An Underpaid Nurse

Florence Nightingale couldn't do a better job than me, I reckon. For the last two days I have tended to my family night and day, as they have struggled to deal with a nasty bout of something that makes them sick. I have cleaned floors and provided drinks, toasted bread and boiled kettles, all out of love and devotion. Throughout this time I have not sought payment or indeed any thanks, and have not received any either. To think, had I wanted to do this for a career I would have had to study to degree level. I wonder if someone with a degree would be content with this role for 30+ years, or would they seek a role that would be more commensurate with their qualifications. Being around ill people isn't my idea of fun, and to do it for a job, well I think you have to be pretty special.

Which is why I wonder why some nurses I have been told about continue to do their jobs. Firstly I have to say my experience of nurses has been very good, but then I have mainly been treated at 'centres of excellence'. My nurses are smart, clever and caring. I know that because they have lifted me out of my own body fluid, shouted at doctors to leave me alone when they knew I was frightened by a particular procedure which wasn't being done quickly enough by an inexperienced doctor. They have stood next to me holding my hand when the pain was getting pretty intense, and one even stayed up all night to keep me company when I couldn't sleep despite the morphine drip into my arm. I'm no different to them, I used to go to work and just get on with it. I can deal with blood and guts everywhere, but for some reason I don't like it when it is mine. I have been rude to people, but usually in response to them trying to stab me or punch me or vent their anger on me. And at such times I usually try to make it into a competition to see who can come out with the cleverest insults. I have not considered anyone to have bettered me in this department, so far anyway. I suppose when you look at it, it is a little unfair because they have lost their cool and I am just producing a string of insults that I have spent years honing and moulding into masterful put downs. I have also found that because most of them are humorous, it can often diffuse an otherwise angry situation, and if they are bigger younger and stronger than me then I consider this to be wise on my part. I don't do it any more because it can upset people when you compare them to hamsters in the desert.
But I have been told of a nurse who, when dealing with a physically disabled person, lost their temper when told the medicine they are giving them is not the correct one, after all they know what they should be taking, and have threatened the patient with physical violence. What is going on inside their heads? Is it caused by their feeling that they have not achieved the position they should have, because of raised expectations through having a degree. If all local hospitals were made centres of excellence then maybe the nurses would be proud to work there and the frustration of being unappreciated and undervalued would end.

The big dead cherry tree in my front garden was felled yesterday, by my height fearing gardener, who has made a jolly good fist of it. His chainsaw packed up a few times, and because cherry is a hardwood it meant he had to buy a new chain for the machine halfway through the operation. Rev Will has still to come and take the bits away in his trailer, and I think he might moan that it's not all cut into small log size chunks, but it is recycling on a grand scale and he is getting it for free so he shouldn't. I was going to attempt a smaller tree myself with the help of a neighbour but I might wait to see how Will feels about this load first.Meanwhile I shall soldier on in my own hospital, making sure that the brows are wiped and stomachs remain empty.