Honesty

Honesty is the best policy.

Or, is it?

I worked today. My first patient was an evaluation of this little old lady who fell and has dementia. She was scared, nervous, and painful. She didn't want to move or get out of bed because of her pain. We'd move a little bit, she'd cry, and I'd distract her by asking about something completely not related to what I wanted her to do. It's a great little technique I've used with success for people who have dementia and don't remember from one minute to the next.

Today, this lady had fallen and beaten herself up pretty badly, but didn't break anything, cut anything, or need surgery. As I was moving her around, I noticed she had blood all over her fingers and couldn't figure out why she would, so I asked.

"What happened to your fingers? You have blood all over them."

She replies, "It's from picking my nose."

Sometimes, there's things you just don't want to know.

What?!?

I was walking back from dinner tonight with a coworker. We had slices at a local pizza joint. We both live nearby and just met for dinner, so we were not carrying anything. No messenger bags, backpacks, shopping bags. It was a little chilly, so we both had our hands in our coat pockets. We walked past the McDonald's, which always seems to have some slightly sketchy people loitering outside. Tonight, what bizarre question does one of them ask of the two of us who are carrying absolutely nothing?

"Do you have any diapers?"

Striking a Chord

I got an opportunity to do something I have not done in a while and wandered through a museum. In this case, it was the Museum of Glass located a hop, skip, and jump down the road and nearly vacant on President's Day. For as long as I can remember, I have been intrigued by glass objects with a special affinity for colored glass (yes, yes, blue glass). The museum had a couple of different exhibits, but the one that I spent the most time at was entitled "Contrasts: A Glass Primer." This exhibit focused on different words you could use to describe works rather than saying "I like it," "I don't like it," or "I don't get it." One of my favorite contrasts, or the one that provoked the most thought for me was the one comparing fact versus fiction. Here's the blurb they had about fiction:

Sometimes a dragon may be preferable to a squid, as a novel may be preferable to a textbook. A fondness for fiction may depend upon a desire for delight rather than information, an inherently poetic rather than scientific disposition, or a mood that favors imagination over reality.

This just perfectly described why I tend to read fiction rather than fact when I read for pleasure. I read to escape, plain and simple. My fancy for Harry Potter explained wonderfully.

One of the other contrasts I found particularly thought provoking was the one comparing science and art. The placard they had posted for this contrast asked, "Can there be great craft without artistry and great art without craftmanship?"

It sounds like the prompt for an essay question that I'd like to read the responses to. In my opinion, the two go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. I think so many of the great masters have demonstrated that, and the reason they have done great things is their ability to tie together two seemingly unrelated ideas in their respective fields such as art and science.

Laughs from the Day

Do you ever wish you could see yourself, to watch yourself as other people perceive you?

Today, I had two experiences that I wished exactly that. I wanted to see how I reacted as I bet I would have laughed at myself, at seeing my reactions to the situations.

Bathroom humor...I'm working at a hospital built in the 1930's. The facilities are old. What else would you expect from a building from that era? The hospital has been through huge expansion projects, though, and some portions of the hospital are much different from others. Today, I spent my day in one of the oldest parts of the hospital. I went to the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet, and the toilet was much lower than I was anticipating. I felt like I was going to fall down or into the toilet. Neither is an experience I particularly want to have. So, there I am in the bathroom, flailing my arms so that I don't fall. I wish I could have seen it...

In the afternoon, I sat through a 30 minute CPR refresher segment. I'd just finished a 15 minute break immediately prior and was still nursing the Pepsi I'd bought to help keep me awake. The instructor was going over some of the changes that have been made to the CPR protocol, and I was paying attention (for once, I know) as there were changes I wasn't familiar with. For this particular change, the instructor was talking about how the landmark for chest compressions had switched from the xyphoid process to the nipple line. There was a nurse in the class questioning this, particularly in reference to well-endowed women. As I was taking a swig of my Pepsi, the instructor made a comment about how this landmark still stands as nipples "go east and west, not north and south." I came thisclose to spraying that mouthful of Pepsi out of my mouth and nose, and all over the leather coat of the guy sitting in front of me. I'm sure it would have been funny to see that play out.