For purposes of HIPAA and their regulations about keeping patient's information private I am going to do the best I can to not include anything illegal :)
I got to spend a good amount of time with children today. They were all really young and had some type of special need. At first, I was really scared because I hadn't worked with special needs kids before. Yeah, sure I'd heard about them in books and in other people's lives but I'd never worked with them in a close manner like I did today.
It's true when people say you learn a lot from people who are sick or in bad places in their lives. Kids in this case. All people have something to offer but I feel as though the wonderful kids I met today had more to offer me than I had to offer them. I'm not allowed to get specific as much as I'd like to for legal reasons but I'll try and express my feelings as clear as I can without the need of being specific.
After about thirty minutes with these children, whom ranged from infants to three year olds, my emotions changed from the nervous and scared to a more rejuvenated, happy, pensive feeling. As I stood back and watched as these children were unable to sit up on their own, or feed themselves, or even talk for the most part, an odd thought came across my mind. I know this may be far fetched and a part of me believes it is but a part of me finds some truth in it. I began to wonder if these kids who are basically trapped inside their bodies are trying to tell us all something. Like because there is a side of them they cannot access, there is another side that they can. Like when someone is hard of hearing, they usually adapt or compensate by having better sense of smell. Maybe these kids have some sort of supernatural existence somewhere away from earth or some knowledge they can access that we can't. Even though we don't know what their saying, they have some sort of way of balancing everything out around us and speaking to us but we can't quite understand because we can't get to where they are. Even though they look like their hurting and seem to have an unfortunate life, they really don't because their in a happier place than we can even imagine. When I look in their eyes, I feel like they are miles away from here. In some other world. I just feel it. I may be totally off but there is something there.
Another thing about today was that I saw many, many, joyful children who had all the troubles explained above but they would laugh and dance and smile to the best of their abilities. I couldn't help but look at the days I get upset over little things when I should be happy and thankful for what I have and the abilities that I have. If they can be happy with the needs they have, then I should be happy with the way things are in my life and be joyful in that.
And this is why I enjoy being a nurse. I can be having the most depressing day of my life but I'll walk into a special needs clinical or the hospital and be surrounded by people who have so many terrible things going on with their lives and their health that I seem to forget about myself and my worries walk out the door behind me.
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