It was really weird today when we were sitting in the infusion room waiting to begin chemo. After seeing my nurse running around busy I said, “Great. My nurse is in the weeds.” My husband quickly said, “The nurse is not your server.” Being in the weeds doesn’t only happen to a service industry worker.
I quickly told my husband he must be below average upset because he never waited tables. To all the people who never waited tables or bartended, well, you amaze me. Not only should everyone know and appreciate server lingo, they should also know what it feels like to wait tables and make drinks for scary customers. This is how I feel, so it must be true.
Being above average busy can happen to anyone, which means anyone can be in the weeds. I was in the weeds every single time I cooked in culinary school. I was also in the weeds when my class was in charge of mass when I was a school teacher. There was a police officer in the weeds directing traffic the other day. Being in the weeds happens. After having a few unpleasant IV experiences, it’s my right as a citizen of the United States of America to say my nurse is in the weeds right before she places an IV in my arm for four hours of chemotherapy. Amiright?
The worst part about chemo treatment is not the fact that good cells have to get killed with the bad cells. The part that makes that sentence seem secondary is when an IV for chemotherapy is placed in a vein the wrong way.
Wrong Way Example:
The nurses are all great. This can only mean my veins are tired of being poked with poison. The nurses usually place a warm cloth over my hand and arm before IV entry. They also tightly wrap a rubber band around my arm to force blood to pump-up my sadly tainted veins. Even though my nurse began in the weeds, she managed to seal the deal with perfect IV insertion. Raise the roof.