Lessons learned from being the patient

So after being a nurse to hundreds of patients, I finally became a patient in the wee hours this morning. I had run out of my beloved Zofran and my super awesome medical insurance will not allow me to refill the prescription for another week and a half. Subsequently, I have spent the last few days doing nothing but puking all day and night, which finally landed me in the ER this morning. Although the trip to the hospital was in no way fun, it was interesting to be the patient for once and I learned a lot:

1. IV Zofran and IV fluids are two of the most marvelous things on this planet. As an oncology nurse, I have given a lot of IV Zofran to patients and have had a lot of dehydrated patients that I have had to pump IV fluids into. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that these two little things could take someone from feeling close to dead to feeling mostly alive. Hallelujiah!

2. Dehydration hurts. I remember learning in my ICU class in school how dehydration is actually very painful, and I guess I didn't take that professor seriously because I was a little shocked to discover that my whole body really hurt. And once again, I could feel the hurt melt away with those lovely IV fluids running into me. yay. :)

3. Nice nurses really do make all the difference. During my little jaunt to the ER, I had two different nurses. Nurse #1 was so nice and sweet. Unfortunately, my usually large and prominent veins were all shriveled from dehydration so getting an IV in was a little difficult. I could tell she felt sorry, but you know what? I didn't even care because I knew it was my wimpy veins and not her lack of IV skills, and she was just so nice and respectful and informative and prompt. I really hope that I'm that kind of a nurse to my patients, because it made all the difference. I'm sure my second nurse was probably a very good nurse, but she was also not very nice. Oh, well.

4. ER stretchers really are THAT painful to lay on for hours at a time. I have had patients tell me time and time again how glad they were to get out of the ER and up to the floor into a real bed because of how uncomfortable the stretchers are. They weren't lying!

5. I would rather be a nurse than a patient. I was lucky enough to have a great doctor and nurse, which helped things a lot. I also loved feeling about a hundred times better leaving the ER than when I had first come in three hours previous. But feeling miserable really isn't fun. I'd much rather be the nurse and help patients feel better than to feel like poop myself. If anyone is thinking about a career change, be a nurse. It's the best.