Nurses

So I was supposed to go out today, meet up with a friend got my makeup on and everything... but my lungs just aren't working, and I am not hungry which I am sure it means I have the start of Pneumonia!! Which I am trying to kick ASAP as I want to see my friend like now. So I of course call my nurse, by MY nurse yes I mean Wonder Woman, the take no crap from me, licensed and can tell whats going on in a heart beat. I seriously think she senses it. Especially calling at 2 telling  her I haven't eaten since 10 and not to mention my lips are white... Still have barely ate but at the end of the day the nurse KNOWS what is going on and knows what need to be done and has to make decisions that will keep me out of the hospital.

Having three chronic illnesses and two that directly affect my heart and lungs I am very dependent on nurses. Though they have fully trained me on how to run my own IV, set up my own nebs, and drawing meds from a bottle. You name it she has probably taught me how to do it, so I can care for myself as I am independent. However there are times where I am completely dependent on a nurse. Hands down need their help to do just about everything.

Living with heart and lung disease means you spend a lot of time around hospitals, doctor offices, labs, and infusion centers. The heart of all of this is the nurse. Who now a days I am convinced are angels. Now growing up around the nurse, you get use to certain things. Like them not always being there for holiday, I mean hospitals do not close because its Christmas. Patients come first at all times. Whether its holding your hand, or working on you. They NEED you. They might be the only comfort they have that day. You also learn to be empathetic to people and their suffering and not to mention taking for granted they can fix most problems hands down. Never realized this until a friend pointed it out. And really health insurance has a nursing line?? What ever happened to calling Wonder Woman during a crisis. Oh... Right... not everyone is blessed to have a family member be a nurse.

Wonder Woman isn't the only nurse to have an impact on my life. Now I am not going to name anyone by name, even if I do remember them as this blog is anonymous. Many nurse have walked in while I am dieing and I am not exaggerating. I would be in a hospital bed fighting for my next breath as nurses gather around to stabilize me so the doctor can make the calls. From what I am told, there are policies in place for this scenario. I had a nurse cut her hand on a glass vial,  treat me with gloves on as to protect me and her, and then clean up her hand. This says something about nurses, she put her pain aside to make sure I had the meds I needed to ensure the fact I am breathing. She was in my room quite a bit that night.

I was in another time, where my lungs were just bad, had a horrid infection and ended being admitted to trauma and then a room, for respiratory distress, my nurse had me stable, and to distract from the pain and as much as I hate the word suffering. She showed me her tattoos and talked to me about her daughter. As I have tattoos myself this was a guaranteed distraction waiting to be transferred as there was nothing left she can do unless I go down hill which we always pray we don't. I got up to the floor that night, I was bit heart broking texting  the All Father assuring him I was ok. After a night of hourly treatments, it was time for blood work, the nurse worked on my PICC and talked to me and assured me someone would love me in spite of my disease, which was not wrong.

I have had a nurse hold my hand for an hour before to keep me calm. She has stayed with me many years later and often think of her and just wish I could thank her. I mean an hour of holding my hand is huge for someone who is the most scary position they could imagine. Being alert thru a deadly dysrhymia which they got sorted out. She stayed calm and did everything she was supposed to and held my hand.

Which brings  me to my last nurse though I could write about more like the nurse who french braided my hair to keep it out of the stickies after my first MRT, but what comes to my mind is the second MRT, I was doing an IV infusion, and i reacted to the drug, almost instantly my breathing went terrible, and I thought it was nerves until Wonder Woman said something about how I looked. This poor nurse stopped her busy day to hold my hand and assure me I was OK, while they worked on me, and pulled all the meds out my PICC and flushed to ensure no more meds were going thru my line. She dried my tears, got me oxygen, and held my hand.

I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for nurses running to my aid, as my first line of defense. Doing what nurses do, listen to my lungs, and heart to make sure I am getting air movement and I am still in rhythm, paging doctors, and doing their skill. Then going above and beyond to hold my hand and dry my tears. Nurses are super heroes with angels wings. I wish I could  go back and hug every last nurse and thank them for keeping me a live and sacraficing everything to ensure I see the next day let alone the next minute.

As a patient to every nurse I truly thank you for what you have done for me.
Love,
~Poppet