‘A MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT’
My lifes’ work and passion was that of being a nurse. However even if passionate about something, you can make a major blunder that you remember forever and wish had never happened.
In one particular hospital, on one particular unit,I was the ‘new kid on the block’ as they say.I knew absolutely nobody in the town, my husband and I had just moved there six weeks or so before this most embarrassing incident. We were newly married, my husband was away quite a bit so I decided to get myself a dog and a job, and I did.
The little hospital had a large male ward, a medium sized female ward and private rooms. The nurse in charge told me to look after the private room patients and turned me loose. I went around and met my patients, all very nice people, and one man in particular was very jovial and interesting. He had been a patient for a long time and was perched up in bed quite happy to meet a new person, something to break the monotony of daily hospital life.
A few hours later the gentleman called and asked to be assisted to get out of bed, seems that was his evening routine. So off I trotted to help him. Wheelchair at the ready, he knew his special way to do things, and he patiently chatted away while I undertook a thorough search of his room. I could not find two slippers, one slipper was there, but I sure as heck could not find the other one. Finally I was on my hands and knees,when what should I see but the patients head upside down looking at me as he draped himself over the bed and peeked to see what this new nurse was doing down there.
“Whatcha doin’ down there dear?” he inquired of his red-faced nurse.
“I’m looking for your other slipper,” I managed to reply.
“Oh dear,” he says, “I don’t need another slipper.”
Never one to give up I asked him why he didn’t need his pair of slippers.
“Well ya see dear, it’s like this, I only got one leg!”he yelled.
I climbed out from under the bed, the patients’ laughter brought all kinds of other staff members to his room, where I stood, suffering the worst humiliation I had ever suffered.
I never did live that one down, and never could forget it. After that the patient would call me ‘Lady Slipper’, and we became good buddies for the remainder of his hospital stay. And in retaliation, I named him “Mr.Foot!”
Sometimes you just have to give in to it all.
Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe, RN.Ret’d. (448 words)
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"A most embarassing moment!"
Shoal Harbour Newfoundland is tucked up in the bottom of Trinity Bay.
Shoal Harbour is a little community tucked up in the bottom of Trinity Bay, protected by a large island called Random Island. It is a beautiful little place, we built a retirement home here and I think it is a dream come true after all our years of a life for my husband in the RCMP and for me, in nursing. I missed nursing terribly at first and would not come back to Nfld.until I had myself reinstated as a member of the Reg.Nurses Assoc.here. Then we came back, bought a cabin cruiser, and a skidoo, built a new house, and I never had time to go back to work!!*lol* I miss it less now but write about it a lot.I have an article coming out in Medhunters magazine this spring. By writing about it and supporting other nurses I consider it a continuance of my career.
