When I was in nursing school, I was doing my rotation in OB/L&D. I was still single with no children of my own, so to me, the Miracle of Birth was awe inspiring. My first patient was a 16 year old girl. Her boyfriend was 15 and looked 12. She was fairly well along in labor, and she wanted her boyfriend to rub her back. When he stepped up to the bed and put his hands on her, she screamed "Get away from me!". So, he would back away. One minute later, she asked him to rub her back again. He stepped up to the bed and laid his hands on her back and again she screamed "Get awayyyyy!". This happened about three more times until the poor kid was terrified and didn't know if he was coming or going! Another L&D patient I remember was an 18 year old girl. She was quiet and timid. She was married to a loud mouthed old coot about 40 years older than her. They lived way back in the mountains, and he acted as if she were his property. She suffered through labor barely making a sound. When the nurses asked her a question, he would answer for her. After the doctor delivered the baby and was stitching up her episiotomy, the husband ambled over to the doctor and grinned, "Hey doc, while you're in there, stitch her up a couple more stitches. Make 'er good and tight". The look on the doctor's face was priceless. My first job out of school was at a nursing home. I became close with a patient there who had had several strokes. She was aphasic. When she wanted something, she would say "GaGaGa". That could mean anything from "I'm thirsty" to "I need to pee". When she became frustrated, "GaGaGa" would escalate to "GAGAGAAAAA". She was flaccid on her right side and was a brittle diabetic to boot. One night when I went to check her blood sugar, she did not look right. She would not respond and her face was drained of color. Her blood sugar was fine. At first, I thought that she was having another stroke, but as I listened to her apical heart rate, I realized that she was having an MI. She was a DNR. I sat with her until her heart slowed down to a flutter and then stopped. Then I bowed my head and cried. A few years later I was working in a hospital on the skilled nursing floor. It was my first hospital job and it was my first day of orientation. The day had been extremely busy and we had not eaten, so my preceptor told me to go down to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. I was gone about 20 minutes. When I came back to the floor, I looked around and couldn't find my preceptor. Someone said, "Oh, I think she is in Room 63". As I headed toward the room, I saw about five family members standing outside of the room. Still oblivious, I entered the room to find two nurses, two CNA's and the respiratory therapist surrounding the bed. I glanced at the patient, and said, "Ew, He doesn't look very good, does he?". The CNA's looked at me like I was an idiot and replied, "That's because he's dead". Ohhhhh! He was a DNR, so a Code Blue wasn't called. When I came back to the floor, no one thought to tell me that my patient had expired. Since then, I have become a much more experienced nurse, thank God. A few years later, I started working on a Med-Surg floor. I remember the 18 year old IV drug user whose arm was so infected that for a while, it looked like he might lose it. I remember the 50 year old mom who had not sought out treatment when one of her breasts started to fester with necrotic sores. By the time she did see a doctor, nothing could be done. She died a month later. I also remember the 30 year old guy who was cheating on his wife AND girlfriend with another woman. He had strange sores on his member. The doctor said they looked like bite marks. His member was covered with oozing sores that tested positive for MRSA. The Infectious Disease doctor told him that he may be rendered impotent. I don't know if that was the truth, or if he was just trying to scare the guy. I remember my first HIV positive patient. I remember my first patient with full blown AIDS. I remember the patient that I performed CPR on and her ribs cracked under my hands. I remember feeling like I was going to throw up. I have certainly taken care of my share of interesting patients. I am not sure why I remember some patients, but forget about others. Maybe something about their personality or the story surrounding what brought them to the hospital in the first place has something to do with it. Maybe somewhere deep inside me, it struck a chord and made me learn a lesson about myself. If you want to read more interesting stories about memorable patients, check out this thread.