Day 19-20 May 6-7, 2013

Sorry I missed a day. Had all of the intention to blog but my eyes called for a closure.
This is the start of  National Nurses Week.  so some reflections on the start of my career.
I went to the LongIsland University School of Nursing.  I was the only male in the class which in itself was a turn around for me since I went to an all boys high school.  Actually the choice of  a nursing major was to ensure job security.  Since at the time I was married and it provided me access to the Army Student Nurse program which paid for my undergraduate degree in exchange  for a future expenditure of my life.
The principle professor was a lady who came to  NYC by way of her work at the Charity Hospital of New Orleans. I do not remember her name but she was a tall graceful black woman who set high demands on her students.  Of course the most interesting part of any nursing education is the clinical rotations.  Ours were at Brooklyn Hospital, Brooklyn State Psychiatric, Bellevue, Bellevue Psychiatric, The New York Department of Health, NY Eye, Ear Nose and Throat Hospital, The Hospital for Special Disease, Kings County Hospital and the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Hospital.
each place has its own memory.
Brooklyn Hospital where I was assigned to teach an Hispanic woman in an open post partum ward who had just delivered her eight child about breast feeding  technique.
Brooklyn State Hospital where i first witnessed Insulin shock, electro shock , water baths for the treatment of psychiatric disease.  this is also where i met  Jack, a cationic who only communicated verbally when Jeopardy was on the  ward TV.  He scored very highly.
Bellevue where I met the son of Dr. Trendelenberg, a famed surgeon whose name is attached to the Trendelenberg position.
Bellevue Psychiatric, aka Bedlam,many  of the criminally insane.  the character Hannibal Lector was a  composite of these patients.
New york Department of Health giving out PCN shots for  various  STDS and asking patients about their sexual contacts to  track the statistics.  This was when STD was a stigma rather then a  honorific
NY Eye, Nose and Throat witnessing many a tonsillectomy.
The hospital for special diseases- where the patients had biblical diseases- leprosy, tuberculosis, polio, plague, dysenteries.
Kings County Hospital had a booming trauma center aptly named the knife and gun club.
Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital where i assisted with a  hemi-corpectomy. The amputation of the lower half of the Body.

Just some memories that remain memorable!