The past two days I've gotten to work in the units. As in intensive care and cardiac care. Read: really sick people. In these two days, I've felt more useful treating those 3 patients than I have in a long, long time.
I've decided I like treating non verbal patients. I make them laugh. Really, it's a stitch. They can't tell me I'm being corny, silly or dumb, so I talk and talk. There really is no stopping me when I get going. Then they laugh and I like to pretend it's because they think I'm funny. In reality, it's just because it takes too much effort to mouth "you're ridiculous."
The best is when I'm co-treating with Shorty, a COTA, and we banter back and forth until we make the patient smile. Now, that's some funny stuff. The best is when I make fun of how short she is. That gets 'em every time.
Bring on the lines, leads, and vents! It's on, I'm bringing back purpose to my job and knocking out debility one treatment (and smile) at a time!
In other news, I'm not drinking soda. I normally don't drink a lot of the stuff anyway, but sometimes I get on a roll and then crave the sticky, sweet stuff. I haven't had a Coke or another soda at all this month. All 5 days of it. Pretty good, huh? Now, the hard part is going to be not having a rum and coke the next time I go out. I don't like beer...so I guess I'll be drinking a lot o' wine!
Memory Day: Snapshots
1 day ago
1 comment:
You've found my secret love! I ALSO love to work in the ICU. Working in the LTAC was my favorite travel job just for that reason. It boiled down to the direct interaction, one to one, between me and my patient, talk and touch only, to make them better (or at least to help them improve). It gives you more motivation, doesn't it? All the sudden, you're not watching the clock, trying to count the right number of minutes into the right number of units anymore. I'm going to go write a story on my blog inspired by this...
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