Okay, so what is it with the nurses and the lack of boundaries around here?
Last night, I'm in the bathroom - with the door closed. I heard someone come in and talk to Brad for a while, but I couldn't identify the voice. Next thing I know, there's a knock at my door. Oh shit, we know how this usually plays out.
Phantom voice: "Hi Kiesha!"
Me: "Hi!"
Phantom voice: "How are you? It's (insert name I don't quite understand)."
Me: "Wait, who is it?"
No, no, no, why did I ask who it is? Why didn't I just pretend I heard her the first time and roll with the conversation?
(Door opening)
Phantom voice: "It's Carolyn!"
Me: "Oh, yes, I see you now."
Carolyn fits a somewhat different profile from Benny. She's older, African-American and smells like my grandma used to smell. She doesn't look as shady as Benny. I mean, Benny kinda looks like a deviant, let's be honest. But Carolyn just looks like she bakes a lot of cakes.
How can I hide if I don't even know what I'm looking out for?
As Carolyn wrapped up the conversation and closed the door, I sat stunned on the toilet, replaying my mistake over and over again in my head, like a broken record: "Wait, who is it? Wait, who is it? Wait, who is it?"
Idiot.
I'm just glad there aren't any male nurses around here...yet.
Posts
1 comment:
Kiesha that sounds horrible. It reminds me of my days at Duke, when I did a stint as a hospital chaplain. I was in a patient's room -- she had a heart condition -- and we were chatting about something. Suddenly, in rushed a team of doctors. Clearly something needed testing ASAP. Without greeting her or acknowledging me, they swept in and were removing her clothes in order to put on whatever test equipment was needed. Her eyes became huge and I stood there in disbelief. One of the doctors must have caught the non-verbals we were sending. I had instinctively tried to position myself between the patient and the ravaging doctors. "Oh, excuse us. We have to blah blah blah stat!" Now I ask you, in what other context is it okay for a group to walk up to someone and disrobe them (in front of others) without consent or so much as a "pardon me, but would you mind..." Sheesh.
I think some medical professionals start to think of patients too much as organismic specimens and not enough as human beings!
HANG TOUGH! This too shall pass (no pun intended...)
Post a Comment