Vindication

Ah...feels good to be home. I have a great evening planned: dinner with a cup of hot tea, and Grey's Anatomy Season 5! I know, I know, but when you've spent the last few years taking prerequisite courses for PA school, you don't have the luxury of watching too much television.

So, I'm at work...working, minding my business, when the social worker comes down my hall to give a guest a tour of our facility. She's doing her very best to impress the guest. As she makes her way down the hall, she stops in front of one of my patients:

Social Worker: "SLP, should this lady be drinking her shake without a straw? You need to go ask the nurse if she can drink this with a straw. We don't want her to choke."

Me: "Well, Mrs. Green is on thickened liquids, and patients on thickened liquids should not drink with straws."

SW: "Well, go ask the nurse 'cause we don't need her to be chokin'."

Me: "OK."

So, I make my way to the nurses' station, all the while rolling my eyes and wondering why she tried to make a fool of me in front of company. I find my nurse, straw in hand:

Me: "Is it ok to have Mrs. Green drinking with a straw. The social worker wanted me to ask."

Nurse (the one I can barely stomach because she will smile in your face and talk about you behind your back): "Well, remember, patients on thickened liquids should not drink with straws. It causes them to cough and can lead to aspiration."

Me: "Right. That's what I thought."

As I turn to walk away, the nurse calls me to come back:

Nurse: "You know, I've been meaning to tell you-well, you know, there is nothing wrong with being a CNA, but I really think you have what it takes to be a wonderful nurse. I've been watching you and you're so observant with the patients, and you need to do whatever you can to go back to nursing school. You would make an excellent...well...I can't believe I'm getting emotional about this...yeah, you would make a great nurse."

Me: "Thank you, Nurse."

Where the hell did this come from? I don't play games with people. You know if I like you, and you know if I don't. There is no way she can think I like her, respect her, or admire her. These words of 'encouragement' were coming from a woman who has praised me to my face, but blamed me for messing up to the DON. This is the woman who told me I needed to "step up my game." This is the nurse who rides me all day, and criticizes every thing I do.

If she only knew. If she only knew!