1. I showed up and immediately was asked by one of the nurses to help an old blind man eat his dinner. Apparently he hadn't eaten in two days, lives at home alone and fell this morning so he came in by ambulance. One of the doctors came in and asked him a few questions, one being if he lived alone, and his response was yes, and the doctor asked him how he got around and he told her he uses his vacuum to bump into things to get around. Sad. He was so sweet, he was a little old Mexican man, which a beautiful thick accent, he was so thankful for me to sit with him and help him eat. Lots of "god bless yous" and "what's your name again..."
2. One of the nurses informed me that a man had walked in earlier in the day complaining of chest pain, he was sweating and out of breath. He had a heart attack and coded. They tried to bring him back for an hour, pushing drugs through him and attempting CPR. She told me I could go look at him if I wanted. If I wanted?!?!? She said, yes, he is still in room 5. I never actually walked in, by walking by I could see his body laying there. The idea of living (being born) and dying is crazy, and being there, really makes you realize that you REALLY just need to be happy right where you are when you are there and not to regret any decision you are able to make. Needless to say, the nurses were exhausted. It turned out that the man who passed away was a producer of the new SF show Trauma.
** I wasn't sure if I was going to put this in my blog, but here it goes... in between event #2 & #3 one of the nurses started confiding in me that her and another nurse are not getting along. You know how it goes - they were really close, did everything together, and now one is pulling attitude with the other. I felt bad for both, but just told her that the problem is just that we're girls, and girls are drama and maybe she did something a long time ago that they never talked about so now she's mad at her - aren't we (girls) confusing. Boys are so different, they'd kick eachother in the family jewels, kiss and make up **
3. I was busy doing a patients belongings list in room 9A. Patient was a middle aged obese man who was VERY out of it. I said my spheel, "Hi, My name is Gina Cummings I am a volunteer here at CPMC, I didn't lose my voice, I just talk soft." The man interrupted me, and says in soft whisper, me too! He lost his voice too. I couldn't keep his attention too long, because he kept dosing in and out. Normally, I'd say it was from the drugs, but he was sitting upright in a chair. So I have to repeat each questions about 2 or 3 times before he will answer it. I started to walk around the other side of his bed to get a clothing bag and out of no where get comes to life and says "You look exactly like Kelly Ripa." I told him he made my day.
4. A nurse asked me to do a patient checklist in room 4. I ended up speaking with this beautiful elderly woman, who has had 4 - 6 bouts with cancer. She was truly and inspiration. She talked so much about life and her experiences, and I just enjoyed our conversation. She was admitted, and I am going to visit her tomorrow up in the cancer ward.
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