Christmas Eve & The End

Likely this will be the last post here on NurseXY. I haven't written in awhile, and rest assured it's not because I haven't had ample blog fodder. In fact, it seems that every single shift I work offers up at least one or two events that seem blog worthy. So much so that I find myself realizing that if I blog about one situation, 3 or 4 more are just as pertinent.

I suspect that this is simply the nature of nursing. Or at least nursing on my unit, and it's time to get over myself and my nursing experience. Likely you as RN's (or other medical professionals) have the same experiences. Mine aren't any more valuable.

A few have emailed checking to see if I am ok, so a small update: I am now on day shift, have been since back in June or July. Day shift on our unit is nuts. I've never worked so hard in my life. But this is good, I don't (can't) get lazy. I enjoy getting regular admits from the OR, and I enjoy interacting with physicians on a daily basis. (They are amazingly friendly when you aren't calling them at 0200!) I've managed to develop a bit of a positive reputation with a few of them even. Recently, after hearing my name called on the overhead PA requesting help for about the 10th time that morning, a patient of mine commented, "Boy they'd be a little lost without you, wouldn't they!?" It was a truly meaningful compliment. And I feel like I pull more than my weight.

Life isn't all roses though. I have trouble with my manager--I'm relatively sure that she's a large reason why the unit has many of the issues it does. I tend to be outspoken, and I tend to emphasize the things that truly matter (like patient care, patient safety etc) and let the bureaucratic things slide. Unapologetically. Not terribly popular with management.

Regardless, as I come to the end of this blog here, I thought I'd like to leave you with one last post, and a positive one at that.

I was scheduled to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, and Christmas Eve's shift was nutso. The entire day was ridiculous, and doing a bedside surgical trach revision at 1825 (20 minutes before shift change) pretty much was the cherry on top. Needless to say, I was late leaving and there were very few vehicles on the road as I drove my 42 miles home in the clear, cold darkness. As I passed through a particularly rural portion of my drive, my thoughts couldn't help but wander to the Christmas story of the shepherds tending their flocks that first Christmas Eve so long ago. And I as I reflected, I began to see a parallel with the shepherds in the fact that I was out and about in service of others in need while most people were safely snug at home.

And it was then that I realized, all those people with food in their bellies, a warm home wrapped around their shoulders like a coat of contentment? They would have completely missed Christ's birth. Their feet would have been comfortably propped by the fire, telling stories or playing some silly card game.

As the story goes, not so Joseph and Mary. They ended up in a stable because they were in desperate need, and a humble barn was the best they could scrounge--offered only as a second thought.

If Christ had been born in 2011, on some tattered greasy couch in some mechanic's shop in the slum of some city, who would have been there to witness it? To welcome God incarnate? The well to-do? The church goers at Christmas Eve service?

So my thought is simply this: it is where service and human need come together that the spirit of Christmas can truly be revealed and we can experience the face of God.

Merry Christmas, and may God bless us, everyone.

Sincerely,

Robert Fenton RN-BSN