What? Yeah I know its one o’clock in the morning now…its ok, I’m not working tomorrow. Yippeeeee! I’m free for a day…free to pretend that I’m a normal person…not that I am abnormal….on second thought…am I normal? Looking back for the last 24 hours of my life, I spent 13 hours of that being a  nurse,that excludes the time preparing for “battle”(I call it a battle cause I’m not quite sure what sort of day I will have). Some days were fine but most aren’t. How many clients (I call them clients) did I had today,14….all different….all needs attention and intensive care. Most cannot walk on their own, some cannot feed themselves, some cannot attend to their own personal needs…but everything’s ok…I can handle that…with a little help from collegues…..its ok….I had my mind set to that even before I got out of my bed this morning. What I am not prepared for is being racially criticised! Not by a Client…not by a collegue….

Are you asking by who? Presenting…a client relative…Are you asking why? It was because I didn’t manage to answer a call instantly. Where was I? What was I doing that hinder me from doing so?….I was in the restroom with a client who cannot attend to his own elimination needs. I was trying my best to make him clean,assist him in the best of my capablities whilst preserving his dignity. Very unfortunate that I was first to attend to them as my team mates were all busy…” Is this how long it takes you to answer all bells? What if its emergency? What if my uncle already fell on the floor? What if I’m not here,maybe you’ll just ignore my call…etc…etc…”  I tried to apologise, tried to explain why it took a while for the call to be answered…I tried…but whilst I’m explaining, she was talking….all I heard from her is that she doesn’t think I understand what she’s telling me…That she cannot understand what I’m telling her…SHE WANTS SOMEONE WHO CAN SPEAK ENGLISH!!!! Ouch! How much it hurts…I cant explain….How I felt at that moment…hard to describe… As a last effort to settle the situation, I apologised again and ask her what I can do for them…she really wants somebody who can speak better english as she cannot understand me….Do you know what they want? What they “urgently” need? A glass of cold water!!!!

For heavens sake….a glass of cold water!!!! Times like this..makes me think why I like being a nurse…I discovered that it is harder to deal with well people than to those who are unwell…harder to deal with relatives (who according to clients are hardly visible to them when they are well) than to deal with clients…when you are a nurse ,you  wear different kinds of hat…and how fast you have to change it, one just cannot imagine. You have to be a carer, a friend, a professional, a child, a daughter, a cleaner, a teacher, a good listener, a careful speaker, a mediator and a whole lot more…roll them all into one…you’ll get a nurse!!!!! Above all these…we are humans too…we get hurt…and even that..we are not allowed to show it at work…we still need to smile and be polite, be patient…even when we are too tired to do it…even when we are too hurt to show it….we have to…We are nurses…I am a nurse….The golden rule says,”Do unto others what you want them to do unto you….” Makes me wonder, does everyone know this….? I’m not making sense anymore,,,I’m out of here!