Memories

For some reason I woke up this morning thinking about something that happened years and years ago.

It was around the time I first went to a medical ward.  The nu-labour targets hadn't messed up everything yet.  And our staffing was pretty good.

I worked a late shift on a 25 bed ward and there was 4 of us staff nurses and 2 care assistants for the ward.

One of my patients started with maleena and massive amounts of coffee ground vomit.  She was only in  her 40's or 50's.  We swung into action.  She was becoming unresponsive.  This is a GI bleed and it is life threatening.

Two of us (staff nurses) focused on her.  The other two staff nurses managed the rest of the ward and deal with all the other patients. The medic was straight on the job and after he took one look at her the reg was there as well.   This happened right before visiting hours.  Her family arrived to see her in a hell of a state.  I briefly and gently explained to them what was happening.  One of the HCAs took the family down to the day room and made them tea,coffee and comfort food and stayed with them.

The doctors were throwing out orders left and right. And the other staff nurse and I dealt with it quickly and efficiently. Diagmostic tests, blood, IV's you name it we sorted it. And we managed to keep her clean and comfortable despite the fact that she had a massive gastrointestinal bleed that was causing bloody shit to poor out of her bottom and bloody puke to come out of her mouth constantly.

She survived. As a matter off fact she walked out of the hospital a week or so later.

I was so proud of the doctors, the nurses and how well everyone dealt with the situation.

I miss those days.