Nurses

How do they do it? I’m just amazed. I’ve spent the last 15 afternoons in the hospital with Mona. Around her, there are patients arriving and departing. There are a lot of people in serious trauma and pain. They vomit, shit, and feel outright and utterly bad. Still, the nurses are there, saying “come on, love”, “I’ll help you”, etc. And they come back the next day with the same energy. Most of them are young. They finished their nursing degrees a couple of years ago, some at UL. Now they are faced with the pale reality of life, when it’s not so good. They know a lot. They heard it in lectures, read it on books. They see and hear the doctors decide this or that. But, they are not allowed to decide. If a patient is in pain, it’s up to the doctor to decide morphine. They can’t make that decision. How do they cope? They always have a smile and compassion, even under severe stress…