Image from Google Images
Can you imagine anything more futile than telling a 22 year old man who has just suffered through four hours of brain surgery for a depressed skull fracture from a work accident and is swearing, flailing and fighting restraints, "I want you to stop saying 'fuck' so much!" ?This from a sixty-something nurse who is both competent and pleasant to work with. I was amazed. Aren't we told that emergence can be rough? Wouldn't we each be scared/pissed/disoriented, and have a right to be so if we were the patient? I was just glad to see the parts all working.
Later, he apologized to me for his behavior, after he was more alert. But, in the moment, right after being chastised by the nurse, he reacted predictably; he let fly a torrent of obscenities that prominently featured the forbidden word. Kids and post-op patients, they never disappoint.
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