Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Retired and amazed
In 2024 it will be 10 years since I hung up my stethoscope for good. A decade is plenty of time for the world of science and medicine to develop astounding new techniques, tools and procedures. I would not be aware of these changes if I hadn’t had frequent exposure to hospitals and procedures through Jan’s various medical conditions and some of my own.
The other day I was in for a Cat scan and the doctor had ordered it done with contrast. This meant that an IV had to be started. I always warn the unfortunate person whose job it is to find my rollerball, elusive veins, that today is not their lucky day. One nurse tried and said she would only stick me once and then go get the expert. She had to go for the expert who used an ultrasound machine to locate a likely candidate. Two candidates later he finally got the tiny catheter where it was supposed to be. I didn’t feel a thing because I’m used to this routine. Mostly I was unaware of him at all because I was fascinated by the unltrasound process of pinpointing the precise spot where the needle should enter.
The young man, Daniel, and I exchanged some nursey stories. I praised him for being a good IV placer, telling him that in my day I was no good at venipuncture. I think it’s a gift to have the touch that allows you to put a needle directly into a blood vessel you can’t see. We all have our specialties, I said. Mine was the ability to put a urinary catheter into one of my hospice patients, a rather large lady who could not move out of her recliner. “Oh,” he said, “I don’t do catheters at all well!”.
Before Daniel came in the nurse needed to measure my kidney function. I expected to see a needle with a tube for blood attached. Nope. Now a days the test can be done with a pinprick drop of blood on a test strip, much like the machine that measures blood sugar. What? I see ads for phone apps that can produce a medical grade electrocardiogram. What?
Last night I went to the ICU where Jan was sent post-surgery. I came at shift change so I heard some of the report from the day nurse to the night nurse. When report was done, the night nurse, whose name is Rebecca, came in, introduced herself, and started to do her work. I always identify myself as an old, retired nurse. I find that opens the channel of communication with great ease. As Jan says, nurses are members of a world-wide sorority and we never meet a stranger nurse.
Rebecca chatted while she observed the various machines connected to Jan. Then she did something that I couldn’t believe. These days there is an IV thingy that can be inserted straight into an artery. This tiny miracle instrument can measure blood pressure with each beat of the heart, doing away with the clunky process of a blood pressure cuff squeezing the life out of an arm. Then Rebecca turned a few little dials, attached a syringe and drew blood from the wonder machine without having to stick Jan. I think my mouth might have been hanging open. “You can do that?”, I asked. She laughed a little at my incredulity. “Rebecca”, I said, “when you are as old a nurse as I am, all this stuff looks like science fiction!”.
There is one thing that hasn’t changed. That is the ability of a good and compassionate nurse to reassure me that the person I love is in good hands. When I talked to Rebecca a few minutes ago I thanked her again. Last night I slept in peace, knowing that Jan was well cared for. That matters.