Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Germaphobic Fiance

I'm taking today off. I've worked 4 of the last 4 nights and my body is screaming...I want some night-time melanin giving sleep!

Yesterday was the first night I realized that all the petty foolishness that exists when women work together still exists in nursing. I worked on a rehab unit, and it was really ugly. The nurses was click-ish, the charge nurse was a royal BITCH..(even the patients complained to me about her). She was so engrossed in unit gossip and politics that she didn't even have the panache of showing me around.

I thank my lucky stars that I'm a good self starter and once I figure out the layout, I can do anything. It helped that the one nurse I met in the elevator was nice and kept me informed of the unit routine cos the charge RN was on another level.

My Husband to be is a total hypochondriac. It's so funny to me his reactions to me telling him about my day. I leave out the gross stuff, and of course follow HIPAA rules, but even something as simple as me boasting that I started an IV on a hard stick is enough to make him nauseous. We actually had to have a discussion to lay the ground rules of what he can handle and what I should leave him out of.

I first thought his reactions very amusing and told him stuff just to tease him and watch him turn green. It wasn't until we had our talk that I realized that this is so much bigger than him being squeamish---he's really a hardcore germaphobe. He told me that he's been like that since he was little, and anything hospital related gets him feeling antsy. So now I know. I'm glad we had the talk. It helped me to see things from his angle.

I'm sure the nurses will agree, it's so easy to get desensitized at our job. I don't even think wiping someone else's BM is nasty anymore---but that is the kind of thing that makes my man all icky. Poor baby.

New rule: Share less of all the gooey stuff. Anything that deals with bodily fluids is too much for him. He loves hearing about interactions with the patient, so I'll just stick to these type of stories from now on.

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