Every Face Has a Story

When you’re a nurse you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours. ~ Author Unknown

I had never really thought about hospitals before nursing school. Hell, I guess it's even safe to say I avoided them! To me, it was like a short stay motel where you paid a lot of money for mediocre food and amenities in exchange for having babies, getting stitches, surgery, or, worse case scenario, you never checked out, and, you still owed them lots of money!
My first day of clinical training was the day I realized it was so much more than anything I had ever perceived it to be. I donned my nursing cap, grabbed my stethoscope out of the passenger seat of my car and took a deep breath. I walked into the hospital with a pit in my stomach and an unsure look on my face. I never felt comfortable in my uniform and it was hard to look confident when I felt like I was stuck in a costume I couldn't get out of. So, from the moment I got there, I couldn't wait for my shift to end.
I entered Mr. King's room to take his vital signs. He was not conscious but I talked to him anyway and told him who I was and what I was there to do. He had requested to not be resuscitated when his time came and he passed away peacefully minutes later. I was the last person to see him alive and he had just spent his last moment here on Earth with a girl who should have been in art school, was uncomfortable in her uniform and waiting for this first day to be over. His death immediately humbled me and I tried to show him as much respect as possible. I do not know anything about him as the person he used to be, but,I have never forgotten his name.
So, maybe this place could teach me a thing or two and the lessons just kept coming, one after the other, on every floor I was sent to:
On the pediatric floor, I touched the first person I knew to be HIV positive. A group of us saw it on her chart and several students hesitated during patient assignment. I did not. I wanted her. She was 2 years old, had contracted it from her mother at birth and was admitted for a high fever. She did not fit the stereotypes at that time of it mainly being a drug addicts' and homosexuals' disease and this was exactly the way that I needed to see it, through her little eyes. Frankly, I was shocked that my fellow students had decided to become nurses and were backing away from an innocent child in an awful situation. Did they forget how we were taught that a big part of nursing is not passing judgement and showing compassion? I remembered and I didn't even choose this career like the rest of them!
In labor and delivery, I was there when one young mother died from complications after childbirth and I couldn't hide my tears when I saw her bewildered family grieve in the hallway. It was meant to be a joyous time for them, not tragic. How unfair it seemed!
In surgery, I was standing in a little corner of an operating room when surgeons amputated an old man's leg off and was absolutely amazed when they held it up and carried it away. Holy crap! He had a leg and now he doesn't! It was a lot for an 18 year old to take in!
There were plenty of nice and even humorous moments too. I once had two patients who had both given birth on the same day and both their children were fathered by the same man! "Wow!," I thought, "This could totally be on the Jerry Springer Show!"
Another day, I spent practically an entire shift rocking a newborn being put up for adoption. I was drawn to him and his story even though he had no clue of his past or his future. He was so beautiful and I give his biological mother credit for bringing him into this world despite whatever reason she chose not to keep him. I hope he was given a wonderful life by his new family.
I once gave a rather large woman a bed bath and found a few scrambled eggs and some crumbs of toast from breakfast that had landed in the folds of her stomach. She laughed and commented, "So, that's where it ended up! A little snack for later?" Sometimes humor is the best medicine!
I had never thought of the world like this before. You pass by so many people every day not knowing who they are or what is going on in their lives. This is not the case in a hospital. Their name, age, and medical history is all jotted down and what you can't read is usually written all over their faces.
By the end of my training, I learned to accept my uniform as an uncomfortable but honorable reminder of what it gave me the opportunity to experience, and, to this day, I can't drive by a hospital without thinking about what people are going through inside. What a complex world we all live in and we never know under what situation or circumstance we may end up meeting....So, remember, every face has a story and take the time to listen to one of them today.

Image Credit: Vintage World War I Poster - The Comforter, by Gordon Grant:
To recruit young women to become nurses, many of America’s most talented artists were hired to illustrate beautiful posters romanticizing nurses as young heroines. This is one of my favorites.