Haven't written anything in a while. I struggle with not knowing if my thoughts are valuable enough to write about. I need to learn to just record my day so that I have a record to look back on. I'll eventually get the hang of this. In the mean time:
The last couple of days have been a blur. Today I took a test that covered a lot of material that was completely schizophrenic in its content (I have learned to expect nothing less of nursing school). The problem with studying was that I also had to work 3 days in a row this weekend (12 1/2 hr shifts). I unfortunately paid the price on the exam. Such is life.
Work was interesting. Friday I had a crazy workload of 6 really needy pts. The floor was insane and everyone was pushed to their breaking point. There was a verbal altercation between two staff...in some ways it is nice to know that everyone is suffering and it isn't just an inability to cope on my part (misery loves company?).
After not leaving until an hour and a half after my shift was supposed to end (I was behind on my charting), I decided to request a one to one. These can be boring, or just downright awful depending on the nature of the pt, but you are at least gauranteed to get out on time. Saturday's pt was a 52 yr old male with Down's syndrome who has been hospitalized for two months. He normally lives in a group home and is extremely homesick. He spent the majority of the shift hitting, yelling and trying to pull out his percutaneous feeding tube- this would be incredibly painful and probably require surgical repair or at least reinsertion. There wasn't alot of studying going on.
Sunday I took care of the roomate of saturday's pt. This 60 something yr old male was developmentally disabled (profoundly retarded and almost completely nonverbal). His daily activity was really quite remarkable and offered me a little time to ponder some things. If he was left alone to do nothing for even a matter of seconds he would begin digging at his skin, pulling at his Foley catheter or digging in his bottom (yeah, I get it- pretty gross). But if he was given something to keep his hands occupied he would stay busy for hours. He had bags of large colored legos, dominos and other blocks. I would give him a bag and he would slowly (literally almost like a sloth), meticulously take out each piece and organize it on the table. It doesn't sound that impressive but watching him was almost hypnotic. He was so slow and so precise. If given blocks he didn't stack or build. He would just arrange by color and row...slowly, very slowly..and in perfect alignment. You would have to see it. Watching him made me question the pace at which we move. It also brought me so much joy watching him complete simple tasks that brought him pleasure. I think this may be how God views humanity.
I have never felt a calling to work with the developmentally disabled. I know that I don't have the required patience or nuturing dispositon. But I really found the experience thought provoking. Working with these two pts really offered me a fresh perspective.
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