An Old Nurse's Journal

[Davey Do]

I began working as a CNA at Mom & Pop Nursing Home after graduating from the LPN program in January 1984. It wasn't long before I moved into a position as the MN LPN.

By March I began working at Weed Rover Township Hospital in the psych unit.

The above edited cartoon is one drawn by my younger brother. He said he believed it was what I looked like at work.

[rn1965, ADN]

Oh, Davey, I love reading your posts!

I always tell my children, if I could write a book, nobody would believe the things I have seen (and done).

I started in 1981 as a CNA and I have seen so much change since then. Glass bottled IV's, smoking in rooms (even on the maternity wards), smoking in our nurses lounges, caps, no caps, white stockings, you name it.

Keep them coming, Davey. It brightens my day.

[Davey Do]

Thanks for the interest and kind words, rn1965!

It is interesting to see how much has changed. Pepper The Cat started a great thread some time back which sort of inspired this thread:

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/only-crusty-old-1074818.html

This thread is along the same lines as Pepper The Cat's thread, but more personal and specific situations which took place during my nursing career.

Most of my cartoon journal entries are meant to be humorous, but are now bittersweet. For example, the Jen the Hen cartoon- How would I know that someone I had experiences, frustrations, and fun with as a colleague would end up 30 years later as a patient and I the nurse?

Such things have happened more than I can recall.

Again: I thank you for your post, rn1965, and I will keep them coming!

[Davey Do]

This next journal entry may need some previous explanation in order to be understood, and I included it at this time because it was drawn 20 years ago this date. (Edit: Well, actually 20 years and one month!)

I was working as a community nurse for a mental health clinic and would make visits, much like in home health, to psych patients who had been transitioned into the community after being institutionalized, sometimes, for years.

It was a very hot day and I was making a visit to a trailer to give a rather large female patient her 150 mg of Haldol Decanoate she received every two weeks. The air conditioning, if there was any, was not on in the trailer and I was sweating like a stoker, having a beard and long hair.

As I sat on the couch with my supplies on the coffee table drawing up the injection, a knock came at the door. The caller was a police detective assigned to follow up a complaint the patient had made. The patient was in a position between the detective and me, so he was unaware of my presence throughout the investigation.

The patient's complaint was toward a neighbor and she went into an elaborate delusional process of how the neighbor shot her in the head, killed her, and buried her in the cemetery.

The detective acted professionally and I was very impressed with him as he took notes, asked questions, said he would investigate the complaint and get back to her with the findings.

I wondered what the detective would have thought, had he seen me with my long hair and beard, sweating profusely, drawing something up in a syringe?

"FREEZE DIRTBAG!"?

[Davey Do]

This is a page from a journal which took place during the LPN program:

I came up behind the patient , who was from the state mental institution, and put him in a full nelson. Once I had him subdued, I asked that he calmed down and said that I would release him. I believed, at the the time, that he nodded in agreement.

Security arrived while I had the patient in a hold and once released, they and the nursing staff took over.

It seems the patient was upset because he hadn't had a BM that day. He believed that he needed to have a BM every day. I also learned the patient was both deaf and blind and staff communicated with him by writing letters to words with their finger on the palm of his hand.

The chief of security, I later learned, went to the DON and suggested that I be hired for the new psych unit that was to be opened early the next year. That's when I got my first hospital nursing job!

Years later, I recounted this story to a colleague. He said, "So basically, Dave, you got your first hospital nursing job by sneaking up on a constipated blind deaf guy and putting him in a wrestling hold?"

"Well", I replied, "Yeah!"

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

Davey.... This is hysterical!!! LOL

Keep the memories and stories coming.

[Davey Do]

Thanks, tnbutterfly!

I could do this all day, but I have to go and make more memories by attending a mandatory Dog & Pony Show at Wrongway Regional Medical Center!

But before I do, here's an oft-told story from my student LPN days:

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[Davey Do]

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[Davey Do]

From: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/continuing-to-connect-1164135.html#post9862353

A story I like to tell happen to me when I worked in OR. I had broken into hospital nursing with 2 1/2 years of working in psych as an LPN, but really wanted to get some techy medical experience. I got the position as a scrub nurse and worked at learning the trade. At first I was all thumbs and a supervisor questioned whether this was a right fit for me. I cried and persevered by eating, drinking, and sleeping scrub nursing. Then, it all came together: Three months in and I was a shining star!

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[Davey Do]

This really happened during a class while I was in nursing school.

Well, it was funny at the time.

[Davey Do]

Back in 1987, an extremely hard-of-hearing elderly Patient was to undergo a Colonoscopy. We were in a closed room, so I felt comfortable SPEAKING VERY LOUDLY!

I explained every portion of the procedure in minute detail. The Patient would reply now and then with "uh huh" indicating understanding. FIRST, THE DOCTOR WILL SPREAD YOUR CHEEKS ! "uh huh" THEN THE DOCTOR WILL APPLY THE LUBRICANT! "uh huh" THEN THE DOCTOR WILL INSERT THE SCOPE! "uh huh". Through the entire explanation of the Procedure.

Silently, the stone faced Doctor walked into the room and without a word, sat down, spread the Patient's cheeks, applied lubricant, and readied the scope for insertion.

HERE IT COMES! I yelled.

The Doctor lost it, laughing.

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[Davey Do]

In my journals, I'll jot down funny or interesting situations and later review them and maybe add an image. Sometimes years pass before these situations come into fruition.

During one class while I was in the RN program, we were learning about DVTs and the Homan's sign. The instructor basically said, "If pain occurs at the back of the knee or calf when, with the knee bent, and the ankle is slowly and gently dorsiflexed, that's a positive Homan's sign".

One student said, "So, with a positive sign, the patient will say "HO HO HO, MAN!"

[Davey Do]

This is a cartoon I drew about an experience I had in my first nursing job as an LPN working at the Mom & Pop nursing home:

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