Another night at work

Perspective is a funny thing. Today I had a patient who was an admitted IV drug user going through withdrawal symptoms. She was in alot of pain and discomfort. After a couple people attempted to start an IV another nurse and myself were asked to take a look and give it a try. IV drug users are notoriously hard to stick. Due to scar tissue and the destructive nature of the drugs combined with infections caused by dirty needles eventually you develop very poor circulation in the places you shoot up. So we went into the room to take a look at her. Her arms and hands were covered in years of scar tissue, sores, and a few fresh track marks on her hands where she told us she had shot up this morning. So as the nurse prepared to start the IV the patient looked up at me and said “Could you hold my hand? I hate needles, they scare the shit out of me and hurt like hell”. Without a snappy remark about the irony of the situation (that I am notorious and well known for) I went over to the opposite side of the bed, took a seat on a stool and held her hand while rubbing her shoulder and talking in a quiet voice to distract her. She looked at me tearfully and said “Thank you for not judging me” and winced in pain as the nurse plunged the needle into a well abused and scarred vein.