"They come in three's ya know" and with that ...

I ran from the building.

As I have previously posted this has been quite the week. On our 40 bed unit I have had 30 OR patients admitted in three days. Fifteen patients were admitted from the ER on my 12 hour shifts and somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 - 50 patients were discharged. In the midst of all of the commotion there were 2 codes and 4 people who died, with two more teetering as I left the building tonight. By the time this evening is over they will have a pair of threes.

This week also brought two people who came into the hospital with unrelated illnesses which when being further pursued were discovered to have terminal cancer. Two people who went to sleep one night thinking they had pneumonia and a GI bleed who woke up the next day to devastating news. They are terminally ill and only but months to live.

As I drive home I remembered this day, this very date 8 years ago. I woke up that morning and with my son drove to the medical center in the capital of my state for surgery. My first real surgery. I, too had cancer, cancer which had metastisized but luckily cancer which was easily treated. When I returned home the next day my daughter called to tell me about the impending birth of my first grandchild....and now there are three.

They do come in three's ya know. I'm a lucky woman.