Obsessed
Okay so I’ve been obsessed with preventing this little sticker from falling off of my badge because the story behind the Little girl that gave it to me makes me so melty inside!!
(Guys, I was working the ER You give k**dos stickers and they forgive you all your missteps against them, like, y’know, looking in their mouth or ears or giving them shots. But if a k**do gives you stickers, you should celebrate it as something truly wonderful.)
On my last low-acuity shift, I was blessed with a bunch of procedures to do (sometimes I feel like I could apply splints and suture lacs all day every day for the rest of my life…) and I had a little 4yo little girl that sustained a small scalp laceration that needed some skin glue. Her dad told me that she was actually excited about the glue because he had told her about it on their way to the hospital.
At first, my new friend was a bit shy. Toddlers generally have some developmentally-appropriate stranger-danger and they all test the waters in different ways. This little one did the “duck and cover behind parent” maneuver, but that was fine with me! She was curious enough to peek out and eventually chatted my ear off about My Little Pony.
When it was time to do the gluing, I brought one of the junior residents in with me to give them the opportunity to glue for the first time. We wrapped our little patient up in a blanket roll to secure her arms (”Do you like… sushi?” “No.” “…Pitas?” “No.” “…Wraps?” “No.” “…Burritos?” “No.” “Uh… what about… Fruit-Roll-Ups?” A wicked little grin, then, “Yeah!” “Okay sweetie, let’s get you all tucked into your giant Fruit-Roll-Up. You can tell us all about what flavour you wanna be!”). Then we explained how we would irrigate her wound with our “water gun” and kept her chattering about Frozen to keep her occupied. She predictably hated the irrigation, but after we were done she settled down appropriately, and then we got her going on more My Little Pony and she was completely distracted as we applied the glue.
“Now,” I told her, “sometimes k**s feel like the glue goes a little hot, or it feels ‘sparkly’ as it gets dry.”
She looked at me like I was speaking another language. Clearly the sensation had not hit her yet.
A second or two later, her eyes went wide and teary and she started squirming.
“Is it feeling sparkly?”
She nodded, her little mouth pulled down into a wibbly frown.
“Okay, then let’s blow the sparkles away, okay? Deep breath, and blow as hard as you can!”
After three deep breaths, I asked her, “Are the sparklies all gone?”
She paused for a moment, then nodded, astonished.
“See, you did great! If you feel the sparkles again then we’re gonna blow them away, okay?” She nodded.
My junior resident applied another layer of glue as I showed my friend the dermabond stick. “I should show you why it feels sparkly! See, the glue is purple, just like Twilight Sparkle.”
She gave me a look of profound understanding.
“Oh,” she said. “You know, Twilight is Daddy’s favourite. He likes purple the best.”
—–
Once her lac was glued we left the room to grab discharge instructions, and my junior turned to me in awe.
“How did you do that?” she asked. “She didn’t even cry!”
“Distraction is a pretty powerful thing,” I told her. What I did NOT tell her was that my extensive knowledge about My Little Pony and Disney movies is embarrassing in most other fields of my life but tends to work really well on the k**dos.
When we returned to discharge them, my little friend carefully selected one of the stickers she had received from the nurses and held it out to me.
“Is this for me?” I asked, and she nodded earnestly. “Oh my goodness, thank you so much!”
“I gave some to my daddy, and I’m gonna save this one for my mommy,” she told me proudly. I was just so honoured that she saved me one among the ranks of her parents.
“Are you gonna save one for your brother?” her dad quipped.
“Hmm.” She squinted at her sticker sheet. “No.”
I laughed as they walked down the hall. Just before they turned the corner out of the department she leaned out of her stroller to yell back at me, “I will save one for my brother!”
I gave her two thumbs up, which she returned before she and her dad headed home.
(Guys, I was working the ER You give k**dos stickers and they forgive you all your missteps against them, like, y’know, looking in their mouth or ears or giving them shots. But if a k**do gives you stickers, you should celebrate it as something truly wonderful.)
On my last low-acuity shift, I was blessed with a bunch of procedures to do (sometimes I feel like I could apply splints and suture lacs all day every day for the rest of my life…) and I had a little 4yo little girl that sustained a small scalp laceration that needed some skin glue. Her dad told me that she was actually excited about the glue because he had told her about it on their way to the hospital.
At first, my new friend was a bit shy. Toddlers generally have some developmentally-appropriate stranger-danger and they all test the waters in different ways. This little one did the “duck and cover behind parent” maneuver, but that was fine with me! She was curious enough to peek out and eventually chatted my ear off about My Little Pony.
When it was time to do the gluing, I brought one of the junior residents in with me to give them the opportunity to glue for the first time. We wrapped our little patient up in a blanket roll to secure her arms (”Do you like… sushi?” “No.” “…Pitas?” “No.” “…Wraps?” “No.” “…Burritos?” “No.” “Uh… what about… Fruit-Roll-Ups?” A wicked little grin, then, “Yeah!” “Okay sweetie, let’s get you all tucked into your giant Fruit-Roll-Up. You can tell us all about what flavour you wanna be!”). Then we explained how we would irrigate her wound with our “water gun” and kept her chattering about Frozen to keep her occupied. She predictably hated the irrigation, but after we were done she settled down appropriately, and then we got her going on more My Little Pony and she was completely distracted as we applied the glue.
“Now,” I told her, “sometimes k**s feel like the glue goes a little hot, or it feels ‘sparkly’ as it gets dry.”
She looked at me like I was speaking another language. Clearly the sensation had not hit her yet.
A second or two later, her eyes went wide and teary and she started squirming.
“Is it feeling sparkly?”
She nodded, her little mouth pulled down into a wibbly frown.
“Okay, then let’s blow the sparkles away, okay? Deep breath, and blow as hard as you can!”
After three deep breaths, I asked her, “Are the sparklies all gone?”
She paused for a moment, then nodded, astonished.
“See, you did great! If you feel the sparkles again then we’re gonna blow them away, okay?” She nodded.
My junior resident applied another layer of glue as I showed my friend the dermabond stick. “I should show you why it feels sparkly! See, the glue is purple, just like Twilight Sparkle.”
She gave me a look of profound understanding.
“Oh,” she said. “You know, Twilight is Daddy’s favourite. He likes purple the best.”
—–
Once her lac was glued we left the room to grab discharge instructions, and my junior turned to me in awe.
“How did you do that?” she asked. “She didn’t even cry!”
“Distraction is a pretty powerful thing,” I told her. What I did NOT tell her was that my extensive knowledge about My Little Pony and Disney movies is embarrassing in most other fields of my life but tends to work really well on the k**dos.
When we returned to discharge them, my little friend carefully selected one of the stickers she had received from the nurses and held it out to me.
“Is this for me?” I asked, and she nodded earnestly. “Oh my goodness, thank you so much!”
“I gave some to my daddy, and I’m gonna save this one for my mommy,” she told me proudly. I was just so honoured that she saved me one among the ranks of her parents.
“Are you gonna save one for your brother?” her dad quipped.
“Hmm.” She squinted at her sticker sheet. “No.”
I laughed as they walked down the hall. Just before they turned the corner out of the department she leaned out of her stroller to yell back at me, “I will save one for my brother!”
I gave her two thumbs up, which she returned before she and her dad headed home.
4 年 前
