When the Nurse Becomes the Patient

While nurses have a great deal of experience treating and caring for patients, unforeseen circumstances will occasionally cause the tables to turn, giving the nurse the chance to be a patient. This became my personal reality just last week. Friday, Bloody FridayOn a recent Friday afternoon, I was doing my usual workout at a local gym where I can be found pretty much every other day most weeks of the year. Cardio, weightlifting, various machines, balance exercises, and resistance training all figure in my personalized routine. Early in my workout, I was using thick rubber tubes for resistance training. These bungee-like tubes have handles at one end and are anchored into a sheet metal base on the wall. I use three in each hand in order to maximize resistance, and I was deep into my usual process when I heard a sound and then instantaneously felt a searing pain in my left ankle as I fell to the floor. Apparently, the metal anchor for the bungee cords had torn from the wall as I did my usual exercise, and this 18-inch piece of molded sheet metal flew at me with all of the pent up force of those six tensed rubber tubes. It guillotined the lateral aspect of my left lower leg just above the lateral malleolous.Blood was spurting everywhere, and although I couldn ' t fully visualize the gaping 7-inch long wound, I could see bone and knew I was in trouble. No one else was in the large exdercise room with me, but my screams brought another gym rat to my rescue, and he va...
Source: Digital Doorway - Category: Nursing Tags: nurse nurses nursing Source Type: blogs