Lullabye

My mom was married and pregnant before she even hit her 20th birthday. She somehow got enough courage and strength to leave a very bad situation and move in to an old apartment in a bad neighborhood with her sister; the two of them cared for my oldest sister, Janet. Janet is 14 years older than me. My mom soon became friends with a young woman down the hall named Joy.

I've known Joy since the day I was born. Joy's daughters, Desiree, Christen, and Lindsay, were like my sisters growing up. Desiree was older and babysat Christa and I. Christen and Lindsay were close to Christa's and my age. Lindsay is getting married this year, and Christen was due for her baby to arrive in February of this year.

I feel so bad, because I was unable to make it to Christen's baby shower. She sent a thank you card for the cute clothes. The card said she was going to bring little baby Anthony home in the outfit my mom picked out.

I got a voice mail from my mom. She sounded sad, like she'd been crying. I called her back and heard the bad news. Christen went in for a routine check-up, only to find no heartbeat. She was emergently prepped for Cesarean and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, weighing just under 7 pounds. He was perfect, except that his little lungs weren't expanding, nor his heart contracting. No blood flow to his little brain, a brain that might someday rule the world.

"Code Pink."

It was over a day later that Christen and her husband Anthony found out that little Anthony had to be resuscitated and placed on a ventilator.

Now, it's up to prayers and miracles to get him better. So he can hear his first lullabye.

Pray for Anthony and Christen's baby

VIP

We call the port where we infuse medications on the Swan-Ganz catheter "the VIP." To be honest, I had no idea why it was called that. My rationale was always something about how the medications we were infusing were really imperative to the patient's survival. Funny that I've always wondered why, but I never mustered up the effort to learning why. 


My patient today may be considered "VIP" to some people. But I can honestly say, he was not treated any differently, because, as cliche as it sounds, "Every life deserves world-class care." I full-heartedly agree. Let me let you in on a little secret. Sometimes, there are some nurses that get annoyed with a patient's family members. They may not withhold care, but I think their care suffers a little bit. But we have to take a step back and think, "This is her mom." There's a patient in the unit that reminds me of my mom, and that freaks me out a lot. My mom would most certainly be VIP. And I would hope that her nurses treated her as such. Just because my mom isn't a millionaire, or a world famous neurosurgeon, or an actress, or a politician, or a member of royalty, doesn't mean that she shouldn't be treated as such. She gave me all her money. She helped me develop my personality. She was Emmy-deserving every Mother's Day as she proudly wore her macaroni necklace. She solved all worldly conflicts, at least between my sisters and I. And she was and is the matriarch. VIP indeed. 


My best friend just texted me. "Can you keep a secret? We hit the mega millions!!!!!!!" (I guess I can't keep a secret). Regardless, does this make her more important?? 


We're all humans. We all have the same basic human rights. Not one person is better than another. Therefore, we should accept each others' faults and weaknesses as just another aspect of our make-up. 


Oh, and it's venous infusion port. 

VIKs

[very important kitties]

Winky

Schnitzel