Role Reversal

I spent about 6 hours in a hospital today tending to my father. Okay, really I just sat there and watched him doze off every 5 minutes for 30 seconds at a time (pain meds can be a blessing and a curse). During my time there, I realized a few things......

1) It's quite strange being the "watcher" instead of the patient. Not something I'm used to. Do I help because I'm the loving daughter? Do I nag because I'm the concerned daughter? Do I sit there and snicker at my not-so-coherent father because I know we have that similar sense of humor? I did a little bit of everything...mission accomplished, I suppose.

2) I have no idea how my parents spent all of those days and months sitting in a hospital room with me. 6 hours really wasn't bad (but maybe that's because it was just nice to get out of the house for a bit). I just can't imagine staying over night or having your life revolve around a hospital rather than a real home. Major kudos to my parents.

3) I am now 150% confident that I NEED to go to nursing school. Not only do I get excited about wearing comfy scrubs all day and not having to buy fancy work clothes......but after interacting with 2 different nurses, I have reassured myself as to why I'm making these recent educational/career decisions for myself. Both nurses were about the same age, certainly not veteran nurses but definitely not newbies. One could barely speak loud enough for us to understand her, and she'd tend to speak as she was walking out the door so it was pretty much pointless. She didn't say hi to me, no small talk with my father, and never explained what she was doing as she was doing it. The second nurse, however, was very friendly...not intrusive at all with her conversation, but definitely knew how to make people comfortable. My father is not a stupid person - he's an engineer for goodness sake - but any person who hasn't spend much time in a hospital environment (and even for those of us who are pros!!) appreciates when a medical professional explains the reasons behind their actions. She always told my father his temperature and blood pressure whenever she took those measurements. When she realized he wasn't doing his breathing exercises with the spirometer, she didn't nag him in a Nurse Ratchet kind of way that made him feel like he was doing something wrong...she playfully took 8 1/2 x 11 paper and made signs to post below the TV (where she knew he'd look!) to remind my dad that he needed to "BREATHE DEEP!!" "15x/HOUR!!!". All because she understood his sense of humor. I really, really appreciated that...and I'm sure my dad did, too.

Interacting with the 2nd nurse today was a nice refresher for me...a good reminder of what I appreciated, and still do. And the first nurse was more than a disappointment - she was a motivator for me, a good example of what NOT to do.

I always tell people that I'd rather be a nurse than a doctor because patients remember their nurses more. This was at least the case for me. I still have vague memories of a few nurses that went above and beyond hitting a few buttons and taking a few vital signs, but I don't remember any of my surgeons or specialists. I think the nurses are the reason I don't look negatively upon my time in the hospital. I can't wait until I can do the same for someone else.