Just a nurse

Do you sometime wonder?
Why you do the job you do?
Did you choose your career?
Or did your job choose you?

Just a nurse - they said
Me figuring out, was this for me?
Just a nurse, it's what I thought
Just a nurse, it's what was taught
Just a nurse?
How very wrong was I, just a nurse?

No, not just a nurse
Feeding, cleaning, assessment and more
Drug rounds, bandaging, swabs ,iv drips and more
That 11 o'clock tea break is needed
Believe me.

Sometimes if lucky 10 minutes to drink,
Sometimes not even 10 minutes to think,
Anatomy, physiology, biochemistry to explore
Information and exams you don't understand
You yet read and read,
Till it's all second hand.

Catheters, bed pans, helping people change.
Emergencies, resus, helping people walk once again.
Theater's, x- rays, surgery and more.
Being with patients and waiting by that door.
Not because you have too, just because you care.

When patient ask you to stay with them,
You stay with them and share,
There feelings of grief and sorrow,
When they have no one else but only you to share
Holding hands and wiping tears,
Sharing good news and fighting back fears,
Hugs for patients who need them more,
And if you loose your family, we feel that too
We really want best for them and best for you.

Playing cards with elderly man,
Who thinks you're his wife
His wife who no longer is a part of his life
And something you can do is play with smile
Hoping, you will make him happy for a while

Nurses are pushed, prodded, and pulled.
Yet they don't complain and on their role
Up at five and home at nine, and all this
Is taken in their stride,
Just a nurse .......?
No, I am a nurse with pride.