Outweighed

She was a large patient, and in hospital definitions, a "Bariatric" patient. Her accommodations necessitated a specialized bariatric bed, specialized bariatric chair, and  a bariatric lift to move her in and out of bed or to reposition her. Prior to attaining access to the lift, it took four-five of us on the unit to gather in cohesive effort to position the patient. Every part of her care took extra time and effort from whomever was her assigned nurse for the day, and for every other staff member on the unit.

She was a sweet lady, in fact she was a nurse, and every time I walked in to her room I made a conscious effort to overlook her enormous size and focus as an educated professional on her clinical care. I made conversation, asked her about her experiences as a nurse, and included her family in her care.

Her prognosis wasn’t good, and in addition to her size, her body was a further spectacle due to her many lines and drains, as well as her skin’s condition, due to her immobilized state and her health situation.   

In nursing school we were drilled about self focusing prior to entering a room, so that while in the room with the patient the primary and professional focus is on the patient. Of course her size was topic of conversation on the unit, it was inevitable. Just the mere fact that she was 6 times my own weight, called for some conversation among the staff. However, unlike some of the surgical residents on Grey’s Anatomy, the staff on the unit all made sure that nor she or her family members were within earshot as we questioned and speculated the monstrosity of both her size and clinical situation. We questioned how she came to this state, and how she lived like that, it was a thought provoking situation, but while she was in earshot, she was just like any other patient, until…

There were four of us in the room, assisting with the repositioning for cleaning ( #lifeofanurse). As we some of us held her, others cleaned, all with serious faces as if it were anyone else. Suddenly midst one of the nurses  toiling with the cleaning, the patient let out a roar of gas into the face of  the nurse. 

That moment expelled two drastically opposite reactions on all those individuals standing in the room. It was hilarious, or at least called for some bouts of laughter, but no one let out a peep. It was also sad that one had to be succumbed to a condition of being unable to control their own body, nor move on their own, but to be totally dependent on others for care. Standing in the room seconds after something like that, would have anyone having gone through it blushing like a ripened tomato and anyone witnessing it howling with laughter.One would have never guessed that anything out of ordinary occurred. We all continued our roles as usual, finished with her care, and waited until we were in the back of the nursing station that we let out our understandable bouts of giggles.

We are only human, and yes on occasion, what is hilarious to one can be drastically humiliating to the one it’s about. However, my colleagues and I, allowed our professionalism to outweigh our inherent rush of feelings and reactions. We may be novice nurses in expertise and nursing skills, but that day we crossed the bridge from novice to expert in regard to professionalism and compassion.