Trouble

Today I took care of a patient who I will call "Trouble"- well, technically she called me "Trouble" first. BUT- my day was anything but trouble!! In fact, I got paid a nurses salary (as meager as it may be!) to play games (hence the "Trouble" nickname), take walks, go to the highest floor and sit in front of a large window that overlooks the entire city, and just have fun with the best (and most NON-ICU patient I have ever had!!)

The patient was 20, slightly delayed and OH SO ADORABLE!!! She was wheelchair bound and as fiesty as they come. So, in the morning when I suggested we ask the docs if we could get off the unit and take a walk she looked at me and said "Look at me....do you think I'm going to walk today?? I mean, you're a good nurse, but you're not THAT good!!" And I'm pretty sure my face turned 8 shades of red. Really?? I don't want to be the one that tells the paralyzed girl "Hey let's go take a walk...oh wait, that's right, you can't!!" Nice one Dana!! But then I looked up and she was cracking up....I mean laughing really hard!! And then she said "I love when that happens....it gets people every time!" Hello, she's pulled that one before!?!?

Then later in the day she asked if I had a baby. I told her not yet. She said "Well that stinks because I need a baby fix." (I thought, "So do I" but that's a whole different blog!!) So since I couldn't provide her with this "baby fix" and didn't feel it appropriate to wheel her into another patient's room, she began calling everyone she knew that had babies if they could come see her so she could hold one. This girl was too much!! She sweet talked all those people on the phone!

So finally when we had taken enough "walks" and watched several DVDs of Glee (1st season), and had sat in the sun on the 9th floor overlooking the city....we decided to raid the game closet. So out came all the classics. Clue, Connect 4, Memory and Trouble!! But it was Trouble that we had the most fun with!! We kept sending each other back to "home" and having to start over. Every time she sent me back she threw her head back and cackled in excitement....but groaned with as much enthusiasm when I sent her back home. Hence she kept calling me Nurse Trouble!! And in return I called per Patient Trouble!

At the end of the day I left feeling young in spirit, awake (hello, I actually got to eat all my meals, sit down, and pee regularly like a normal person!), and more like a friend/babysitter rather than a nurse....but it was AWESOME!! Some days us PICU nurses just need days like this. And as I was leaving, I asked "Do you need anything before I go home?"...a potentially dangerous question with this fiesty one! She looked at me with her sassy little smile and said, "Yes Nurse Trouble I do....I need one big hug!"

And that I can do!