Yesterday, one of my nurse friends was crying. She wasn't out and out
sobbing, but she was teary and you could hear that mournful warble in
her voice. I was shocked. She is the toughest, most confident person I
know. She laughs out loud in a Edith Prickley kind of way. She tells the
doctors what to do for God's sake. But yesterday she came down the hall
and said, "I don't usually do this, I don't usually do this."
Down
the corridor in room 239, the room with leather couches and the picture
of a radiant Jesus embracing an old man like he was a long lost friend,
a patient passed away. Terrible, a mother of three, only 47 years old.
Ordinary, cancer kills like this every day. It's terrible because
a cancer death is painful and drug-fogged. It's ordinary because the
place I work is where most cancer victims come to die.
Today,
this same nurse was back to her usual way telling the new locum where
to find lab results and then telling him to walk around the counter and
get them himself because she was busy dealing with another patient who
wanted to go outside for a smoke, but couldn't find a blanket to drape
over his basketball swollen feet.
"What year do you think this is?" she said. "1950? Pfft Ha! The last time I checked those tough old rooster legs of yours were still working. Pfft Ha! You just strut around the counter and fetch those results yourself."
It struck me kind of funny
kind of funny certainly
how at the end of every hard earned day
people find some reason to believe.
-Bruce Springsteen
And for the uninitiated, here is Edith Prickley and her depressed sister Edna. (It doesn't sound funny, but it is.) Edith was easily my favourite SCTV character.
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i cant imagine how you could cope in such a job unless you could find a way to distance yourself from the emotions - but i guess they would still creep up on you
ReplyDeleteBruce is definately still The Boss
This post had everything. The juxtaposed descriptions of your nurse friend over two days. The evidence of compassion you, she and all who work where you do must have to function and be productive. Bruce Springsteen has given me reason to believe since the early 80s. And your clip of the Prickley sisters left me smiling. I had a rough night. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAs I think I said once before, you (and your colleagues) do very important work.
ReplyDeleteDFTP: the only way to cope is to dive right in.
ReplyDeleteChrisy: Edith Prickley is a wise woman.
DBS: thanks, but anyone else would do the same thing.