From Being A Patient In The Hospital To Working In One

I've now move onto real people!

What a week it's been. My first real week in a hospital as a student respiratory therapist and to quote my good friend Allison "1 week in the hospital poking patients with needles and have caused no known death or dismemberment". Everything was exciting... like connecting a flow meter to oxygen. It's amazing to finally see what RT's really do for a living, and it's really cool. The people I've been working with are amazing, I'm pretty sure RT's are the coolest people in the world. I learnt so much this week it really boggles the mind (well it more mangled my mind). I can't wait for next week. All my fellow classmates, can attest that school can be a rough go. This week has really reinforced that it was really worth it. I think I'll really be happy working in the hospital, but I realize there is still a lot to learn about the job. I'm not going to lie I questioned going back to school, more than once. The fact that I couldn't believe how fast a 12h shift went by or the fact that I really helped people shows me it was all worth it.  

I'm doing this on real people now, no more plastic arm for me!

This week also made me reflect on my experiences being a patient in the hospital. I usually end up in the hospital alone. I hate going with people, being a burden, and people seeing me struggle to breath. As a result of that I've spent many nights in my adult life in the ER on my own by my own choice. It's hard to explain the feeling of an asthma attack or how all the drugs make you feel but Ventolin one of the drugs to treat asthma attacks, gives you the shakes, makes your heart race and of course causes nausea for good measure. I remember one night I had headed to the ER on my own with a particularly bad, and stubborn attack I couldn't get over. I was getting tired and scared. They loaded me up on a shit load of drugs even by my standards because I was getting worse. I was on so much Ventolin my heart rate was about 220, and I was shaking so bad I couldn't hold things. Then I started to vomit. I broke down, I could barely breath and now I was violently vomiting. I remember crying as I puked into a cardboard bowl. A nurse came over and started rubbing my back. She got the doctor to give me a shot of gravol and waited with me till the nausea passed. I can't explain what that meant to me, she made a terrible time more manageable. I realized this week I want to be like her. My goal this year is to learn as much as possible but to never forget the human aspect. Compassion, caring and hope go a long way and I don't want to ever forget that. 

I get to do this on people now (well soon)