"The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity; taking a place beside the physician and the priest" ~ William Osler

Future nurse in training I did it, I made something of myself!My graduation presents - our pup, Bailey and... ...a trip to Disneyland! We had another graduation in the family to celebrate so we did it right and went to Mickey's house

It's National Nurse's Week, hooray for nurses!! People have asked me over the years if I always knew I wanted to be a nurse, the answer is no. I always thought I'd be a large animal vet. I loved my animals growing up, especially the farm animals and my horse, so it seemed like a natural choice. But at 17, making the time and financial commitment to do that scared me off. I knew I wanted to be married some day and I wasn't sure I'd attract the right kind of man if I smelled like iodine and the south end of a north bound cow. And it worked out for the best, but I essentially traded latex gloves that go up to your armpits for gloves that go up to your wrists, and I suppose I can appreciate the difference. I didn't go to college until my twenties, so I had time to really think about what I wanted to be when I grew up, and the reason I chose to be a nurse is that it combines two things I really love, science and taking care of people. It's an amazing profession and I hope I actually get to do it again some time this century.

Nursing school was tough, especially since I was still working and married and all that jazz. But I surprised myself and made it out of there with 3.9 and with most of my marbles, and Todd and I were still married so that was a success in my book. It became clear to me really fast that my passion was labor and delivery. Everyone assumed I'd wind up in peds or mother/baby, and even a few instructors suggested becoming a nurse anesthetist (maybe they realized patients that were asleep would fare better with me), but it wound up being those crazy, laboring moms and newborn babes that stole the show and my heart. Every time that rotation came up I signed my little name up so fast my pen would smoke. I didn't care if it was a c-section or an all day labor extravaganza, I wanted in. I used to get so mad when I was on a surgical or cardiac floor and I'd hear those bells chiming, just knowing a baby was born and someone else got to see it irritated me. But in an effort to be well rounded (whatever) I forced myself, and at times they forced me, to rotate through areas that I was actually afraid of. I did the ER, wound care, Shriner's, and the dreaded psych ward. Now I'll be honest here, I only did the psych ward because I HAD to, I definitely would've used my "get out of jail free" card if I could've. And because my clinical instructor was so good to me and seemed to really like me, I thought she'd have my back. I was wrong. She made me go to the lock-down unit, where the people that the crazy people think are crazy have to go. I was so nervous the first day that I thought I was going to puke. Poor Todd was even nervous since there had been some horrible murder just before this where a psychiatric patient killed a nurse. Perfect. So....off I went, clipboard in my trembling hands into the inner sanctum of hell. I did survive and in the end was grateful for the experience, after I came out of it alive. One of my favorite nursing school stories of all time came from there. I was taking care of "Tyler" we'll call him, and Tyler wasn't in the lock-down unit for no reason. So one day I was doing his evaluation and he started yelling at me. Apparently when I had won the Miss Mexico title, I turned into a total $%@#* and took our daughter and left him, and he was ticked at me - understandably so. He proceeded to tell me that he planned to chop me up into little pieces and send me to the moon in some sort of space craft. Good times. This guy also ran around with his head covered when he heard any sort of white noise saying "the helicopters are coming to crash into this place, save yourselves!" Believe me, if I could've saved myself I would have. My sister's favorite story is about the poor ER resident that clearly made it through med school on a wing and a prayer. One night we had a teenager come in that had a huge piece of wood wedged under his nail bed and he was obviously in a lot of pain. So Dr. Doolittle got the lidocaine out and decided to torture this poor kid even more with his horrible technique. That needle popped out the other side of his finger, twice, then he bent the needle because he hit lord-knows-what inside this poor kid's hand. One thing this doctor had going for him is that he had a stomach of steel. We were lancing open infected track wounds one night and he kept getting into his lab coat pocket to break off pieces of no-bake cookie. I actually really liked the ER, I did my first IV start there on some biker that was coming on to me and barfing on my shoes all at the same time. The rest of the best stories originate at the Veteran's hospital and are therefore not appropriate for this blog. Let's just say spending a lot of time with older men opened my eyes to the male species and I will never be the same. On a serious note, it's a privilege to take care of people when they are vulnerable. The best lesson I ever learned about being a nurse wasn't taught at school. Being a nurse made me take a good hard look at myself, at the prejudices, the biases, the judgements I make that I'm not even aware of. If you look and really see people, they are all the same. Pain is pain, joy is joy, fear is fear. It doesn't matter if it's in a pretty package or a dirty one, big or small, rich or poor, black or white. Whether it's a person whose made poor choices or good ones, is kind or angry, our humanity levels the playing field. I've held hands with a man while he was dying, he just needed someone to talk to because he didn't think his "old lady" would make it to the hospital in time. I've seen babies come into the world and into the arms of their loving parents, and I've seen a baby go straight from his mother's womb to CPS because she was hooked on meth. I've been in the room when someone gets the best news of their life, and the worst. So here's to nurses, for the tears they wipe away, the nails they clip, the stories they listen to, the beds they make, the procedures they perform with skill and care, the shots they give, the hands they hold, the IV's they flush, the newborns they bathe...

They have a Best Doctors List, so here's the Best Nurses List according to me. Some are friends, the rest have something to do with baby stuff because having babies is the only thing that's ever landed me in the hospital or given me a reason to see a doctor regularly:) And one very special lady is both, love you Katy.

Brenda

Debbie

Georgette

Jody

Karen

Katy

Leslie

Sharifa