn't do anything for myself.
That is where a good nurse becomes your guardian angel, benevolent fairy, loving mother, your bodyguard, your strongest advocate and many other things. You have many reasons to be depressed. If you had major surgery you soon learn that that alone is enough to traumatize your body and to randomly send you crying after the fact. Odds are that if you needed surgery in the first place, you're not in best condition to begin with. Though surgery might have saved your life, it might also have brought about big changes. Add to that mind and mood altering medications, and maybe a physical state like I was in, where you can't do much of anything for yourself, and the odds are you're not feeling very good about anything, least of all yourself.
Enter your Nurse. The gentle helping touch of a good Nurse lifts your spirits. Her benevolence can warm your bones and psyche in the loveliest ways. She understands your plight better than even your close friends or doctors. She shields you from harm or pain as best she can, regardless if it's physical, emotional, or something as simple as embarrassment. When you are really sick, you walk in the loneliest place there is. Yet, your nurse will find you in the depths of your pain and abstract loneliness and grasp for your hand. All the medications and treatments in the world would mean nothing, if it wasn't accompanied by her helping loving hand.
If you are sick enough and your Nurse is good enough, I guarantee you that you will feel strong affection for him or her regardless of what size, shape, gender and level of attractiveness your Nurse is. He or she becomes your Hero. And although she doesn't know it, and you might forget it after a while, and though short lived, she will play one of the most influential roles in your life. She has the power to change lives for the better on a daily basis and when the use of that power is motivated by her good will it showers those under her care with a healing power as, if not more, important than the medications you might be getting.
Needless to say there are plenty of bad nurses too. And as much as a good nurse can lift you up, a bad one can tear you down without knowing it. Thankfully, at least in my experience so far, the are enough good nurses to make the bad ones bearable.
As for me, I want to actually do something for the nurses who helped me though this stay. Donuts, thank you cards, I don't know. I could offer them all a free consultation on top of everything, but I just don't know what's acceptable and what would be most appreciated. I'll have to think about it for a few days and come up with something. I just don't want time to pass again and me to think in the future "I wish I had...".
If any of you have any ideas, please email or message me. I respond to all emails. If I don't respond, I didn't get it.
posted by dazzlingdimwit at 6:33 PM
1 Comments:
Amen to that! Nurses have also attended to me during failing health and I can't express enough my gratification for receiving their support. <3
The only thing I'm saddened by is ppl who opportunistically join the nursing profession, and not by virtue.
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