The small pleasures you get out of your job.

[november17, ASN, RN]

I had this post-op humerus fracture pt. She was on 6mg of dilaudid PO and still complaining of pain. The surgeon came in, examined her, redressed the arm, etc etc. He said, "Discharge her."

She kept complaining of pain. I went in and said, (not my exact words)"Do you think that maybe you're really anxious? I can give you something to help you out...Seriously, it might be in your head." (I don't know, I guess it was my sixth nurse sense kicking in - I wanted to give her a xanax). She said, "No!!! I'm in pain and you're saying its in my head! That's crazy, this hurts! Can't you give me something through my IV???" I replied, "I'm sorry but no you don't have anything I can give to you that way." (that was the truth). How about a xanax to help you calm down a little?" She flat out refused.

So I called the surgeon. He said absolutely no pain medications through the IV. I didn't really disagree, this lady was post-op day number 4 (and on 6mg of dilaudid nonetheless). However, I got permission to loosen up the ace. I gave her an extra ice pack. I literally tried guided imagery, turning on oprah, everything I could think of. Everything was fine in the extremity btw. I implemented everything as soon as I knew I could. Her mom showed up, and I didn't hear from the patient for about 45 mins.

The phone rang at the nurse's station, the guy on the line said, "I need to speak with the nurse for Ms. Smith. If I don't get anywhere with them then I want to speak to the CHARGE NURSE." And he said it in a "I'm calling to kick ass and take names kind of way.

I said, "Well, I'm the nurse for Ms. Smith, how can I help you?" (ms. smith is a fake name btw)

He said, "This is Ms. Smith's Brother. My sister is in extreme pain right now. Isn't there anything you can give her to help relieve the pain???" (paraphrased)

Me-"No there isnt. I'm gonna be straight with you, man to man, all that stuff is in her head. She needs to calm down but she's refusing anxiety medication" (again, paraphrased, because we were both a lot more wordy than what I'm typing).

Him-"Listen, I'll call my sister and you'll be in there to give her something to calm her nerves down?"

Me-"Yes!"

So I went in twenty minutes later and the lady took a xanax (no doubt her brother told her to take the darn thing). An hour later she apologized to me. I told her it was fine, and I was just worried about her. She even asked if she could get a script for xanax. The surgeon's PA happened to be around and I got it for her.

A little while after that, she went home.

Moral of the story, I got a small pleasure from all of that. No matter how much work it was in the beginning. Just getting her out with what she needed was just a joy.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I am partial to elderly gentlemen in the early stages of Parkinsons and dementia. I guess it reminds me of my dad.

I always call them Mr. No sweety bottoms, dumpling. I found one of my guys last night (via his ringing personal alarm) had transferred himself from his bed to his wc. He was buttoning his sweater.

"Where are you going, Mr X?"

"Church!"

"Church? It's 4:30 in the morning on Saturday."

"Really? Well, I'm a day early!"

I reoriented him and got him comfortably back into bed. Thank you, alarm

I had several of these little victories last night. Got an incontinent gentleman who needed to urinate (which he already had) to the toilet and cleaned up the bed and his gown without his realizing he has soiled himself. Just told him something had spilled on his johnny.

I really like my polite old gentlemen.

:)

[cardiacmadeline, RN]

I once had a little old lady call me in her room because her arm hurt. Turned out it was tape pulling on her fragile skin, so I fixed it. She was so happy after that and said I was "a sweet little thing". Here are more small pleasures I get out of my job: hunting down some hot chocolate for my patient before bed, he was very happy. (There is nothing like a cup of hot chocolate before bed!) Getting a post op out of bed for the first time. Cleaning a trach pts teeth so their teeth are sparkling white. Making my patients laugh. It really is the little things that matter to patients.

[ellakate]

[color=gray]little victories are the sweetest! this week a patient of mine came back to our agency after transferring to another home health agency last spring.

[jnrsmommy]

My LOL, that no matter how I'm feeling, always puts me on cloud nine when I go see her, and she tells me "You have the face of an angel." She then proceeds to tell me about her dolls hanging on the wall (which I can repeat verbatim now). But what gets me the most, is that she doesn't talk to anyone else, just me. Makes me feel I'm where I need to be.

[loriangel14, RN]

My favorite is getting a heavy flannel sheet out of the warming unit for LOL and LOM that can't sleep because they are so cold. The response from having one of those warm flannels spread over them in bed always makes me smile, especially from the ones who have never experienced it before. When I say I will get them a warm blanket tey don't realize I mean warmed up. They are always delighted.

[Vito Andolini]

my check! and yes, of course, helping people is very satisfying.

[MedSurgeMess]

Knowing that you've finally got teaching through to a patient and that maybe, just maybe, you've taught them something that will alter their life permanently...that's the best feeling ever.

[gardenmum]

Oh how I needed this ... especially right now. Staff is leaving our unit and not being replaced,.. we're all very overwhelmed with taking on the extra hours, extra patients, etc., etc.... the moral is so low right now. I'm at my lowest each afternoon when I'm driving to work. Trying to convice myself I can handle yet another shift.

Last week I had a 101 yr old gentleman admitted. He was miserable -- weak and painful. After several attempts at making him comfortable I warmed up some lotion and rubbed his back. I felt the tension release from him immediately. He expressed his thanks over and over before he fell to sleep for a few hours. I didn't have 10 minutes to spare to use the bathroom and definitely did not take lunch but the 15 or so minutes spent to give this elderly gentleman some peace and comfort will be with me for a long time.

Thanks for this post ... I'm going to try to remember one special "pleasure" on my way to work. It'll lift my spirits at least for the moment :)

[NurseKatie08, MSN]

My small pleasure from the past week was my LOL with mild dementia who says "You're wonderful, honey" every single night when I got her all settled and gave her meds. No matter what a rough night I was having, whenever I went to her room I'd leave with a smile on my face.

Tomorrow she's transferring from our TCU to one of the LTC units--I'll definitely be popping by to say hi :redpinkhe

[Chewie_123]

I still do an internal happy dance when I get an IV the first time.

I'm also a fan of the warm-blanket induced happiness.

[southernbeegirl, BSN, RN]

i had a lady recently that was a new dialysis pt., 4+ edema that hurt so bad she couldnt stand up. she was in tears one night from frustration at her situation and feeling ashamed she couldnt help herself. she's also a big girl like me. her daughter and granddaughter were in her room visiting and very upset too. she was so anxious it was horrible.

i rubbed lotion on her whole body..between her toes, under her abdominal folds, on her back...everywhere. i rubbed her back and talked to her telling her "you can do this! it WILL get better than it is today, i promise. you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel but I can. let me see it for you until you can. just trust me".

she finally relaxed and slept the whole night.

i went home with a smile on my face that day.