Monday the 13th

First, I was exhausted today.
I'm rarely exhausted. I live in a constant state of tired, but rarely am I flat out dry.
Today however...

Let's consider the factors.
Last night I had incredible back pain, still not sure why, but my loving husband decided to be nice and give me a back rub with Icy-Hot. I think we discovered I have an allergy to that product. I eventually had to take another shower just to get that burning sensation to stop. I wear I felt blisters forming.
I also made the mistake of skipping my morning coffee. Some notion of being more "healthy" and limiting my caffeine input.
What a silly notion.

Still even though I felt so worn out today, it was really great.

I'm still in my "Externship" so I haven't graduated nursing school and I am following different nurses on the floor. Today I followed a different nurse than prior. Today was the half-way point in my externship. I am required to work 144 hours. I split this up into 12, 12hour shifts MWF for the month of April. Today was day 6.
I have worked with this nurse before back when I was a PCA working on a medsurg floor. I thought she was pretty dang smart then. However, getting to witness her in her element was such a learning experience. I'll name her Robert.
Back when I was a fresh young Patient Care Assistant (nurse aide) I remember a particularly difficult patient. It wasn't that this patient needed anything, she was just very needy. It drove me crazy, and I did not want to have anything to do with that room. However, once Robert came out of that room after doing her morning assessment. She took me aside and said,
"I don't know what's going on with Mrs. ***, but lets make sure we allow for extra time when we go in there so she doesn't feel abandoned."
This took me aback, I had to really re-examine myself and my motives and priorities. Here I was thinking about the inconvenience this person was being to me and Robert was focused on making sure she felt secure in her environment. Ever since that moment I knew she was a good nurse.

Turns out I was right.
I've seen some pretty crazy things while I've been externing, from nurses ignoring symptoms because it would take more time to chart to writing down every little detail of a patient's assessment so nothing would be left out. However, following Robert was great. True, she moved very fast and never held still, even with how tired I was the day moved fast! She was focused, knowledgeable and teaching me every step of the way.

Best Moment
We had a patient today that tried to kill herself and Robert was so kind to this woman. Later, we were in the elevator together and Robert confessed to me it was like her mother all over again. I was surprised and kind of strangely honored that this "role model" nurse felt like confiding in me that her mother had attempted suicide and how that affected her life.
Normally people in role model positions try to hide all their faults so they can be held up as examples. Robert was completely human with me, and it touched my life. Thanks.

Other things...
Still not quite out of school yet. It's getting really close, and very difficult to do any of my final projects. Our school has a pretty poor policy. If we don't pass a certain test, we don't graduate. Well, a few of my classmates and I worked really hard to get this policy changed. Turns out this policy was based on a class that none of us had, so while the class and curriculum changed the policy remained. We got the policy changed that you had the opportunity to test twice before the hatchet swung. Eight people didn't pass the first time. Then six people didn't pass the second time. It breaks my heart to think that I could go through so much with this group of 38 and not see all of us make it. Another student and I were getting ready to storm the department one more time (professionally, of course) and see what we could do for these last few students.
Luckily, they had already decided to give them one more chance to test and graduate.
I'm writing this part on the 14th, because I fell asleep yesterday, so, lets move on.