Perdido

Took care of a patient one day younger than me, he has AIDS. I shook his hand and took extra care of him. I was going through nursing school as the AIDS crisis was going on, my University playing a key role in the research. As many of my fellow medical folks failed the patients in their care. Judgemental family keeping patients from partners. Our clinical instructors taught us universal precautions, but kept us up on the latest, that HIV was not passed on through casual contact.

Today, I think those horrible stories are why we have marriage equality and the LGBT civil rights we do. We looked at those in charge and said, “Nope.”

Sometimes the boil must be fulminating to be lanced. When society looks at the extrapolation and heaves a heavy “NOPE” at the injustice. Such are the forces behind revolutions. The universe changes.

We were taught that sometimes the best moment to reach a patient on a self destructive slide was when they are weeping in the ER. No guarantees, but if they will ever listen, that’s a good opportunity. I still don’t know if the young woman on her 2nd abortion in 6 months changed when I suggested that she might want to look at the choices she was making, while solidly supporting her decision to end the pregnancy.

Maybe our culture has these moments, too. When we look at where we are going, and it’s clearly the road to perdition, and we step back... and say...

Nope.



This is the 5th patient in the past month with my birthday, the second within a day of my actual birth day. I’m a little creeped out by this.