I found something that helps my insomnia, extra strength Sleepy Time tea. Sadly tonight we are out creamer and without it tastes like grass. So no tea tonight.
I thought I might share embarrassing moments that happened throughout my career. Nurses are known for their inappropriate humour, but all said and done you must laugh or you will not survive in healthcare. You will either burn out, go insane, or cry every day. Sadly I think my husband tends to lean towards me being insane.
I was working urgent care, and it was near Christmas and we were doing secret Santa. Each of us were to bring a Christmas stocking to hang so the gifts could be placed in them. It was just a day or two before the secret Santa week was to begin, and one of the nurses had not brought in her stocking yet. We kept reminding her to bring one in but she kept forgetting. I discharged a male patient that had been there for ingrown toenails. He hadn’t taken off his shoes and socks so the doc could see him. When I went back in the room to prep for next patient I notice he had left his socks behind. Now these socks were very stretched out and had holes in them. I suddenly had a great idea. I was going to use one of the socks for the nurse that never brought one in. These socks were so far past their prime that I never thought anyone would want them back. I threw one away, the other one I wrote the nurses name on with black sharpie and hung it up with all the Christmas stockings. Well that nurse did not find it particularly funny. All of the other nurses thought it was hilarious. Well here is embarrassing part, about 30 minutes after the patient went home, his wife called saying they were coming back for the socks. The registration desk made me talk to her and I had to tell a little white lie and said the socks weren’t there. She was not happy at all, well I could of dug the one out of trash but I couldn’t do anything about the one that said Carrie in sharpie. I guess you never know what is important to some people. We shared many laughs over the next few days over the sock incident. The good thing is the nurse finally brought in her Christmas stocking.
In an earlier post I mention pole dancing, well here is the story behind that. It again happened in urgent care. There was a room that was directly across from the nurses station. We tried to not use that room unless absolutely necessary because the patient could hear everything that was said at nurses station. I was not great for trying to maintain HIPPA. Well it was a busy evening and someone had put a mom with about 7 or 8 year old boy. Somehow the subject of pole dancing came up, can’t recall the how exactly it did. Well there were 3 or 4 us in the nurses station talking about pole dancing, how it was done, how IV poles could be used for dancing and the other aspects of pole dancing. When suddenly the door to room opened and the mom came out very unhappy that her son was able to hear all was being said and could we please stop it. One nurse literally ran off and two of us stayed behind very red faced to apologize to the mom. Again the reason we tried to not use that room. I still frequently think of that evening and laugh about it.
It was Christmas time and I was working long term care. One thing the facility did was to make sure that every resident got at least one present. We also had a rehab unit, so patients would come and go frequently. We had some generic gifts that could be given to males or females. The activity director gave me a present to take to one of the male rehab patients. I dropped it off, we chittered chattered for a few minutes and then I went on my way. It was about 15 minutes later when a CNA came and told me that patient wanted to see me. I went to his room and he was smiling and laughing. I had given a pair of slippers to a man that was a bilateral above the knee amputee. Thank goodness he had a good sense of humor and wasn’t bothered by it. He gave them back and I got him a different gift. We had several laughs over the next few days till he was discharged.
I shared that I worked night shift for many years on med\surg unit and how tired I was some nights. This story was probably as embarrassing for the patient as it was for me. Early morning we completed all the blood sugars and gave the appropriate insulin. Now remember this was late 80’s , early 90’s before insulin pens or the fancy lancets we have now. We used the pale blues that had the little round end that twisted off. I did the patients blood sugar and left to go get the insulin. When I came back with the insulin the patient says to me ” I took my Valium you left here for me.” I never left a Valium there for him to take, he swallowed the round plastic end of the lancet, thinking it was Valium. Embarrassing phone call I had to make to the doc and explain what happened. Fortunately the doc laughed and said it should pass with no problems.
There are many more but these are the ones that have stuck with me through out many years. Laughter is the best medicine for nurses no matter now inappropriate it might be. It is survival.
Thanks again for reading
Ann