Well, boys and girls let me tell you……as an Emergency Room nurse patience is NOT one of my virtues. Sitting in the ER watching one patient threaten another, the police bring in a girl who was supposed to have left all personal belonging in her car…….but there was the ever so presence of a cell phone ringing…….

Now,this would not have been so bad were it not for a) she was under arrest, b) the police officer told her at wherever she came from to leave her cell behind, and c) what she did when she was busted……. Yup, reached up into the nether regions of her self right there in the lobby in front of God and everybody and tried to hand the phone to the officer….I truly don’t know what explains this situation the best….

Or more like this……

Or……

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I can say with most certainty, the noise level in the lobby increased exponentially! She pulled that skirt up and jerked that phone out and all I could hear was a couple saying “Oh my God, did you see where she pulled that from??” I heard the man with a very poignant mental illness tell his friends on the cell phone loudly, “Yo, the cops got this b*tch in here performing a porno!” And the cop standing there, unsure of what to do with the now slimy phone, yelling at her, “I TOLD YOU LEAVE IT IN THE CAR!!”

To which she replied, “Oh, I thought you said leave it in the box.”

All I can say, is the chaos as a nurse we experience in the back of the emergency room had NOT prepared me for this display of characters and the way they interacted. Yelling and screaming, moaning and complaining, and all I could think was……

Crossing the line from nurse to patient was like coming to Earth from Mars. It was somewhat surreal! I am happy to report I DID survive the 8 hour lobby wait and entertainment, however I am not sure if I am mentally or emotionally ready to take that on again! 

As a nurse, I am completely ready for my uncontrolled, controlled chaos everyday. As a patient I felt like each minute I was becoming a little more like them….the lobby people….

I heard the nurse finally call my name….and started my descent into the next level of hell…..the patient gown and wait…….

I wish it were that simple. Stay tuned as I tell you how a nurse morphs into a patient in aneurysm flat!!

I’ll see you real soon with my continued journeys!

~J