the things you see

it's amazing the things i see here at the hospital. i had a male patient the other day who was found in a car accident dressed in women's clothing and wearing make-up, fake nails, nail polish, and women's jewelry. there is a patient here tonight with a blood sugar of 1163 (normal blood sugar is 80-120). i have a patient tonight who is confused but not the kind of confused where you just have no clue what is going on and you just smile and laugh and talk to little girls with puppy dogs, this patient is screaming in terror because he thinks we are torturing him and trying to kill him. he thinks we are slipping him pills that will kill him and he thinks that we broke his leg but the reason he is here is because of a hip fracture. it is so sad. then there is the guy who was in a car accident a month ago and he is a quad and he and his wife have three kids, the oldest of which is 8 years old. and get this...the car accident was caused by a teenager who was reading porn while he was driving. everytime i do anything for the guy he mouths thank you thank you thank you. it is heart wrenching. i see patients who have cancer that has metastisized throughout their bodies, patients with necrotizing faciitis (a flesh eating bacteria), leech therapy, patients who are dying but are in denial, patients who are dying whose families are in denial, and patients just dying. i see cases where a patient should be a DNR (do not resucitate) but the families are too scared to lose their wife/husband/mother/father that they make the patient a full code. then there are the patients who thank you for everything you do. the ones who are so respectful and caring even with all the pain that they themselves are in. the patients that bring flowers and chocolate after they leave and send notes to tell you how great you are. there are the patients who make you laugh, the ones who make you cry, the ones the bring smiles to your face and tears to your eyes. if you ever want to work somewhere that wrenches your heart out every singe day for good and for bad...be a nurse.