I'm going to switch things up this post- I usually just update on how my body is doing and things to watch for and think about with EDS, but not today. Today I would like to share a part about how my journey is changing my life and changing how I see our medical world.
If you don't already know, I am a nursing student (almost half way done- woo hoo!) at a holistic accredited school. When I was searching for colleges I knew that I wanted to be a nurse because of my previous medical journey and I decided that I liked the sound of having a holistic accreditation, but I wasn't exactly sure what that meant- until this year.
Holistic nursing is about treating your patient, not the sickness or disease. It's a beautiful way of thinking and I honestly believe it creates better nurses- and I know that even more after being treated by many different nurses, the majority of whom were not holistic thinkers. One nurse always stays in the back of my head- she was my nurse after my first big knee surgery (the right knee re-reconstruction). After surgery I was in extreme pain and they were having trouble adjusting my pain pump. As my pain grew I got a migraine and was nauseous. She could have done many things- most nurses would have given me medicine to reduce my symptoms or would have pushed to get my pain pump. This nurse let the head nurse know that there was something wrong with my pump and while that problem was being taken care of she sat with me in my room at 3:00am and she gave me a massage. No one told her to do this. I didn't ask her to, my mom didn't ask her to- she just did it because she was taught to treat the patient. She stayed in my room for the majority of the night. That nurse showed me what medicine is supposed to be about. And that nurse changed my view of the entire medicine world. We are here for our patients and we must make them the center of our care in order to make people better. What that nurse did was such a simple thing, it didn't require any additional medications or supplies. Not only did she make me feel better by relaxation but she showed me that she cared. That allowed me to trust her and know that she was going to get me though that awful night.
That is the kind of nurse I want to be.
EDS has taught me so many things about myself as a person, but as I move forward in my education I have the pleasure of discovering all of these wonderful things that EDS has taught me about the entire medical world.
