Sometimes, I feel bad about getting paid for what I do. Not bad enough to refuse my paycheck, though. Today was one of those days.
Not the whole day, mind you, but definitely this afternoon.
I went to see my little six-year-old patient with the grand mal seizures. I have to poke her with a needle once a month and flush her mediport. She calls it her “drink.” Mom puts Emla cream on the site at least half an hour before my visit. It numbs the skin and makes the needle stick less painful.
The whole visit takes place on the living room floor. Mom, patient, little brother, Ethan, and I all sit on the floor. The patient lies down next to me and lets me poke her with a needle. I can usually insert the Huber needle, flush, aspirate and flush again, and remove the Huber needle in less than a minute. That’s good because that is about the length of the patient’s attention span. Mine, too.
After the “drink”, I take everybody’s vital signs. And then everybody signs my paper. First, Ethan signs, then the patient, then Mom, and finally, me. It’s just how we do things.
Well, today, Ethan was feeling good. He got to stay up from his nap so he could see me. I have blogged about Ethan before: he is the cutest kid on this planet. Today, he gave me my hug and then decided he wanted to sit on my lap. Well, since we were all on the floor, he sat on my legs. I was bouncing him up and down on my legs and he was making funny noises. The patient was laughing and mom was enjoying having someone else entertain her two active offspring.
Somebody mentioned Barney and I started singing “I love to eat, eat, eat, apples and bananas…..” You should have seen Ethan’s eyes: big as saucers! Who cares if I know how to access a mediport, I can sing Barney songs! And sing them, and sing them, and sing them…….More encores than a Diva!
Mom was telling me about the new nurse at the patient’s school. It seems that, when mom picked the kids up at school today, the school nurse wanted to know: “who is Nurse Cali?” Apparently, the patient has been talking about me all day for the past two days…….she knew I would be coming to see her today.
It’s really not a big deal……..I let Laney tickle me and I act surprised. I laugh when she makes her funny faces. I let her play with my pulse oximeter…….she gets to “check” everybody’s oxygen. And, when she roars at me, I act scared… I poke her with a needle and she kisses my cheek and says “thank you” when it’s over……
Mostly, I just enjoy sitting on the floor and playing with the kids…..they love me and I love them.
Barney? Not so much…….
“Nurse Cali”
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