All In a Day's Work

Today was a day with my critical hospital patients. My shift, beginning at 6:45AM, started out with a BANG!!! My first patient, unable to speak due to a trach, informed me that he didn't want to be there and he wanted to die. GREATTTTTTTTTTTTT.......
When I meet patients, I don't necessarily know all of the family dynamics. I don't know all the details of what brought them to our hospital. And in some ways, its better not knowing too many details. It's better for my emotional health to be able to separate myself from patients that are on the edge.
After lunch things did get better....I even had the great pleasure of inserting a rectal tube on a patient!! WOOHOO!! I mean, I've put many a foley in both men and women...but never a rectal tube! So now, finally I can say that I had the chance to explore that orafice with a device of torture too! **Special note** Rectal tubes go on the list of things I DO NOT EVER want to have put in my orafice!!!! That goes along with being on a Vent and having to have a nasogastric tube!!!
Something that's funny to me is that all of the patients at the hospital do not wear drawers. This fact does not in any way disturb me or make me uncomfortable. I think absolutely nothing of seeing a person in their birthday suit. HOWEVER....if a person was just sitting around in their underpants at the vein practice, I would be so embarassed and uncomfortable I couldn't hardly stand it!! Makes no sense does it? It is what it is though. We don't sit around in our drawers at home either and Pete never hangs out shirtless. I guess we are just modest folks.
All in all, I like my new job. I really love that I am helping comfort people that are in a really tough spot in their life. I love using the nursing skills that I spent several thousands of dollars on!!! The thought did cross my mind today that maybe I should have gone into floral design or something less stressful!! Nahhhhhhhh