I saved a life yesterday

Yesterday was a strange day at work. It was Saturday, so the hospital was quiet, mostly because the ancillary departments get to take the weekend off. Intensive care units don't have that luxury. There are always sick people in need of care.

I had to give a patient blood yesterday, so I went down to the lab to get the blood. It was like I had stepped into an 80's horror flick hosted by Gilbert Gottfried. The lab was empty. Absolutely empty. I walked up and down the corridors of humming machines. The humming was interrupted by occasional beeps from the machines. I called out "Hello" only to be met by silence. I walked from one end of the lab to the other searching for someone, anyone, to give me the blood I needed for my patient. Finally, after what seemed like an eerie eternity, I found the lone person in the lab, who said all of the other people must have been called out for one reason or another. I got the blood and went on about my day.

My day was going fairly normally until after lunch, when one of my patients decided to take a turn for the worse. Obviously, I can't say what exactly happened to my patient, but I'm sure it happened in at least a few other places around the country. What I can say is that I saved a life yesterday and that if I hadn't had the help of all of my coworkers, my patient might not have lived.

I came home last night exhausted and emotionally spent, but I feel good today, knowing that I truly helped another person.

It moved!

Nurses are a superstitious lot and, having been a nurse for the last 9 years, I've heard alot of folklore. Nurses who have been nurses for a long time always have a story about a haunting at some hospital where had worked years ago and everyone listening always plays lip service, never questioning the veracity of the story teller. Until last week, nothing paranormal had ever happened to me.

The intensive care unit where I work is fairly large and open. All of the rooms can be seen from the nurses station. There had been a fairly traumatic and emotional death the night before, but being a fairly busy ICU, the bed got filled by another patient the next day. The new patient had a visitor who was a nun, which would not have been notable except that we almost never saw a nun visiting a patient. I don't think there are any nuns associated with the Catholic church in town.

And then it happened...

The bed started moving on it's own!! I actually witnessed this with my own eyes!! The nurse would put the bed flat and then, the bed would move back into an upright position. And then, even weirder, the bed did this all day long, BUT ONLY WHEN THE NUN WAS IN THE ROOM!!!!

And as for my reaction at the time.... I stayed near my patient's rooms, on the other side of the unit!