Bio Reactions

Task 1: Bio reactions

A bio reaction that I can vividly recall occurred on a date that I remember. It was April 12, 2009, the day of my daughter’s first birthday. I woke up at 5am tired and crabby because I did not want to work on her special day.

The day started like a typical day in the Emergency Department, clock in at 652 and be in the break room to receive report from the night shift. After report I headed out to my team of rooms, team 7. Team 7 was less acute patients, the kind that would be seen at urgent care, not an emergency room. I was glad because I just didn’t have it in me that day to work trauma, heart attacks and real emergencies. I was also seven months pregnant with daughter number two. While I was splinting an arm of a girl that had landed wrong on her trampoline the night before my work phone rang. I answered and it was the charge nurse asking me to meet him in John’s office after I finished up with my patient. John was the Director of Emergency Department, a no nonsense kind of old school nurse. You did not want to be called in there, usually it meant it was your last day. John was my immediate threat. I immediately began to feel my palms sweat and my heart rate elevate. I tried to figure out what I had done wrong while finishing up with my patient. I am sure I seemed distracted and her mom noticed I was flush and little droplets of sweat were now on my upper lip. I blamed it on being seven months pregnant. I finished up with my arm injury patient and said to my co-workers that I had to go to John’s office and to please watch my patients. Those other nurses might have had mini bio reactions to my news of being summoned to the office.

I walked the short distance to his office wishing it were further away. I wanted to run away. I did not want to go to the office. While finishing up with my patient I thought of many reasons why I could not go to the office immediately — I needed to go help another nurse, I needed to go to the bathroom, I got a new patient. I thought of every and any excuse to avoid and to “flight” the situation of having to go to office. The flight bio reaction just wanted me to run away and avoid it all together.

Walking the hall I could feel my heartbeat in my head, palms and face still sweating and now my underarms where sweating profusely, I am sure I had pit stains. I stopped before knocking on the door and grabbed a piece of gum from my pocket, my mouth was dry now. I took a deep breath and knocked on the almost fully opened door. John looked right at me and said come in. I noticed the charge nurse and another nurse in the room too. The bio reactions continued to hit me, now I felt like I was going to throw up. Three nurses in one room and I have no idea what I did, it couldn’t be good news. In front of John’s desk were two chairs, one was already occupied by the charge nurse