Delinquency

Chapter 57: OA

Caelan

"So how are you?" Tanong ko kay Ate Nat habang nakaupo ako rito sa backseat ng Cadillac ko. I called her since we talk to each other at least three times a week. She already met Chichi and my daughter adores her very much. ChiChi even calls her Tita Nat, Barbie Nurse because of her blonde hair and blue eyes. My future wife and she get along very well, so much so that whenever she calls, Everleigh would take the phone from me and they would talk like they have been best friends forever.

And I am not complaining at all. I think they're already planning a summer vacation for all of us.

Meanwhile Niko is in the driver's seat as we make our way to a local beach bar where I would meet my frat brothers, since pinayagan ako ni Commander na uminom. If anything, she was the one who encouraged me to go out when I told her that my frat bros wanted to hang out.

"Tired as fúck." Sagot ni Ate Nat. She sighed and pulled her scrubcap off revealing her blonde hair. The walls of the hospital and that clinical overhead light is in her background. She then stopped walking and appeared to climb an empty stretcher, from what I can see she's on the side of the hallway. She laid on her side while she held her phone in front of her face before she closed her eyes. "Minsan gusto ko na lang maging pasyente."

I chuckled while she opened her eyes.

"I was here last night doing the night shift since one med surg nurse called in sick." She said. "It was fúcking crazy. I had a patient in his twenties and three in their seventies. All my elderly patients were freaking sundowning all night, so they were awake with me the whole night. One patient was a retired nurse and a fall risk but she wouldn't leave me alone because in her mind, she's still an active nurse and wants to do the one a.m rounds with me. At some point, she wanted to read charts and of course, I can't give her other patients' information, you know what I did? I sat her down at the nurses' station and I made her read her own chart. That calmed her down and while she was reading her own chart, she told me that the patient needs some anti-psychotic meds." She shook her head and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Another fall risk grandma wouldn't leave me alone, so I took linens from the supply room and 'tasked' her with folding them. So I had two patients with me in the nurse's station until about five a.m, that's when my Levo and Alendronate were due for another elderly patient, so I thought that was it, you know, that finally I'm gonna be done with the night, but nooo. As I was standing there trying to convince her to take her meds, this sweet, sweet lady told me that there were three children standing behind me." She smiled sarcastically. "And oh, my young male patient who got admitted for a staph infection? I walked in on him trying to do the deed with his girlfriend on the hospital bed at five-thirty a.m. Like sir, are you serious? Your hand is all red and full of pus and you still can—-ugh," She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You know what, I'm not even gonna try to comprehend that. I just turned around and told myself that that is the day shift nurse's problem now."

"Goddåmn."

"Bedside nursing is fun, I swear." She followed it with a sarcastic laugh.

"Aren't you a nurse practitioner now?" I asked her. For the past five years, she got her master's and eventually a doctorate in nursing practice, so she became a nurse practitioner, which means she now wears the white coat and can diagnose and examine patients as well. At least that's what she told me.

"Yes, but I still have my registered nurse license so I can still do bedside. I don't know, maybe I am just a masochist but despite it all, even though I am a healthcare provider now, I still love bedside nursing even if it drives me insane." She sighed.