I promise to be praying for you before I meet you.
Every morning, whether I am going to work or going to clinical, I start off by praying for you. I don't know if there is a more real fear than stepping onto a hospital floor and not knowing what you are facing. I don't take the responsibility lightly, nor do I take it on alone. God comes with me. Some days He just walks before me, some days I require him to shove me into your room. But He's with me because the condition that you end up in is only up to Him. So I pray that I always leave you in better shape than I found you in.
I promise that I will only wake you up with a smile
I am the first face you see in the morning. I drink three cups of coffee to make sure that I'm pleasant. Because the foot we start on sets the tone for how the rest of the shift will go. So yes, chipper voices and big glittery smiles are critical at 630AM.
I promise that I will be working very hard to leave you with your dignity
This one is touchy. Some of my patients never know this side of healthcare, and I'm thankful for that. But, working as a Patient Care Tech on a MedSurg floor, I see the ugliest parts of what disease and illness can do to the human body. I promise to not make you feel like a burden whenever you need help with bathing, whenever you need your linens changed, or whenever you need me clean you up after an accident. I won't let you apologize, I won't let you be humiliated, and I probably won't even use all of the 'therapeutic communication' that I've spent the last three years of nursing school selecting on exams. But I will make sure that you are protected from embarrassment.
I promise that I will not let you lay in bed.
I have a lot of soap boxes. This is one of them.
Spoiler: I've seen 'bed rest' do more harm than good. It's a myth. Unless you have a fetus descending from your uterus, you probably are not going to benefit from bed rest. The body is meant to be upright and active. Your lungs expand more fully whenever you are upright, air moves more completely whenever you are active and giving the body a reason to need an air supply. Laying in bed for days on end lets gunk build up in your lungs. And no activity means that there is no reason for air to get in and help move that gunk out. So guess what we have now? Pneumonia. The same goes for the rest of the body systems. Circulation improves...digestion improves....everything improves whenever the body is given a reason to work.
Don't worry, I will give you this same speech if you need it.
I promise that I will make sure you are taken care of
I am passionate to a fault when it comes to your care. You don't see it all, but that's for the best. I don't need you to see me fighting for you because it's rarely pretty. But I will do whatever needs to be done to make sure you are taken care of. Maybe you need me to ask your family members to leave, I can do that. Maybe you need me to sit down and take 10 minutes to gently remove the tape from your IV because your skin tears easily. Maybe you just need me listen to your worries. Whatever it is that you need from me, I will do everything that I can to give it to you. It seems kind of wild to think that someone I barely know can stir up this obscene amount of emotion, but I know that you are someones family, and if you were my family, I would only want world class people taking care of you. Now, I may not be world class, but...fake it till ya make it.
I promise that I will still be praying for you
You will see many sides of me. I may be just the little girl who brings you your meal, or I may be the one holding your hand and crying with you while you walk down the hall for the first time in weeks. But you won't see the side of me that comes out when I am off the floor. Whenever I hand your care off to someone else. When I cry the whole way home because I have given every ounce of energy and emotion to you and I am just exhausted.
This is when I pick up where I left back off, praying for you. You see, it doesn't matter how much work I did during my shift if the next shift doesn't keep it up. I pray that they remember that you are too sweet and modest to ask to be cleaned up, so they have to check for themselves. I pray that they recognize that you need to be encouraged and given the strength to do your daily exercises. I pray that they take the time to help you put your hair up and set your vanity up so you can look pretty for your grandkids. And I pray that they love you as hard as I do.
