Work and Such

As a pediatric nurse, a lot of times you have to have kind of a hardened exterior. We do a lot things that are scary and painful and mean. And we see a lot of things that the average person would never even think of. The first year I was a nurse I came home and cried at least 2 out of 3 days, it was stressful and a hardened exterior is a necessary coping mechanism to the crap you deal with on a daily basis. I’m not saying you become like Nurse Ratched, but a certain amount of detachment is needed or you’ll never stay in this job (ever hear of caregiver burnout).

These past couple of days though, were really, really hard emotionally for me. There was 5 separate kids I had that had MAJOR issues. 2 of them chronic children that I’ve known for years and 3 that were normal healthy kids last week that got really sick. You really wish there was magic wand that could fix everything like that, unfortunately there’s not. And sometimes you go 3 or 4 steps backwards before you go even 1 step forward.

Perhaps it’s the fact that 3 weeks ago I was writhing in pain from the most minor surgery there is that I’m now having a difficult time right now dealing with my patients issues. One good thing, right now I’m on a really good poking streak. Kids are a bit more difficult to start IVs and blood draws on than adults, especially when they’re dehydrated and sick. And I can’t even remember the last time I missed, it’s got to be at least 3 months. A co-worker commented on it last night, “Märia you’re on fire. You’re our new Stick Queen.” So at least if I’m gonna be a meanie head, I’ll only have to stick ‘em once.

January 31, 2010 Posted in: Märia's Moments