I'll take the good over the bad.

The past several weeks in Rochester have been violent weeks.  It is safe to say, and assume, that any person one reads about in the paper, that was critically wounded, due to violence, is on the Kessler Family Burn/Trauma Unit at Strong Memorial Hospital.

Some did not make it, as you may have read.

Many did, and recovered miraculously with minimal impact.

A few of my patients - both victims of violence (VoV) and a few from traumatic accidents - had incredibly positive outlooks and plenty of humor.  Amazing to say, I really loved my past few weeks at work, because of my patients.

A co-worker, who just has a great rapport with every patient we have, asked one VoV I was taking care of: "how does a gentleman, who has been nothing but courteous and strong through all this, get himself (in this predicament)?"

My patient shrugged his shoulders, gave a little smirk, and said candidly - "Drinking!  But from here on out, all you'll see me drinking is Vitamin Water!"  While I expect him, or anyone, to have some hiccups in that road, the fact that he came to that realization speaks volumes.

Another patient, who for all intents and purposes should be partially paralyzed - if not dead - as a result of unprovoked violence but recovered relatively unscathed, had a great sense of humor, joking about how he could be a rapper: "Hey, I'm a statistic now!" he laughed.

And as me and a co-worker were getting ready to transfer him out of the ICU, I asked him if he would like me to call his mom to let him know he was being moved to another floor.  "Nah," he said.  "she's in church now, probably collecting a LOT of money now that I'm a miracle!" 

He even insisted on staying in the same bed he had in the ICU.  "Me and this bed have been through a lot.  This is my BED!  Got blood on it, peed on it.  We're really tight!" 

And then there was a trauma patient, who felt incredibly dizzy when I helped him sit up, and get out of bed to sit in a recliner, 2 days after surgery...

Dizzy he must have been - "Wow, I think I love you!" he giggled.  And as he stood up, he looked at the surgical resident to say "wow, you're a handsome fella."

It's hard to find some good on a unit that deals almost exclusively with all the bad in the world.  But the past few weeks, leading up to my vacation, reaffirms why I love this job so much!