And The Torment Continues...

'Does thou not hear the pity of his plaint?

Does thou not see the death that combats him

Besides that flood, where ocean has no vaunt?'

Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto II

30th October (Thursday) - Even though it's a morning, it's almost like a repeat of yesterday. Yesterday there were a few rooms left, but today is a full house. Nutty, and they are all heavy cases. Neuro, critical, cancer cases.... I ended up becoming a runner because of all the heavy cases. This is also one of the rare instances where I do not put up drips, sponging and such. We were too busy, that somehow I ended up doing bed making solo. What to do? Some patients were alright, but most of them were sleeping. Because all of us are in a rush and in constant demand from patients and professors alike, we didn't had a lot of time to do bed-making. I was settling uncle after his shower when the doctor came. Uncle is going back tomorrow, so the doctor came over to make sure he is all ready to go, with the right equipments for his rehabilitation. After that, I had to give his feeding and made sure he is all rested up and ready. Then because there were too many patients, I started observation early.

The other uncle, the one with the advanced cancer is looking worse. Just few days ago, he could talk and joke with me.When I came in, about to do his vital signs, the prof came in and stopped me, telling me there's no need. Uncle looks, no other ways to put it, awful. His eyeballs are looking upwards so that you can only see the whites of his eyes, tinted with an unhealthy yellow. His breathing is shallow and he barely responded when the prof called him. The prof then explained to me that he's already entering the stage of dying. He pulled me aside and told me, most likely at uncle's condition, he only had today or tomorrow. No, not again. Ever since I joined here, I've been seeing terminally ill patients dropping a lot. He told me, no point active resuscitation because the cancer had spread everywhere in his body. He said to me, just do what you all can, give him care and support so that he doesn't suffer in his passing. The one thing all of us we are worried about is what if he passes during midnight, there won't be any doctors. We need to find who's the Doctor on Call, because as I reminded the prof, as nurses, we can't pronounce a death of patient. Only doctors are allowed to do so.  He made a few calls and said, "If he really does pass and you all can't get the Doctor on Call, call me." He then put down the Doctor on Call number so that we know who to contact later on.
The kid is another problem. He keeps crying so hard that made all heads turn. He wants attention form everyone. And if you don't give him the attention he wants. he yells and chase you out of the room and refuse to cooperate with you next time he sees your face. What to do but to give him the attention he needs so that you are able to do your work smoothly, otherwise you'll end up getting yelled the prof.
And discharges, of course people want to leave fast, but they kept shoving us to go fast. Come on, we can't proceed a discharge until the prof signs off. And there are too many admissions. And they are all yelling non stop for rooms. Look, our rooms are limited, and we only have three wards, and they are all jam packed. The nurses are all stressed out, with all the procedures and the demanding patients. Grrr.
I even ended up being bullocked by a patient on our first meeting. Well, not the patient, her daughter to be exact. From the way she talks, I know her type. Snobby, educated, rich type whom expects everything to be perfect. The moment I just stepped into the room, she went like this. "We waited so long for a room. Why you all don't have any spare rooms?" "Oh my God, this room is so old and disgusting! Look at the walls, it's all cracked!" "Your water heater light is spoiled, and you call this a VIP room? It's so badly maintained!" "What's the difference between a single and VIP? Tell me, tell me, TELL ME!" Ugh, she basically back into a corner and bombarded me with all of these questions and remarks. Look, our ward is basically full and rooms are limited. You think we can chase out our patients just to fit you in? And there is absolutely no point complaining the maintenance to me. I gave her the customer feedback form and took her to fill all her complaints in. Good thing I kept my cool, otherwise I might end up snapping at the daughter. It's really not easy to keep your head low on this kind of patient's family, but I'm learning....