Humor Me?

I was able to give myself a shot yesterday-boy did it hurt. Even behind my 'super woman gung ho attitude' I could not find the will power to stick myself with a needle. I hated it, but I had to do it-I conquered my fear, and can truly empathize with my patients.

Arriving from our clinical rounds at the hospital, drained, weak, and lacking much needed sleep, I headed to my bed, and quickly fell asleep. My 30 minute nap turned into a 3 hour bed rest.

Reminiscing over the days in the hospital, I realized something: I love this job! Though tiring, the end rewards are magnanimous. The smile and laughter of the patients that I was taking care off just warmed my heart. Here they were, immobile, weak, emotionally and physically unstable, bed ridden, stuck in a hospital-the last place they would ever want to be in. And here I am, the student nurse, instructed to take care of them.

I've observed enough medical students to know that sometimes bringing humor into the job makes it more worth while. These medical students and doctors are too serious! It's as if bringing them the bad news isn't enough, why add more gloom to it? Lighten up!

I realized that these patients need a little humor here and there. Hearing them laugh at all the silly things that I would say and do makes them love you even more-I even received a hug from them. That truly made my day-I knew I could make a difference just being...me-being the silly, funny me.