Switchback Changed My Life-Personal Narrative

There have been several life altering events in my life, but one that stands out is when I went with my parents to pick up my brother from school. It was a normal trip until we got back on the interstate after getting gas. Traffic came to an abrupt halt, and heads turned to see the cause. First we saw a motorcycle helmet laying on the side of the road. The plastic panel was broken, and the helmet itself was nearly in two. No less than half a mile up the road, you see an ambulance, a police car, and a firetruck all blocking off a small square. While driving by, we saw a pink skeet strewn over something on the side of the road. Upon closer inspection, I saw a bloodied hand and a large pool of blood sticking out from under the sheet. At that time I was 15, and I had just passed my driving permit exam. Similarly to Duncan, that event has stayed with me ever sense, and when I see someone on the interstate on a motorcycle, thats what I am reminded of. After an event so traumatic, you would assume the news would say something. After all, this person was someone’s child, maybe someone’s parent. I never saw anything to speak of this

The obstacle that I had, stopped me from being happy, or living the life that I wanted to live. Being alone, antisocial, and other obstacles that I had, blocked me from being happy and instead lead me into a life where I did not know what to do. Sometimes an obstacle is nothing physical like a barrier or some force, for me it was mental warfare that I had with myself for years that I still deal with to this day. Conflicting with yourself is just as bad as someone else or an object because you have to deal with the fact that you did this all to yourself, you can’t give anyone else the blame. That however, could lead to even more mental warfare in your own head, especially if you are very defiant to take blame like I am.

I haven’t been alive for too long and I’ve lived a pretty normal life though I do know of one specific event that changed me forever. On January 12 2010 I came home from school like every other kid in Haiti. It was a completely normal day. My mom was cooking in the kitchen, my aunt was holding my little sister while watching TV, my dad wasn’t home yet and I was by myself in the living room playing games on my dad’s computer. Then out of nowhere I hear a deep low loud rumbling noise. Right when I start to wonder what the noise was, the shaking starts. Being a normal eleven year old kid I just sat there in shock and fear and just watched as my whole world came crashing down around me. Paintings, vases silverware, my moms china set, they were

It's with a heavy heart that I compose this message to you today. Much has happened over the last 24 hours. Yesterday around 4:30pm, Lacey was having trouble breathing, so we instantly called an ambulance. About a minute after we spoke to dispatch, Lacey stopped breathing. My brother-in-law (who is a general surgeon) was sitting next to Lacey when this happened and instantly started CPR. She started to breathe again just before the ambulance arrived. We followed the ambulance to Davis Hospital where she was taken into the ICU. Lacey tried to leave us several times tonight... was brought back by CPR and a defibrillator. My family and I witnessed many miracles last night. Lacey has given me permission to share the very sacred and private experience

He was released and had seemed to be doing good until he was rushed back in the following week for the same reason. My mom and I would go see him as often as we could and each time we realized he was getting worse. After a week or two in the hospital he was moved into hospice. At this point we were told it would not be long before he would no longer be with us. The last time we visited him at hospice was the time we knew within ourselves it was about time. Our last visit with him I will never forget. He wasn’t able to speak at all but he just kept looking around the room at us with a kind of look I still can’t describe. Leaving hospice that day we knew it wouldn’t be long but we also didnt realize how soon it would

As we started it became obvious that he had lost a lot of strength in a very short time. He was unable to do more then a few “scoots” on the transfer board. During this time I offered encouragement, but also gave him reassurance that he could rest another day if needed. After multiple attempts at the transfer T.C. broke down in tears, saying he was sorry he couldn’t do more, and he was apologizing to me for his lack of success that day. I kept reassuring him, and I also let him talk and express his grief. After getting him into the wheelchair and back to his room, I informed the physician of the change in physical status.

I was so angry for a while, because I didn’t think he should be going through this. He’s the one that tries to get everyone else to workout, eat right, and run 5ks with him. Even now he’s still worried about how everyone else is doing. I know “everything happens for a reason” but I just don’t see the reasoning behind this and I don’t think I ever will. Going to the hospital everyday and seeing that there’s no change and getting no results from the doctor is very

You never know when something might happen. An ordinary day can turn into a tragedy. November 8, 2016, was that kind of day. My dad was deer hunting so that afternoon it was just me and my mom.I was getting ready for gymnastics practice when my mom got a call. The caller ID read “Community Memorial”. I could hear the fear in my mom's voice as she picked up the phone. “H-hello?” she said. I waited nervously as my mom spoke to the hospital. Five minutes later she hung up the phone. “Your dad fell 13 feet out of his tree stand while he was hunting. He called 9-1-1 and is at Community Memorial right now” my mom said. At that point I didn’t know how serious the injuries were. “Is he ok?” I asked.

When reflecting on the past few weeks of clinical experience, there is known to be many events in which I can critically reflect upon in order to improve my clinical practice. During my second week of clinical, I had been assigned with a tough patient. My patient was in his late 50’s, was a chronic alcoholic and was an avid smoker. He has a medical history of COPD, hypertension, and liver cirrhosis resulting from his alcoholic background. However, he had been recently diagnosed with a right-sided stroke. He was homeless as he lived in the motel in town, and had no family or friends to lean on for support. In particular to my personal critical reflection, my patient had signed a DNR with limited interventions. According to his wishes, he requested not to receive any artificial nutrition by tube and refused antibiotics. As a nursing student, wishing to help people recover, this was a specific component in which I could not wrap my head around.

The taste of the bitter coffee slivering down my throat on a late summer night. The glorious sound of laughter beating off my eardrum. The sight of my beautiful best friends smiling. I just sit back and admire the wonderful and impactful people who have lived life with me for so long. I believe in finding your people.

A few weeks past, and I waited, and waited for a response to if he was able to go home. I knew that if I kept believing it would happen. So, I continued to wait it felt as long as waiting to see if you won the lottery. Thankfully, I won this lottery. He came home but he was not as fun and energetic as usual. I knew that he would not be 100% at first. He was not as uplifting as he usually was. I was getting very worried that the heart attack had done something to his personality. I was reassured by my family, they said, “ It might take a while for him to regain his energy and strength due to all that has

harsh but it’s true. My coaches were loud and annoying. For example, one of the

It was the worst feeling I have ever felt. Finally, after spending one week in the hospital, he was able to go home with a follow-up procedure to fix the AVM that had a rupture and bleed. On the day of the procedure to have an embolism, he was going to be put to sleep for 72 hours because, they wanted to keep his blood pressure extremely low, before the surgery the doctor said it would only take one hour, after four hours of seating in the waiting room the longest four hours of my life, like any other human being I was thinking the worst and was scare off all the risk all over again, like any other surgery you have a chance of stroke or even death. I imagine myself without my father and me began to cry, how could I possibly be able to keep living a life where I don’t have my father. The doctor who performs the surgery came out and said everything was good and he had no problems, that was a relief, now the hardest part was going to the ICU and seeing my dad hooked up to what it seem like millions of monitors, and having him breathing with

Within 24 hours, the patient’s mental status improved and he was able to communicate, although he remained lethargic with slow and purposeful mentation. He was transferred to a regular nursing floor after 24 hours in the intensive care unit. He recovered appropriately from a surgical standpoint was discharged home four days following

The thing is, it wasn't easy to remember. Trying to recall the details of his accident were tough. One minute everything is fine. We were happy and safe sitting by the still burning coals in the fire ring that we had just left.hours before. We both knew it was too early to go but we did anyway. Making the decision to meet at our spot in the woods was a bad decision. Everything went south from there.