Her little blue eyes darted from her mother to me repeatedly
as tears built up and dropped onto her cheeks. I smiled at her and set my
equipment down on the counter. Her little
chin quivered with fear as she struggled to compose herself. Her mother quickly rushed to her side on the
stretcher and held her tiny body close as she explained, “I’m sorry honey but
we have to do this.”
I sat on the stool near the counter, a few feet away from
the stretcher, waiting for this little girl’s mother to finish consoling her
child. I was well aware of the fact that
this little one knew all too well how painful things were about to get and she
was trying so hard to be brave. (2
months prior to this date this child came in and had to have a large MRSA boil
lanced and the IV didn’t go so well so she was drawing on the only experience
she had and FEAR was very palpable…)
“Do you have to do the IV?” she pleaded with her eyes for me
to say NO.
“I’m sorry honey, but Yes, I do have to put in an IV…BUT I’ve
been doing this for 23 years and I promise you I will do it quickly!!”
“The other nurse last time didn’t get the IV and someone
else had to do it…it hurt as bad as when my brother hit me in the head with his
body on the swing set and knocked me over.”
I tried not to laugh but she was being so cute!! I smiled and said, “I can only imagine how bad
that must have hurt~ But I put that numbing gel on you so this needle won’t
hurt so much.”
“Okay I guess I’m ready…but I might still have to cry.”
Sympathy gripped my heart as I gathered my things and moved
to the stretcher…I sat down to her level and let mom adjust herself to a holding
position. Little sniffles echoed through
the small room.
I explained each step and then I explained that, “If we sing
Rudolf the red nosed Reindeer this won’t
hurt much at all.” On the count of three
we began singing~~~ loudly. J
By the time we got to “very
shiny nose” the INT was in place and I was drawing blood…we kept singing
and by the time we reached “All of the
other Reindeer…” I was done. Her
tiny little eyes grew large as she excitedly exclaimed, “I didn’t even know you
did it~~~ the singing worked Mom!”
An hour later we were finished with the minimal conscious
sedation procedure of lancing 3 large MRSA boils and my little Pedi patient was
waking up nicely. Her mother hugged me
tightly and thanked me repeatedly for my nursing care. “You were an expert with comforting my
daughter and I’m so thankful for your IV skills! Thank you so much.”
As I reflected on that experience I realized that often
times I get thanked for things of comfort provided but today I was thanked for
both my comforting of her daughter, the distraction techniques used AND for my nursing
skills… As nurses we have so many responsibilities and requirements of
knowledge~ but it truly is our total package of experience, knowledge and caring
that give the patients and their families what they need. It was a good day.
