Posts Tagged → Health

Nurses Are Difficult Patients

I had a battle appointment with my doctor recently. His heart must sink when he realizes that I’m in his exam room. I don’t mean to be a problem, but … nurses are notoriously bad patients.

I’d had a cough for about a week, which had recently developed into a sore throat. It hurt way down in the front of my throat, at the larynx. And because I’ve had, in the past, a two-year battle with C. diff, I am extremely reluctant to take antibiotics. In fact, I’m generally reluctant to take any medications at all.

My head has to be splitting open before I swallow a Tylenol. It’s just how I am.

So I showed up in his office on a Thursday morning, complaining of a deep, persistent cough and raw sore throat. I fervently hoped he had his magic wand with him, because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like any of his suggestions.

Predictably, the conversation went like this:

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A Nursing Story: Cover Your Sores

Nick,  a thin, 58-year-old homeless man, was sitting quietly at a bus stop, contemplating the trees across the street, when a stranger approached and happened to glance over at him. He took in Nick’s thin face, his small frame under the old flannel shirt…and Nick’s legs. They seemed awfully big for his body size.

In fact… his dirty jeans were stretched tight, all the way down to his boots. Were his legs swollen? His calves were as big around as his thighs. It didn’t seem right.

And then the stranger saw it.

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