Better Living Through Chemistry

The procedure went well. The alien ployp was removed without difficulty (well, as far as I know). Versed and Fentanyl are a wonderful combination. I love them. The last thing I remembered was the pat on the arm after "hello". Very smooth trick that doc did!!! And no complaints on my part. As far as having a colonoscopy, if ya gotta do it, this wasn't too bad.

Tomorrow is the return to work, 3 days of forced labour, however I shall give it my all. I do enjoy the folks I work with. I've not had anyone comment about how others do withdrawing of care, but I really do want to know how it's done across the country or world for that matter. As I gain trust in this thing I'll talk more about my feelings on these things. In my work I'm known as the "angel" in our department, it seems as if people are ever going to decide to let their loved ones go or if the patient is just going to go, it happens to me. At times, I didn't even say anything. One case, the patient was literally having parts of his body rot and his mother wouldn't allow him to be removed from life support (he was not a young man either, just no other family). The first day I cared for him, she came to me after visitation and said she wanted support removed. I called the physician, recieved orders, called his friends to come and sit with him. After the friends had time alone, when they were ready, I removed the support and he quietly passed away. While it was what needed to happen for this man, I never said anything to the mother about it. I've been told that I have a comforting way about it, I don't know. Some days it's hard to do it, yet I would rather it be me, because I know I will pray before I remove support, and I will medicate to be sure that the patient doesn't suffer, and I do care for the families around me. Death is very difficult, yet sometimes the families need to realize they can't stop hurting until they allow the patient to go. I'm never in a rush to see it, because you should be sure that this is the right thing to do, but someone must care enough to help the families. Thoughts???? And yes, I'm very much respectful to life, very much opposed to euthenasia.