Now I get it...

Months ago, I had a student in my office moments before the bell was going to ring signaling the end of the day, crying hysterically to me that she wanted to go home sick. Confused because the day was already practically over - she clearly wasn't trying to escape schoolwork - I asked what else was wrong. Between sobs she explained that she really didn't want to go to Kid's Corner (the after school day care program held at school), because "they yell." I rolled my eyes, and shooed her back to class - it's just day care, right? 

Wrong. I went there yesterday to speak at their Career Month. Those ladies running the program were awful, shouting commands at them right and left. I was afraid to step in the wrong place myself, and I was the guest speaker. I pretty much sprinted out of there after my talk, relieved to not feel like every breath was under scrutiny. Now that I've experienced it myself, I don't blame those kids for hating that place.

At least it was worth it: a student came in today for a cut, and told me she liked my talk yesterday. Yay for kids, happy Friday.

Super sad

There are two sisters in 2nd and 3rd grade that come to school totally filthy, every day. I've sent these girls home for lice repeatedly, including the first day of spring break's intersession, where they were supposed to try to catch up on what they'd missed because of their frequent absences. They had been sent home yesterday for lice and mom tried sneaking them back in today by having them walk to class, hoping they'd bypass the office. The teachers sent them down to my office, and back to their house they went. The most noticeable thing about both of them is their utter filth, and from what I've heard, mom's even dirtier. I was talking to one of their teachers about them - she was asking me how she might be able to politely donate her daughter's old clothes to the girls, because her own children don't need the excess clothes, without implying to the mother that her kids are dirty - and she told me that the mother of another one of her students asked if the girls have parents...because, she said, they're so dirty and always alone. 


This is something I've learned on the job: some people should not be allowed to have children. 

What did you bring?

This isn't really to do with being a nurse, this is about being a person. 

How sweet it is...

To be loved by a kindergartener. This morning a little girl was working in my office - not in trouble, just needing a place to concentrate - and I helped her learn to spell a few words. There's not many things better than seeing the light bulb turn on in a kid's head. She was more gracious than most adults, thanking me after each word I helped spell. When she said she was leaving I asked if she was really going to leave me all by myself in my office. She responded: "Well...I could give you a hug?"

Return Of The Children

I had a two week repreive from the kids, but the "break" ended in illness for me. I dragged myself to work Monday morning after a weekend on the couch to be greeted with a tiny kindergartner puking up breakfast in my office, and as I held the trash can for him, I silently begged for his mother to hurry the heck up. Eventually she came, but not until well after I'd lost my own appetite. The rest of the day was a bloody blur: a fire drill, minor asthma attacks, and a serious nosebleed on a kid that didn't know what to do with it, and therefore had to "check it" every five seconds. Feeling worse by the minute, I switched schools midday hoping the change would let me soak in my misery in peace. I went to my middle school to see if my Tdap work had paid off at all, but barely touched the shot records as I was bombarded with various needs. There were the usual kids in to take their medication, and then a particularly bloody kid who had been tripped running during P.E. Cleaning him up was easier than the other task, which was to keep him conscious as he turned colorless looking down at the blood seeping out of his scrapes. Finally, I went to take a break and update the attendance clerk on our Tdap status, and a kid walked in with his hand on his head. I asked what happened and he responded, "I busted my head open!" I figured this must be like the kids who walk into my office complaining of a broken leg, but when I asked to see it, I was taken aback to see blood gushing out of his head - he really did cut it open. I have never seen so much blood in a single day of work, and it was reminiscent of my nursing school days in the labor and delivery department. All in all, quite a welcome back. Now, onward: to summer vacation.  

The fleecing of your tax dollars, continued

In case anyone has been wondering where I've been, I've been here... but not the kids. They are on their second week of spring break and return Monday - finally! Wondering what the school nurse does working during spring break? Making phone calls and signing letters demanding Tdap records be provided. My contract is based on 185 days, and since I was hired two weeks into the year, I'm making those days up now. [Note: At the time I was signing paperwork for this position, I asked to just have the normal work schedule of the other nurses and prorate my salary. HR's response, verbatim: "That's too complicated."] One positive thing I have to say about working these weeks is that the phone calls have been nothing short of entertaining - you never know who's going to answer. When I called one wrong number, the woman responded, "What? I have kids?" Others asked me what I was doing working during spring break (I don't know), and hearing the startled voice of students who answered was quite fun. Even more entertaining was the vast array of answering machine messages, though I really can't take any more hip hop music right now.

'Til next week when the little ones return...

This shouldn't be news to anyone,

but I'm an endangered species.