My View of Life - Never Better!

My Favorite Moment as a Registered Nurse

The year was 1999. I was employed as an RN at Grover C. Dils Medical Center in Caliente Nevada. It was a small hospital. 16 long-term beds, four acute-stay beds and a small ER. On any given shift there had to be one RN, one LPN, and two CNAs.

The speaker on the squawk box jolted the four of us to attention. "30+ year-old woman found down. Unconscious with shallow breathing. Known diabetic. ETA one minute."

I knew who it was. She was one of our own--a CNA. She'd tanked her blood sugar again for sure. I called the Dr. and told him. He said he'd be there is about 15. The two CNAs accompanying me, I grabbed an accu-check machine and an amp. of D-50 and went to the ER to await the ambulance.

When the EMTs brought her in I noticed I was correct on who she was. She lay there looking lifeless. The EMTs had her on a backboard and a c-collar. "Is she dead?" One of the CNAs asked.

"We'll know in one moment," I said as I strapped on the blood-pressure cuff and took the rest of her vitals.

The vitals were stable. The accu-check calculating, I started an IV. I glanced at the reading--30. It was at that moment it occurred to me. No one in that room knew what was going on with this patient but me. A smile eased across my face as I envisioned what was about to happen.

"Does she have a chance?" one of the EMTs asked. "We didn't see any trauma."

Others in the room nodded their concern.

"This lady is going to open her eyes and start talking in 10 seconds," I stated, as I pushed through the IV the amp of D-50.

There were a few gasps around the room, and a muffled-- "that's impossible."

I finished pushing the amp, and resumed the countdown. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one and . . .

Exactly on cue, the lady opened her eyes and looked around the room. I looked around too at their astonished faces. Eyes bugging out, mouths open--their expressions were priceless.

This experience and a million others have brought an abundance of joy and fulfillment to my life. To this day, eighteen years later, this lady is fine. Way to go RNs! Let's go out and have an amazing day today!