When Nurses Do Magic

Working in pediatric rehab is really tough sometimes.  (Note: not drug rehab, but physical rehab).  We take care of patients who, for whatever reason, need help with walking, talking, and regular activities of living...things that were once easy but are now the most challenging tasks in the world.  Many have been in car accidents, some have had tumors removed from their brain or spine, others are just weak from laying in a critical care bed for weeks on end.

So...they do work.  Really hard work.  They're doing therapy for up to 6 hours a day, which is often painful and exhausting.  They hate their meds, and they especially hate the feeding tubes that go through their nose.  The nurses challenge them to eat and drink more than they feel like they can, get up and walk to the bathroom when they would rather stay in bed, wear uncomfortable braces, do exercises, and so much more.  Every day is a struggle of s-l-o-w progress.  Often, patients are discharged home in a wheelchair with lots of assistance set up at home, and outpatient therapies as often as 5 days a week.  So at that point...we are just hoping they continue to improve, but we nurses don't usually know what happens to them.

Unless they come back to the unit to visit!  These are some of my all-time favorite moments of being a nurse.  A magical transformation has happened and this former patient is now a regular kid (or much closer on their way) who runs and laughs and fondly recounts stories of their inpatient days.  Recently a patient came back to visit, and I literally did not recognize the child.  (Forgive my awkward absence of gender-specific pronouns...can't be violating any federal laws now).  The kiddo looked at me and said, "You're the nurse who cut off my bracelet!"  I actually only cared for this child for one day, but it was the best day of their whole hospital stay - the day they got to go home.  Apparently, this former patient will always remember the nurse from that day, even though I barely remembered the patient.  

I think that's nursing in a nutshell.  We do the same interventions for patients over and over, tasks that mean very little to us...but they're everything to someone else.  Pulling out my little bandage scissors to make a snip on a plastic bracelet?  No big deal.  But for this child, that small act represented a huge achievement, winning a battle that literally took months to fight.

Of course...I cannot perform magic.  How blessed I am to be the Lord's handmaid as He performs His healing work through my small actions.