...just a thought, a reminiscence...

In 2002, upon seeing and thinking that my kids were fast growing, I decided to go back to school not for a masteral as what my husband have been always telling me, but to become a nurse. 
I entered in a nursing school at age 38 and I never regret it though. I took, passed, and become an RN at  age 43. My very first encounter of actual practice of my profession was a voluntary work at the children's cancer unit in one of the local hospital here in our place...there are so many fields in nursing one can choose. Long before I took the board exams, I vividly remembered that I Prayed that when I become a nurse, I want to be that one who would care for an elderly, or that of the tiny ones, ug sa dihang na babaan gyud nako! God put me at the Children's Cancer Unit, na pulbos akong heart, upon encountering children with terminal illness, there I experienced the hard work, rewarding feeling, the empathy - long hours - sometimes, people are not the most pleasant! not even a colleague. If you're a nurse , you'll know what I mean...
In a page that we usually did about assessments of patients and charting, I translated a couple of the little medical initials written in the charts.

I thought I'd do a little list here of medical acronyms, as well as words and phrases that we nurses use:
TURP -  trans-urethral resection of the prostateWBC -  white blood cell
BILAT -  bilateralBSA -  body surface area
BSE -  breast self examination
BT bowel tones/blood transfusion
BUN blood urea nitrogenDNR - Do not recuscitate
NPO - Nothing by mouth
PO - By mouth (per os) (per orem)
IM - Intramuscular (this is a regular shot, binisayang tusok!)
SL - Sub Lingual (under the tongue, ilawom sa dila!)
SQ - Subcutaneous (under the skin)
IV - Intravenous (you know what that is? kanang "dextrose")
CD - Circling the drain (hopefully this person is DNR)Dexter Cardia - displacement of the heart to the right OU - Both eyes
OD - Right eye
OS - Left eye
PIA - Pain in the Ass (referring to patient's family & mga watchers nga pamati! gusto sila na mag nurse)
Crock - Someone who enjoys medical care and gets a lot of it, bisag gi kapoy ra to kay bisag dili kaya, baktas aron ingnon dili sedentary, usually also a PIA!!!