Spanish

Today my patient was a 97 y.o. hispanic man in the hospital for pneumonia. He also developed C. diff as a result of antibiotics he's on. C. diff is basically REALLY bad diarrhea. (Sorry if you don't like to read that word, but hey, I had to clean it.)

So, I walk into his room and start talking to him. His only response was, "Huh?" and that's when I remembered that on his chart it said that he spoke Spanish. So I said, "Me llamo Lauren." He looked at me kind of funny and mumbled, "I don't understand you."
Turns out he speaks Spanish and English, but I guess he couldn't understand the butchered Spanish that I speak :) His response in English made me laugh.

I also got to give my first shot today. It wasn't bad at all. Especially compared to the rest of the day. Soooo, my patient has C. diff...I got a beloved and dedicated friend to help me change his diaper. I have NEVER smelled anything so bad. It was way worse than the surgery smells. This smell was thick and heavy...a couple of times I just had to turn my head and regain my composure. Well, my beloved and dedicated friend needed help with her patient, too, so I returned that favor. Same story there. Wow. I'm glad the day is over.

It was a pretty tough day. My first day to give meds, first day in a new part of the building (it's SO nice...individual patient rooms, along with flat screen TVs!), and a fairly difficult patient. He was cooperative and nice, but that can only do so much. Don't get me wrong--it definitely helps, and I appreciate that.
Now I am off to do paperwork! This should be our last week of the 12-pagers...woo-hoo!