Telemetry
Tag: Nursing
Sallow
When life leaves the body and the skin becomes sallow... Motionless remains are left feeling heavy yethollow.
Cold Hand
That moment you walk into your patient's room and she's visibly dead... And the granddaughter who is holding her hand looks at you and mouths "help me" through tears... And you realize that she's been holding her dead grandma's cold hand for twenty minutes while the rest of her family chats in the corner... Because she just didn't know how to tell them.
Last Words
As we frantically tried
to save your life
I heard
“Can someone please
call my wife?”
Last Call
They asked me whether or not she could still hear... So I held my phone patiently against a dying woman's ear...
Swept
Sometimes I feel like an undertow has swept me up. Forcibly suffocating, pulling, and dragging me so much farther out than I thought I'd ever be able to go...
Code Blue
The worst thing
about a code blue…
Is when the doctor finally
throws in the towel…
And you’re left there
looking at an empty body…
Realizing there’s nothing else
anyone can ever do.
Declared
How did it feel
when your mind left your body…
and you were declared dead.
Those stunning green eyes
once filled with life…
now hidden by those
black, fixed pupils.
Your every orifice
now holds tubes…
only to preserve
what’s left of you.
But not for you.
For someone deserving
of life…
or perhaps a second chance.
Now we sit here…
listening to these constant,
sharp, monitoring beeps…
my paperwork completed.
Soon the harvesters will take you
for your last salvageable parts…
like crops in a sterile field.
Brain-dead… yet still very much alive.
So was it worth it?
That one last fucking high?
Two Months
Last night my patient was told she had two months to live. Maybe more, maybe less…
She sat there listening to what the doctor had to say about her poor prognosis, tears building behind her eyes.
He tenderly answered her questions, leaving her no more further scenarios to ponder within her bald head.
He left. I stayed.
I handed her some tissues, helped dry her sunken face, and held her hand as we waited for her family’s return.
She then looked at me suddenly, grinning as she said, “Well… now I have a reason to get cable and sip my fucking margaritas right?”
And I giggled and replied, “Yes… I believe you fucking do”.
❤️🙌
I’ll Stay
I’ll hold your hand
when your family’s not here,
to comfort your death during
this quarantine my dear.
I know you don’t understand
what this lock-down has done,
and it pains me to know
you aren’t the only one.
But one visitor a day
is all that’s allowed,
and sadly you’ll get none
for the fear that surrounds.
So lay down your head
and close those tired eyes,
I’ll stay here with you
until your final goodbye.
AO Poetry 
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