Life as a Nurse

Last night I was working the graveyard shift as I faithfully do...and at the top of my shift I greeted the other nurses and LNA's and they told me that one of our residents had just died. Our job before the undertaker comes we have to make the body presentable combing hair, washing face, and so on and the bed made nice with clean linen. The girls did that before they left, however they mentioned another soul was about to leave their mortal existence as well and to keep an eye on him. I did, I would walk by the room every hour to check if he was still breathing, and most times he was! This poor man had been a bit difficult in his short time with us. He was pulling on tubes that were not supposed to be pulled, he was always undressing himself and frustrated and in a ton of pain even with painkillers, trying to crawl out of bed. He sometimes fought with the nurses in physical combat, but with me he was for the most part cooperative.
So the undertaker came for the first man who died, I have dealt with deaths before but for some reason this time I was feeling sad even to tear up. It was just a bit strange when I helped the undertaker and another nurse to transfer the body from the bed to the stretcher. I had to kneel up on the bed and as we placed the body on the stretcher strangely, I was kneeling right where he'd been laying and the bed was sooo warm! Of course I knew why cause when we die all the blood pools to our backs. Okay so maybe you really are CREEPED OUT about my blog this time, but I find it so fascinating!
There was a bit of perspective playing out in my mind how even the fancy things in life have no meaning. And much of my current life has been set on some wishing of materialistic things and less on the more meaningful things. I have been having some experiences lately that are quite personal and thought processes that have really got my wheels turning and maybe why I was a bit on the emotional break last night. I didn't even know these men. The second man who was ready to leap into the afterlife I knew only a short time and mostly he slept and caused me to change his johnny and bedding many times and was on a mission to make me work for my money-actually he had no idea what trouble he caused and he's innocent really. But after a few hours after frequent checks he left this world. I called on the nurse to pronounce and then asked for some assistance in helping him get properly prepared for the next undertaker. It was also a sad moment but with all the suffering he had been thru, it was a relief. After I and my co-worker combed his hair and made him presentable I looked him over, and strange as it sounds, it looked like he had a smile on his face, almost as if to be glad he was done suffering! Death had come with a force last night, taking those ready to be taken home from the pains of this world! Life is short. Life can feel long in all the pains we have either mentally or physically, but we need to stay focused and discover for ourselves what our life is really about, and where our values lay and be sure we are not idling the wrong idols. To stay close to a Father in Heaven that love us and to share that love with others. I was touched how lately my life has had its ups and downs but the real anchor in my life is my belief in God and his plan for me. These deaths even though they were not of my blood relation, gave me a chance once again to reflect on our existence on earth and how precious it is!!