Life behind bars and other Stories: July 2018

Friday 20 July 2018

The transformation continues

Day 3 Your Favourite Nursing quote.... this is a hard one , there are so many of them

But I think I’m going to have to cheat and take 3 quotes, the first two are from the famous nurse Edith Cavell who was known for saving hundreds of allied troops in the war and executed for treason , on the eve of her exception she is quoted as saying

They have all been very kind to me here. But this I would say, standing as I do in view of God and eternity, I realize that patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.

She is also quoted as having said

Someday, somehow, I am going to do something useful, SOMETHING for PEOPLE. They are, most of them, so helpless, so hurt and so unhappy.

This is also one of my favourite nursing quotes

To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse.

Day 4 Your dream job

That’s easy I want to be an advanced nurse practitioner in criminal justice either prison police custody or similar

Day 5 celebrating NHS70

This ones easy too, I was born in the NHS, THE NHS trained me and provided me with a job for my whole life, it’s the envy of the world and no health service is like it it saves lives and makes a difference what’s not to celebrate

Transforming Nursing

Hi there in the blogosphere , so the NHS. turned 70 this month, hard to believe really

Part of the NHS 70 is a campaign to transform perceptions of Nursing and

Midwifery NHS Horizons have created a series of 30 day challenges they set a challenge for each day in July to write a blog

related to nursing , I am a bit behind so you will get 20 days all at once from me

If you want to follow the challenge there are twitter feeds with #NurseBloggers @BloggersNurse #NHS70 #NurseBlogger #FutureNursing have fun and enjoy

Day 1 blog name and purpose, well my blog has been around for a while , it has had two names and that depends on my current role it is currently life on the wards and other stories, but it may be life beyond the bars and other stories, it doesn’t have a purpose as such, I just want to share a small piece of insight into my world which may or may not be of interest.

Day 2 20 facts about you, ooh this is an interesting one, I suppose it depends what the facts are doesn’t it, well let’s see,

1. Im an Aries

2 I am the eldest sibling of 4

3 I have lived in 3 different counties of England

4 I can speak French

5 I got my first tattoo at age 40

6 I am scared of clowns and spiders

7 My first proper job was at Burger King and I was fired after less than a week!!!

8 I have met Micheal Ball and Alfie Boe in person (amazing)

9 I know all the words to all the songs of every version of Les Miserables ( so do my family)

10 Penguins are my favourite animal

11 I converted to Catholicism in 2013 after a trip to South Africa

12 I am an Open University Graduate

13 I have a west Highland Terrier called Billy

14 I was proposed to on the sea front at Skegness

15 My favourite colour is Green

16 I love to be by the sea

17 My Uncle David was the drummer in the 70s Glam Rock Band Mud ( and I’m very proud of that )

18 I used to suck my finger

19 I had braces for 7 years from aged 14 to 21 (see 18)

20 I failed my GCSE Maths (twice...!!!)

When God Created Nurses

When the Lord made Nurses He was into his sixth day of overtime.

An angel appeared and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one." And the Lord said, "Have you read the specs on this order? A nurse has to be able to help an injured person, breathe life into a dying person, and give comfort to a family that has lost their only child and not wrinkle their uniform. They have to be able to lift 3 times their own weight, work 12 to 16 hours straight without missing a detail, console a grieving mother as they are doing CPR on a baby they know will never breathe again. They have to be in top mental condition at all times, running on too-little sleep, black coffee and half-eaten meals. And they have to have six pairs of hands.

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands...no way!" "It's not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord, "It's the two pairs of eyes a nurse has to have." "That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. The Lord nodded.

"One pair that does quick glances while making note of any physical changes, And another pair of eyes that can look reassuringly at a bleeding patient and say, "You'll be all right ma'am" when they know it isn't so."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his sleeve, "rest and work on this tomorrow." "I can't," said the Lord, "I already have a model that can talk to a 250 pound grieving family member whose child has been hit by a drunk driver...who, by the way, is laying in the next room uninjured, and feed a family of five on a nurse's paycheck."

The angel circled the model of the nurse very slowly, "Can it think?" she asked. "You bet," said the Lord. "It can tell you the symptoms of 100 illnesses; recite drug calculations in its sleep; intubate, defibrillate, medicate, and continue CPR nonstop until help arrives...and still it keeps its sense of humor. This nurse also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a multi-victim trauma, coax a frightened elderly person to unlock their door, comfort a murder victim's family, and then read in the daily paper how nurses are insensitive and uncaring and are only doing a job." Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the nurse.

"There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you that you were trying to put too much into this model." "That's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's the tear for?" asked the angel. "It's for bottled-up emotions, for patients they've tried in vain to save, for commitment to the hope that they will make a difference in a person's chance to survive, for life." "You're a genius," said the angel.

The Lord looked somber. "I didn't put it there," He said.