Nursing’s Dance

I called in sick today. Had perfect attendance to this point, but my throat got sore yesterday and my sinuses clogged. With that and some sneezes and drips, home is where I belong, not with my wee little friends in the Neonatal ICU.

I’m using all my tried and true remedies trying to chase this thing away. Let’s hope they work.

I rarely get sick – most often it happens when I’m otherwise worn out. That’s been the case.

I get overwhelmed by the number and diversity of the things I have to do. I’ve alway had problems switching gears and lately that’s been a constant. I prefer to lose myself  in one important project – focus everything on it and emerge only for biological functions. I have a gift for deep focus on a specific target (this served me well as a nurse practitioner in critical situations – not so much as a once-again bedside nurse).

Here, too, I believe I do my best work with one very sick baby. This is why I love transports. One patient to deal with. Few distractions or interruptions. For me, nursing heaven.

I have learned to see my natural bent towards pessimism as a gift too. When I came into a new situation, I’m always thinking, “What could go wrong here?”  I imagine, maybe foresee, possible disasters and mentally prepare responses to them. Most don’t happen but I’m always more ready when they do.

Even when I examine a baby in the newborn nursery, I try to find something wrong with them, not because I want there to be something but because if there is, I want to catch it before the baby goes home and is out of reach.

My nursing work is valuable but I don’t work in isolation. Other nurses with different personalities use their own gifts. Each of them has something to offer. Our care is like a dance – a community of caregivers, pursuing what’s best for our patients, making nursing an art as well as a profession.

And every time I walk through the NICU doors, I join the dance.