A calming sound after twelves hours of work on the intensive care floor would have been the soothing sound of water gushing into the bathtub. The echo of the of water splashing into the tub and the smell of lavender bath soap starting to bubble would have been divine.
The melody of bubbles floating into each other as the weary nurse soaked her aching body would have been welcomed with open arms. The tickle of the bubbles against the bottom of her chin as she sank lower into the warm water, allowing it to soothe her muscles and to take her mind to a calmer place, would have been the bees knees...as the saying goes.
She could almost feel her muscles starting to relax, while she lived inside her imagined felicity during her last break of the evening. A twelve hour shift had quickly turned into a fifteen hour shift and once more was being extended an hour. She cursed the second duty nurse who called to relay the message that she was still stuck at her doctor's office and would be another hour. Not one to say no to over time, the exhausted nurse had volunteered to stick around.
"Tara, would you mind checking on room 306?" Nora, the robust middle aged head nurse, placed a gentle hand on Tara's shoulder as she sat at her desk trying to keep her eyes open.
"Sure," Tara nodded, pushed herself up from her desk and gave Nora a sleepy smile before she headed to the room at the end of the hall.
Mrs. Jonah was the occupant of room 306, an elderly lady who had suffered a stroke three days ago and was not recovering as well as her three children were hoping. Her two daughters and one son sat diligently by their mother's side each day praying that she would show signs of improvement. It broke her heart to tell them each day that the doctor had come by and had noted no change, but they would continue to monitor their mother and keep her as comfortable as possible. The despair they showed tore at her.
The children had all gone, for an hour, to the cafeteria and Tara was relieved that she would not have to have the same conversation again and would be able to check all the monitors without climbing over everyone in the tiny room. Once the monitors were all checked, the medications logged, and the catheter bag was emptied Tara sat down next to Mrs. Jonah and leaned back in the chair.
Her thoughts drifted back to the tub she had waiting for her at home. She had just purchased a new bath pillow and she was sure that the new tub she had installed over the weekend was going to be just the thing her body needed to rejuvenate before tomorrows shift. She could smell the lavender of her soap suds, feel the bubbles rising over her chest, the warmth of the water sweep over her, and hear the steady stream of water as it poured into her bath.
"Mother!" a scream broke her from her thoughts and she scrambled out of the chair. Ervin, Mrs. Johah's son, was standing in the door way with his mouth agape. Tara followed his gaze to find that his mother had woken up and managed to pull her catheter from herself. She was sitting on the edge of the bed urinating onto the floor.
"What?" the dazed elderly woman asked her son. "I had to pee and that thing was blocking me up," she accused in a scratchy voice while pointing at the tube that lay limply on the bed beside her....
It was harder for me to sit down and write today. I was tired from a week of work and kids and just life in general but I told myself... "You get up every morning and walk to exercise your body...sit down for 15 minutes and excessive your mind!" -so I did, and I am glad for it. Just like I feel energized and pepped up after a nice long walk in the morning, just doing 15 minutes of writing has left me feeling quite invigorating tonight. I sat down, I wrote it, I read it and now I'm posting it! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment