Just What I Needed

Today, I worked twelve hours at the women and children hospital. In case I haven't mentioned it, I am an emergency room nurse practitioner. I work in 3 hospitals, one a trauma center, one a pediatric/women's hospital, and another primarily heart hospital. Today, we were business as usual, waiting room full, ER full and a completely overwhelmed staff. At one point, I was asked to show a resident how to glue a head wound shut. I dropped what I was doing and headed for the room. In there was a two year old little boy who had jumped off his bed and hit his forehead on a dresser. He had a little cut to be shut. At first, I wasn't very excited to go. I was busy, drowning in things to do, I didn't have time for this.

I opened the curtain to e this beautiful little boy. He had a pacifier in and immediately started talking to me. I sat down and listened to his tale of his boo boo. He kept asking me questions,"What's that?"he was asking about the gauze and the tape and the glue. The only thing was with the pacifier the words all ran together, and the saliva ran around the pacifier down his chin. Usually, I try to talk to my little ones a while before doing anything so they won't be afraid. As I started to clean his head it dawned on me this one was exactly Nate's age. I also began to realize that maybe this extra patient in the midst of a horribly busy day was there for a reason.

I found myself really paying attention to what his speech was, mom eventually took the pacifier out and I found his words were just about as slurred without it! After all, he was two. After his head was glued he helped me clean up the supplies,"here's zis" he said as he handed me things. When it was all done, he hadn't cried at all. There were so many little things that reminded me of just how a two year old was. Desperately trying to communicate, enjoying interaction with someone else and that feeling of importance when he was helping. I needed that reminder.

The thing is the stages pass so quickly in children I forgot exactly how a two year old was. I guess just getting the chance to spend some time with this little boy reminded me of things to come with Nate. In the end I got to supply him with a pediatric patient favorite a "Wed posikle" (red Popsicle). Thus making his day, or so he thought. The reality was he made mine.