As a nurse I've thought at times that I'm immune to being shocked. Shocked by the sad, happy, traumatic, heartbreaking and also...hilarious things that we as nurses are told on a daily basis. You name it, and we tend to hear it. When we are working, there is a certain level of preparedness in us. We WANT to know these things because they can assist in providing the best care.
I'm not talking about those moments. I'm talking about the crazy things that family members reveal or ask. Or acquaintances. Or even complete and utter strangers!
One such incident stands out for me. I'm a community nurse and I had just left a clients apartment building and sat down in my car. I was busy finishing up some visit notes when a knock on my window scared me half to death.
Here is this man who appears to be 60ish years old. A real proper looking man, dressed like he's heading out to the golf range.
I roll down the window a Crack, and he says "Miss, are you a nurse? ". Well he's already on my good side because he didn't call me ma'am (which somehow makes me feel ANCIENT) so I decide to bite.
"I am" I say...and roll the window down the rest of the way.
He says "Well....I have to go for this test where they put this scope up my...you know what....not the front side....and I have to drink this thing that makes me have to go poop to like..flush me out...and did I was wondering...if I didn't take it all at once........" I won't bore you with details as I'm sure you get the drift.
After I checked for hidden "you've been punked" cameras, I realised this man was dead serious. So there in that parking lot, me and that stranger discussed his medical hx relating to very personal concerns he had. I didn't give advice (besides that he should follow the medication instructions the pharmacy gives him and the medical advice of his Dr.) Mostly I just listened to him.
Over the span of an hour (I did get out of my car and we sat on a nearby bench) I heard his very detailed, personal medical issues, as well as his concerns and feelings about it all. He thanked me and I wished him well and we went our separate ways.
I sat in my car afterwords and I thought about all he had told me. It was a sad story but at the same time I couldn't help but think that ...only as a nurse! Only as a nurse does a complete stranger walk up to you in a parking lot to ask questions about his upcoming colonscopy.
I always get those pts that want to give me there whole life story. I was going over his social history with him one day and I asked if he was sexually active and he said does it count if it's by yourself and then he started telling me that he likes to dress up in women' clothing and pretend like he was a women. That one was hard to keepkeep from laughing
I always get those pts that want to give me there whole life story. I was going over his social history with him one day and I asked if he was sexually active and he said does it count if it's by yourself and then he started telling me that he likes to dress up in women' clothing and pretend like he was a women. That one was hard to keepkeep from laughing
Few of my friends are escorts and ask for my advice on some occasions. Some of their stories make me happy to be playing candycrush in the comfort of my office.
One day I was in the check out line at Walmart chatting with my friend. I was telling her I wish we could have gotten pink highlights in our hair for breast cancer awareness month (not possible because of nursing school) and the woman in front of us tells us it's also infant loss awareness month. Then she tells me she lost her 3 month old son to SIDS the previous year. I could tell she really just wanted to talk about it so I just let her go ahead. She had 3 other children and wanted to have her "tubes untied" to try for another. Apparently they had their son cremated and planned on spreading his ashes in a lake behind Univeral Studios (where she and he husband work). After about 20 mins we parted ways. My friend was horrified that I'd let the conversation go on that long and that a complete stranger would share such a personal story with me.
I had to listen to my grandmother talk extensively about my grandfather's urologic surgery while she asked me 6-8 times why the surgeon wouldn't just "circumcise while he was down there" ... Sorry, Grandma...surgery doesn't work like that AND everything you've just told me is TMI.
Mmorton75
2 Posts
I always get those pts that want to give me there whole life story. I was going over his social history with him one day and I asked if he was sexually active and he said does it count if it's by yourself and then he started telling me that he likes to dress up in women' clothing and pretend like he was a women. That one was hard to keepkeep from laughing