Nurses: Real-Life Super Heroes
I'm hesitant to share this at the risk of getting pity, which isn't needed or wanted.
However, my hope is that every nurse who sees this allows me to appreciate them for their commitment to such a stressful, heart wrenching, yet honorable and rewarding profession. As a nurse myself, I never so deeply grasped the importance of the profession until I became a critically ill patient.
It was six years ago today, I was rushed into the OR for intubation under a fiber optic bronchoscopy due to acute epiglottis. My airway was occluding rapidly and by the time steroids were introduced, I was breathing through an opening the size of a coffee straw. During my four day hospital stay, I remained intubated most of the time as we awaited decrease in swelling.
I relay those details to put a spotlight on how uncomfortable and scary the situation was. However, through it all there were my nurses, who remained my strongest advocates and patiently allowed me to scribble pages of notes with recommendations and questions regarding my care.
Although I must've been one of the most annoying patients in the world, their consistent presence, smiling/caring faces, patience, and human touch were more comforting than I could ever imagine (even more than meds). Doctors are amazing and much needed, but nurses keep the show running minute by minute.
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Please allow me to say - thank you - to every single nurse who shows up to work and hits the ground running with intentions of enhancing lives. Thank you to my nurse, Marie, for holding my hand and talking me through vent settings, along with my husband, Christian, for staying by my side for all those trying moments during my ICU stay.
How lucky we are to have nurses on this planet! At any moment, any one of us may unexpectedly need them. Nurses truly can be real-life super heroes.?