Room 35

I walked into work, late and half asleep as usual. I went to the time clock to punch in and see my assignment for the shift. I glanced at the sheet and then glanced again to make sure that I had to correct assignment in my not yet caffeine charged brain.

As I walked down the hall, I began to think about my assignment and then it hit me. I knew of the patient in room 35, his reputation proceeded him.

I sighed and thought about how I could possibly get out of this. Maybe I could say that I was not able to take care of him because I had a cold and that would be good for him. Or maybe I could say that my back hurt and I would be able to care for him properly. Or maybe.... maybe I would just take my turn his the assignment.

I did not have to work the next day and you can do anything for 12 hours, right? I kept walking and prepared to take report on the patient.

Room 35 was home to an older man. He was a gruff old man with a perverted sense of humor.

Life had been rough on him. And now that the one last good thing he had, his health, was failing, he let anyone and everyone know how miserable he was.

He was loud, rude, disrespectful and at times just pain mean.

If you got him on a 'bad day' there was nothing you could do to make him happy. He was known for throwing full urinals across the room. He refused to use the bedpan, instead sat in his stool and smearing it all over. He refused most of his bathes. He had slapped away lab techs and he had even gone so far as to spit in people's faces.

Needless to say the list of nurses that would not or could not care for him was longer than the nurses that would.

Today it was my turn. I had never actually been in charge of his care, only heard the stories. That is just the beauty of part-time, sometimes you 'miss out' because you don't work as often. But it now was finally my day.

I listen carefully as the night shift nurse told me his history and about her night. They had not meshed well, so it have been a partially awful night for her. She was frazzled and I could tell that she was at her whits end.

As we were finishing, his call light went off. She rolled her eyes and said, "He is all yours. Good luck, 'cause you are going to need it."

I watched her hurriedly pack up her things and leave. I wished that she would have just toughed it out and answered the bell one last time. I just needed a few more minutes to prepare, a few more sips of coffee. But I guess that I couldn't blame her for wanting to run like hell but my coffee.

I took a deep breath, guzzle down half my coffee and entered the room.

"Good Morning, Room 35. My name is Jen and I am going to be your nurse today." I said trying to make my tone as sweet as possible and hide all my insecurities.

My greeting was met with a grunt and then silence as he looked me up and down, almost sizing me.

"Your call light was on. What can I do for you?" I said hoping that my sweet soft tone would sooth him.

He smiled at me and said, "I am uncomfortable. Fix it."

I did my best to reposition him and get him comfortable in bed. While I was completing the task, Room 35 just smiled at me and after a few minutes said, "Fine."

I went over the the computer, entered his vital signs and prepared his morning medications. He never said a word, just watched me and smiled as I went about my daily tasks.

When I finished with his tasks, I looked at the clock. I had spent enough time in here and need to see my other patient. I asked him, "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"No," he grunted but then quickly added," When will you be back?"

"I have another patient to see but I will check on you in about 30 minutes or so," I said.

"Seems like a long time to be gone from me. I am very sick man, hooked up to all this sh*t. I need attention too," was his reply.

"Don't worry. You will be fine and I will just be in the next room. I can see your monitor in there. I will always be watching you." I tried to reassure him.

He turned his head away from me. I took that to mean that he understood and I left.

The rest of the day went off without any trouble. He was cooperative, helpful and even pleasant at times. He mostly was just quiet and kept a silly grin on his face every time he saw me.

I didn't understand what people were complaining about. He was not a difficult patient to care for. He was fine. I guess it was just my excellent nursing care that softened him. "Maybe because of me, he would be nice from now on," I told myself, stroking my ego.

Towards the end of my shift, I went into his room to gather some last minute data. He appeared to be asleep, so I kept as quiet as I could. I was studying the computer screen when he spoke, his voice startling.

"Come here!" He demanded.

I walked over to his bed. He looked at me and said, "Those tits are f*cking fantastic."

A big smile came across his face as he laid his head onto his pillow, almost proud of himself. There was a very long, awkward silence in the room as I processed what he just said.

I looked at him, at the silly grin plastered all over his face (I now knew why it was there), and said, "Yes, yes they are fantastic but you will NEVER know just how fantastic."

And with that, I turned and walked out of the room.

This post is part of Writer's Workshop hosted by Mama Kat.

This post is based on true events, some of which happened to me and some of which happened to the lovely people I work with.
I have taken some liberties and spun them together hoping to make a good story.