Nurses

I've spent a lot of time at the hospital this last week so much so that when I walk in through the front door the smell of soup and disinfectant kind of smells like home. Familiar and expected. I don't mind it. People always talk about how they hate the smell of hospitals but I don't mind it. I personally don't mind hospitals one bit.

Emergency was the worst though. It was frantic, emotional and yellow. Families wringing their hands around curtained off beds, anxious to find out what was next. Patients with breathing masks and tubes some with scared eyes, some with vacant eyes. Doctors and nurses with millions of missions on a list running from one bed to another making sure that things stayed as stable as possible. Their 3 missed breaks the last thing on their mind as they whisk the next patient off for a CT Scan.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was it's own bubble. Walking past the chaos of emergency with paramedics lined up along the wall waiting for the next bed to be open for their injured bird and through the heavy doors to a natural lit area of light cool colors and soft spoken nurses. It's the ideal place to regroup and heal. There is a steady hum of life saving machinery but it adds to the calm like white nose. Special attention is found here with assigned nurses who give you individual care.

It was shocking to see the hospital unit on floor 6 after being in ICU for 4 days. It was a combination of emergency and ICU. Special nurses and yellow walls. Clam but active. Families sitting throughout the day with their ill loved ones.

I've watched the different people coming and going from the hospital keeping my eyes open for familiar faces. The woman who sat holding her husbands hand with tears in her eye as she waits for emergency staff to hook him up to another machine. The family with the young boy who paced back and forth waiting for a sick relative to stabilize. The man who couldn't speak English and tried so desperately to understand what the doctors were saying about his wife. The elderly man who had no one there.

With all the inconsistency and uncertainty I experienced watching a love one fight to stabilise their vitals,  the one thing that never did changed were the nurses. Sure, there were different faces every day but they all were kind with soft eyes. Empathetic and caring as they nursed the sick back to health. Keeping a positive attitude as they talked to families and patients. It takes a special person to work successfully with the ill- a very special person. It takes a very special person to be in the business of savings lives because for most of us, we are in the business of ourselves.