Tough Weekend

I had one of those weekend stretches of work where you just want to come home, kiss your husband and get on your knees and thank God for a healthy family.

A young mom with three kids of her own, one of who is disabled because of a traumatic birth decided to have gastric bypass surgery two months ago. Poor thing has had complication after complication ever since. To top it off she was admitted by the least competent physician at our hospital. We nurses fought for the past five days to make sure this poor woman got the care she needed and deserved. She will never know how hard we worked on her behalf, or how terribly wrong things could have gone had we not advocated on her behalf.

Another young mom of three kids was admitted and was showing signs of a heart attack, yet her risk factors for a heart attack were obsolete. It was all a mystery until the cardiologist went in to take a peek at what was going on. What he found was a lethal shredding of her main coronary artery. They worked on her for several hours with a large team of doctors. Unbeknownst to the patient, family, or physicians there were three of us nurses who stopped cold in doing our own work and pleaded for God's mercy and hand to be upon this woman's heart and the physicians' hands. In the end she was OK.

Another case was a worn out fifty some year old. Worn out from years of hard work, alcohol, meth, and a hard life on the edge. He really didn't need to be hospitalized for the condition that he came in with. What he really needed was some food and sleep. The physician caring for him kept making up excuses as to why the man's hospital stay needed to be extended, and we nurses did not argue the point. From the time I saw him on Friday until yesterday, with sleep, hydration and food this man looked like a new person. His eyes were clear and hopeful. He will undoubtedly go back to his lifestyle, but for these five days his body knew rest and his heart felt the love from the nurses who cared for him.

I wanted to come home and kiss these ones too, are they not the cutest things you have ever seen?

So I'll leave you with this picture of Kenzie picking her nose and a couple thoughts:

Selfishly take care of you and this body you have been given

Selflessly take care of your family and loved ones

Make the most of ever opportunity to take care of the strangers in your midst,

the ones who may never know you or of your kind acts.