Who else would wipe your butt? I know, eeewww, but it's true. How many times do you know someone who has told you all kind of hospital stories and leaves out the crusty stuff ? They bathe you, wipe you, listen to you, make your bed, and do just about anything to get you through a day in a place you may not want to be. I say may not because some people like being there. Some are chronic, as in hypocondriacs and need that attention. Who else gives ya sympathy when no one around you will?
Years ago when I was in a hospital in California I had a tiny, tiny nurse with a tiny voice to match. I was lying on my side feeling down because I was away from my two children. She came to me and say, aww honey you look so sad, are you okay? I don't like that kind of talk, makes a person feel worse. I could feel tears, but wishing she would leave I was able to hold back, and then, then she did the unbearable; She patted my shoulder and saw oh sweetie it's okay if you cry, I know you miss your babies. Yup, that did it. What a big bawl baby I was. Now if she just left me alone I would have been fine, but no, she had to go and act sweet.
But that's who they are, most of them anyway. Another nurse at a local hospital one day woke me up after a back surgery by punching my thigh. Yes, she punched me. I yelled hey what are you doing. This young woman was very pretty, but also very bitter. She had cancel a while ago and her husband left her while they were skiing. Her illness and divorce were so fresh I found out I wasn't the only one she was taking her anger out on. Standing over me and smiling she said, hey sleepyhead, you're not dying, wake up! What the hell was that. I ignored her, turned over and she knuckled me hard in the other thigh. At that time in my life I was still very much a weenie, took a lot of crap from people. She said I'm getting your wash basin, and you better be awake when I get back. I was. Sitting up I rang the buzzer and another nurse came in asking me what I needed that she wasn't my nurse and...and I said please, make that other nurse stay away from me. She hit me twice and...just then she walked in. I was lucky though. The last nurse took her out in the hall, and she came back in to assist me and then told me about the first nurse and all her problems.
I had such great treatment that morning after the first nurse, and I doubt it was to make up for the first person, but knew that I was usually treated well. The doctors come in, visit a little and leave you back to the nurses. Most take into consideration all of your issues. If you complain a lot, if your used to being spoiled, if you have a big mouth, if you don't complain enough. I, at that time fit into the last category. Having the second surgery on my back, I was made to get up the second day and sit in a chair which itself had an angle that sloped down and back. The nurse said she'll be back in ten minutes. Well that passed twenty minutes later and she wasn't back.
Almost forty minutes later still not back my room mate and I could hear the nurses arguing down the hall. My Room mate was a wonderful lady from Yugoslavia with a nice husband who visited her twice a day. He greeted me each time, asked if I needed anything and was just a pleasure to see them both together. Well I tried calling the nurse, and after that forty minutes my face was getting white and I was having a hard time breathing. My room mate gets up, holds onto the beds, and makes it to the door, calling and cursing, hey you damn people she said, where the hell are you when we need you?
My nurse came back saying she had an emergency, and apologized, but my room mate wouldn't let her get away with that. She said oh no you didn't, you were with that doctor, I saw you and am reporting you, who do you think...on and on she went. Other than that one time, that young lady was my nurse and treated me very good, but her head was elsewhere. She was involved with a married doctor.
The next day she came in my room to talk to me again and apologize again to both me and my room mate. She ended up telling us she had quite a few flings with the doctors and how messed up her personal life was. With her strong accent, my room mate said, well maybe you get your head out of the sand, away from this hospital, and think over your life, they are just using you! Strong words, but they helped. That nurse gave her notice the next day. She wasn't there when I left almost two weeks later.
All in all Nurses do a great job and where we would be without them?
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