How can you be so calm?

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

Let me start out by saying that I work in an acute, psychiatric crises stabilization facility. So my risk of exposure is moderate. Still we get a lot of patients off the street and they are rarely good historians when it comes to their health history. Our management continues to state to staff, patients and the community at large that we are "Corona Virus Free".

In March we were not allowed to wear masks even if we brought our own. While every unit was well stocked with the type of PPE we normally use - the entire supply disappeared over-night. And if there is a suspected presumptive Covid-19 our administration determines what PPE we get to wear.

Now that it is recommended that everyone wear a face covering we are still asked to provide our own. So I was able to obtain a few N95 masks from a secret source and began wearing one to work as well as providing them for members of my team or five co-workers.

One of my-coworkers asked me "How can you be so calm?" I said "A long time ago the devil whispered in my ear "You can't withstand the storm' I turned a screamed back "I am the ******* storm." All the crap and hardship I have been through in my life was a dress rehearsal for what's happening now. I learned the hard way that there is no such thing a fairness in life and we each have to make our own decisions about what's best and live with the consequences. At the end of the day I am right with my maker and if He/She chooses to punch my ticket so be it. There is only one certainty in this life which is nobody gets out alive!

I do feel for those front-line nurses who are being forced to work with actively infectious patients without proper protection. My hat is off to you.

While I am considered to be a kind and compassionate nurse. Being a nurse is not my identity. It is a small piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is me. It's job, a job I Iove and do well. It make it possible to have the nicer things in life I enjoy and that is all. I am a wife, a mother, a sister, a Boy Scout leader, a Sunday School teacher, a gourmet cook, gardener and knitter of cozy sweaters and lastly I am a nurse.

Some of us will come through this forever changed; some for the good and some for the bad because "Adversity reveals our inner strength or the lack there-of." It slaps us upside the head and does an attitude adjustment often by surprise. Some people excel under such circumstances and we call them heroes. Others falter under adversity and mentally melt away under those stresses and no one can know how they will react until the time comes. So stay stalwart my brothers and sisters in nursing. I off to play with my dogs before bedtime.

Hppy

[litepath2]

"I am the ******* storm."

Says it all right there. Rock on!

[HandsOffMySteth]

Watching how people handle high stress tells you so much about their character. Sometimes the ones who crack are the ones who are supposed to be leaders and someone who was quiet and meek shows amazing courage.

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

2 hours ago, litepath2 said:

"I am the ******* storm."

Says it all right there. Rock on!

Agreed. I need this in shirt form without the censoring. Love it.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

18 minutes ago, JadedCPN said:

Agreed. I need this in shirt form without the censoring. Love it.

You can find T-shirt with this on it - I have one ?

Hppy

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

On 4/7/2020 at 8:07 PM, juniper222 said:

Watching how people handle high stress tells you so much about their character. Sometimes the ones who crack are the ones who are supposed to be leaders and someone who was quiet and meek shows amazing courage.

racking under pressure is not a character flaw - but it is a sign that a person has been pushed beyond the limits of their personal strength.

[HiddenAngels]

I love love love this post! ?...... I heard the "Rocky" theme music building up towards the end...Thank you hppygr8ful