There’s Something About Nurses

WE DID IT! (see last few posts)

We got our man over here in hospital and stabilized. Jeez he is still critical and one of the few people that I say a prayer for but he is here.

I received an email from the treating physician in the Middle East today that has been treating him that basically describes why the patient’s journey was necessary:

“Because of our combat environment and focused mission, we clearly have limitations in what we can do for patients like this and sometimes we have to improvise with some unconventional strategies.”

We have had ventilator failures missing aircraft, logistical delays, immigration issues, problems with the Department of Health and a plethora of other crises.

After getting to the hospital at 22:00 to complete paperwork and await his scheduled arrival at 23:30 thinking that all was in order I eventually left at 06:50 .

He didn’t turn up until 05:00 following problems refueling, technical issues and various other inconveniences and at last I laid eye upon the guy that we had all been working so hard for.

Yet again I was impressed by people’s professionalism. The paramedics were on the airport runway for from 22:00 also. I chatted with them for a while at the hospital getting an update on our man’s condition and apologizing for them having to wait so long. These people save lives on an hourly basis and have to be one of the most underrated professionals.

And the Intensive Care Unit Nurses! I don’t know how many of you have been inside an intensive care unit but by its very nature it should be a chaotic place. Every single patient there is being kept alive solely by mechanical mean means or intense effort. However it was a place of quiet calm and intense attention to duty. (Nurses are there with the paramedics in my book)

We forget the people that look after us in our time of need sometimes and it’s no bad thing no matter how unpleasant the circumstances to be reminded that these people exist and that they deserve our admiration.

Now I make no apologies for this question. It is purely a guy thing. But just what is it about nurses that is so damned appealing? I have spent a reasonable amount of time in hospitals around the world for one reason or another and it’s a global phenomena, nurses the world over are spectacularly appealing!