Playing To An Audience
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I shared some nursing stories from over 36 years with a friend recently the funny ones made them laugh...it was nice to giggle along
- I've been assaulted several times over the years ranging from slaps and bites, one black eyed punch, one wet turd flung at the back of my head, being hit with a bag of urine which burst on impact and I've had at least 6 pairs of specs broken.
- I was hospitalised just once following a particularly nasty attack .
- I've crashed a drunken paraplegic into a ditch in his wheelchair during a panicked push back to the rehab unit from the pub during a snow storm
- Ive employed a buxom nurse’s bust as a diversion to a male patient who had a particular painful dressing
- As part of a course I was on I managed to organise a work experience placement at a series of Pittsburgh hospitals
- I've seen 5 babies born including one that was christened Harley Davison
- I was taught to dance the veleta in 1983 in order to partner long term psychiatric patients at their Christmas do
- I have witnessed open heart cardiac massage twice, held 4 severed fingers in a vomit bowl and witnessed someone bleed to death in a few seconds from ruptured oesophageal varice
- I have sneaked a small dog into ITU to visit her master
- I was reported by a patient in the community for saying I was working for the gas board
- Visiting the same patient ( as above) I sat on but didn’t injure her chihuahua
- I have dated one patient ( only after I had nursed him and he had been discharged)
- I've dated 5 nurses ( 3women 2 men)
- I 've shagged one doctor
- I've played myself on a tv medical documentary ( you only saw my arse)
- I have helped at least 3 couples conceive babies
- I have sat with dying patients too numerous to mention , laying them out with well practiced dignity afterwards
- I have attended perhaps a dozen funerals in and without uniform
- I have put a visitor with learning difficulties to bed ! After undressing him and putting him into pyjamas
- I have helped scores of Spinally injured men achieve an erection!
- I ( and my ward staff) have won two quality prizes for our work
- I have sat a course for looking after the newborn baby and got told off for cleaning a baby's arse under a mixer tap
- I have dropped a psychiatric patient down a fire escape
- I have cried a hundred times in a sluice, in a clinical side room or at home over a bad day
- I once kissed a policeman when I was on night duty ( 1988)
- I once shared a bed briefly with a quadraplegic when I was hungover
- I have danced on the roof of a main hospital in sheffield
- I have mentored scores of junior nurses and still keep in touch with many of them
- I once created a whole balcony garden , complete with trees in massive planters for my bedrest patients
- I once got my arse stuck in the window of the changing room at lodge moor hospital
- I have never fainted at work but I did vomit once after a patient threw up in my mouth during CPR ( in the old days)
- I have loved many many many special people and been loved by a few back
- I have had the privilege to be present at more patient deaths than I could count
- A previous workmate has just added" Miss you John Gray you did forget to mention your amazing neck massages and ability to hug me and/ or scape me off the ceiling xxxo and your very fit arse!" ..thank you Shelly
Another Christmas story tomorrow xxx

And in your leisure time, you've been fur dad to many animals, organised numerous village events, supported many friends and neighbours, entertained/ conversed with/ enlightened your blog readers, and probably a million more things! If I had half your energy I'd be a happy bunny! xx
ReplyDeleteI’m not as vital as I was xx
DeleteWhat an amazing list!! Loved all the emotions you experienced gracefully and probably some disgracefully, keep on being you John. Jan in Castle Gresley
ReplyDeleteI’m not Julie Andrew’s
DeleteAll (or most!) of those made you the marvelous, kind, thoughtful, gentle, humorous, and most excellent nurse and co-worker you are today!! Lucky are those who have worked with you or were cared for by you.
ReplyDeleteHugs!
I have been supported by some lovely people
DeleteSo say we lucky nurses world wide!
DeleteHugs!
Goodness! What an amazing life you have had, John! xo
ReplyDeletePretty banal compared to some me really thinks
DeleteThey are so lucky to have you around! Just thinking - it is never too late to change career. What will you be next? Whatever, you will be stellar, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteI’m building up my counselling kudos xx
DeleteAll wonderful memories! Thanks ever so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHope you've gotten some restful sleep, and all's well at the cottage.
Mary is on my knee. And weaver is in front of fire
DeleteA fantastic list of achievements! Maybe I should try and list some but they wouldn’t manage the success of yours - da iawn! Anna
ReplyDeleteTo be expected of me, I am sure, but I really stumbled at you helping couples to conceive. I don't want to know. I'll just keep my imagined thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWonderful list! Many accomplishments and a good amount of fun and humor too.
ReplyDeleteOne of my patients also ended up in a snow bank. My coworker rushed up and asked her, Nellie, what are you doing in the snow bank. She calmly replied, I was just going to ask you the same thing. She was the first accredited female pharmacist in Alberta. I was moved to tears when a doctor visiting another patient recognised her and came over to respectfully thank her for the help and support she had given him as a young doctor. My son is now married to a relative of hers and I've kept very quiet about our earlier escapade.
ReplyDeleteWonderful memories John. Enjoyed reading the list very much. Thank you for sharing. X
ReplyDeleteThat is quite the list John, you should be proud of yourself, heartwarming and hilarious. You sir are a good human. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteWell, we're honoured to know you John.... Inspired, challenged, encouraged, amused, moved to tears, and worried about you... That Excellence award from 2003 shows such a lot about you and the inspiration yo are to others. X X
ReplyDeleteSo, a very quiet life!!! Mine seems very dull in comparison.
ReplyDeleteYour list is amazing! And so funny.
ReplyDeleteSo many memories for your dotage. We all have them, but mostly not as accomplished. Wow.
ReplyDeleteweavinfool
“I have helped at least 3 couples conceive babies.”
ReplyDelete“I have helped scores of Spinally injured men achieve an erection!”
“I once got my arse stuck in the window of the changing room at lodge moor hospital”
Imagining these will keep me busy all day!
Congratulation on a brilliant, fascinating, successful, and meaningful career.
Oh, really, John Gray! Your stories explode everyone's imagination that reads such tales: and how many mums have also washed a baby's bum under a mixer tap? Or a dog's, for that matter? I think we have enough material there alone for a couple of tv series. Called, perhaps, "Up Yours, His, Hers Or Theirs." I think that would work.
ReplyDeleteShould I be confined to a hospital bed I would want a nurse like you beside me.
ReplyDeleteWrite the book, man!
ReplyDeleteA lovely list, some of which made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteI can only relate to one on the list - kissing a policeman, I'm incredibly fortunate to be able to do this regularly! My partner is a policeman, an authorised firearms officer.
After several years there is still something to be said about a man in uniform!
Oj errrr
DeleteYou are, as my mother would have said, Something Else, meaning it in a very flattering way.
ReplyDeleteYou've had a much more intersting nursing career than I have:)
ReplyDeleteMy most interesting thing, I pulled a patient's leg off. I didn't know he had a prosthetic leg and it came off in my hands when we transferred him. Scared the shit out of me.
That is an amazing list. You win the prize for the Best List of 2025. :-)
ReplyDeleteThere's got to be a book there. So many stories.
ReplyDelete