Unless all of you unanimously decide to stop reading my blog, after this post, I will have just over 10,000 views on this blog. Quite honestly, that's not a lot considering I've posted pretty frequently, but it seems like a significant number so I've decided to celebrate with this ridiculous post.
I am an oncology nurse, and one day I realized that my favorite singer- Miss Taylor Swift - wrote a song you might have heard of called Bad Blood (complete with an awesome music video). I happen to work with people who have bad blood. Literally. I love my job, and I love working with cancer patients. Cancer is a terrifying diagnosis, and I get to be there for people in a scary time. So I decided to change the lyrics of this song to fit my kind of bad blood or leukemia (blood cancer). Then I recorded myself.
Here are about 10,000 disclaimers:
I wrote this and then realized that without the music, you can't appreciate the brilliance of my lyrics. I am a little proud of it so I felt the need to put the words to music. Unfortunately, Taylor herself will probably not sing these particular words, so it's up to me.
I am showing all of you how much I love and trust you because I am recording my own singing. I do not have a good voice. At all. But I will not apologize for the pathetic, weak, and thready voice with those horrible highish notes because I am totally going out of my comfort zone here and that totally makes up for the pain it might cause you. Yes I am embarrassing myself.
I attached the lyrics because 1. You might not understand me and 2. I'm going for a 10,000 character (letters and punctuation) count for this post. I messed up in this video but recording and listening to myself over and over again was too painful so you can deal with the mistakes.
This is in no way scientific. You should not base your treatment on this song. Not every leukemia is curable. I am not trying to give anyone false hope or false information. This is me feebly trying to come up with words that kind of rhyme. THIS SONG IS NOT FACT. THIS IS GOOFY.
We're getting rid of the bad blood
We call it leukemia
There's lots of work to be done
We're getting rid of the bad blood (hey!)
Now we're fixing the problems
I believe we can solve them
It's gonna be tough but
We''re getting rid of the bad blood (hey!)
With this diagnosis
Some cells in your blood are called malignant
They are growing too fast
The healthy cells aren't going to last
Some signs of cancer might be
You feel weak maybe you start to bleed
You feel like you're in so deep
All at once it can be overwhelming
Oh I'm so glad we found it in time
Both you and I
(Chorus)
If you catch it in time
Stem cell transplants can save your life
Chemo will kill the bad cells
But you might not feel very well
Medications will help you get through
When all of it catches up to you
You might want to give up hope
But treatments' come a long way, so Don't!
Oh, I'm so glad we live in modern times
You and I
(Chorus)
But band-aids don't fix bullet holes
I'm so sorry, I hope you know
We've got your back, you're not alone
But band-aids don't fix bullet holes
I'm so sorry, I hope you know
We've got your back, you're not alone
And with love like that
Cancer, WATCH YOUR BACK!
Tada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Still going for the 10,000 character count)
Yup. Now you all have blackmail for the rest of my life. You're welcome.
Anywhoo...... On to the next topic. I don't know what any of you have heard about Miss Colorado in the Miss America pageant or anything that followed. I am friends with a disproportionate amount of nurses on social media, so for me it has been EVERYWHERE, but it's possible that you missed it. Here's a quick update.
In the talent portion of the Miss America pageant, Miss Colorado walked up to the stage wearing scrubs and a stethoscope. She gave a short monologue about being a nurse and a story of one of her patients that changed her life. It was short and sweet, but very good. All of my nursey friends were talking (in person and online) about how cool it was that she presented nursing as her talent. They admired and appreciated her.
Soon after, a TV show was talking about the pageant and made some derogatory remarks about nursing. I'm not going to go into details because that's not my point. In response, nurses got all fired up and defensive about our incredible profession. The main point is that the TV hostess didn't understand what nursing is all about. It's the hot topic of conversation amongst nurses- who can come up with the best comeback or meme.
(Just counted and 10,000 characters is a lot. I apologize for this long post.)
Here's my point. I think that a lot of people really don't have any clue what nurses do. For most of my life, I viewed nurses as the people in a doctor's office who took my height and weight and told me to wait for the doctor. That wasn't what I wanted to do... Even in nursing school while I was in the hospitals, I thought that all we did was pass medications and hope that people needed new IVs or dressings changed so we could practice our skills. That's not it at all. I think that instead of being angry and aggressive, we should try to educate people and help them understand.
I realize that I am still a new nurse, and I can't speak for all nurses, hospitals, or situations. However, it is possible that I can still help teach you. So, in one disjointed paragraph, here's what I think nursing is:
Nursing is taking in megawatts of information and picking out what's important. Developing a trusting relationship in the 20 minutes you have before you need to see the person in the next room. Looking at the big picture but still paying attention to the details. Performing accurate, thorough, informative assessments. Coordinating 6 doctors, social work, case managers, respiratory, physical therapy, xray techs, and your own work to make a reasonable plan- then doing that for multiple patients. Looking at a patient's medication list and being able to know the person's history. Knowing when to use your heart and when to use your head. Teaching at every opportunity. Continuously learning new machines, new policies, new research, and new team members and being able to use them effectively. Putting your own stress aside so you can hold someone's hand for 10 minutes. Prioritizing when it might seem like everything is a priority. Making quick decisions with wisdom and confidence. Taking more phone calls than is reasonable. Caring for family and patients as they deal with some of life's toughest moments. Learning to transition from crying to smiling in the time it takes to walk across the hall.
So yeah. Be a nurse :)
I'm still a ways from reaching 10,000 characters.
And I'm exhausted.
I need to waste some space.
I'm going to type Oncology Nurse with my elbows.
OLOCDOKLIOFYJNuierse
Now with my feet.
Ojnc jnmoiklgy NMuerasdrfe
Now with my chin
ionjcikkolokgyh njhuhtrdfdsdrrte
(That's really hard to do without looking at the keyboard)
And I'm still not to 10,000. Well. A picture is word a thousand words, so that video can count for the rest of them. There you go.
In this post I have given you my most embarrassing moment, 10,000ish characters, a rant, and so much love.
Til next time.
-C-
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