This Date in My History

Well since part of the reason why I have this blog is to share some of my own personal stories. I am going to share this one. 

 

LPN Student 1965 - 1966 I am on the left.

On October 13,1965 I was enrolled in at the Broward County County School of Practical Nursing. We were getting ready to start our hospital rotation and on that Wednesday we where learning how to take vital signs, you know Temperature, Blood Pressure, Pulse and Respiration.  Yes I even remember what day of the week it was. 

 

After school I went home and didn't feel well.  I had a little headache and a stomach ache.  I thought I was constipated.  I drank some grape juice and I wasn't able to go to the bathroom and the stomach pain was getting worst.  My Mom had died in February that year and my Dad was at work as a fireman, he worked 24 on and 48 off.  So I called one of my Mom's nurses friends.  She came over and to me to Holy Cross Hospital Emergency room. 

 

 My Dad was called at work and he gave verbal permission so I could be treated since I was 17.  They asked me if I had a name of a surgeon. I did the one who did my Mom's colon surgery, Dr. John Bloom.  He came right in and examined me and decided I had appendicitis and I needed an appendectomy right away.  The nurse's aide that helped me that night was one of my class mates.  She had to catheterize me to get a urine specimen.  Boy was that embarrassing but I was so miserable by then I don't think I really cared. 

 

Off to surgery I went, the IV medications made me talk a lot.  The next thing I remember was being in my hospital room.  My Dad was there and once I woke up and knew he was there he went home.  The next thing I remember was having projectile vomiting.  You remember that grape juice I drank earlier.  Well it all came up and I hit the curtain between the beds.  Let me tell you that nurse was not happy with me.  I don't blame her but I couldn't help it, I woke up vomiting, with out warning. 

 

The next thing I remember was being giving a cold bed pan and told to pee while flat on my back.  Mind you I was in nursing school and I had learned to warm the metal bedpan with hot water. 

 

My next misadventure was my bed bath.  I had also learned how to do this correctly, providing privacy for the patient.  First you cover them with a bath blanket, on top of the bath blanket you place a towel and cover the chest and then pull the blanket down.  Guess what that didn't happen.  Remember I was a 17 year old shy girl. 

 

This was the hospital that my Mom worked at as a RN.  She had also died there.  So they all knew I was Annette Hartmann's daughter.  I heard them talking.

 

I was thinking about this the other day as I was writing the start of my nursing career and doing some scrap booking pages.  Here is the rest of the experience as I wrote on my scrapbook page.

 

On October 13^th I had an emergency appendectomy, it was a Wednesday night.  I missed school on Thursday, Friday & Monday, which was a half day of testing for a scholarship.  I walked in to school on Tuesday and I was asked what was I doing there; they had dropped me from the program.  I told them they could not drop from the program because I had not missed 5 days of school; I had missed 3 days of school.   I do not remember thinking that was gutsy back then but in retrospect it sure did take some guts to stand-up to what I know what is right.   I was able to finish the year long program but they made me make up two days of school at the end of the year.  I spent my make time cleaning the classroom for the new class coming.

 So here the story of one October 13th I remember very well.

Happy Search and story sharing!