She gave me the bird

I walked into her room and she showed her utter respect for me by placing her hand up in front of her face, and then, slowly, purposefully, and with a big smile on her face, she fully extended her arm high up over her head, and extended her middle finger.

Believe it or not, that was her way of showing respect for me. I worked damn hard the other day to get her off the vent, and she passed the weaning screen with flying colors, was awake and alert, and chomping at the bit to get off the vent. Then the doctor came in and basically gave me the big, "Rick, she's not coming off the vent."

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! That was the first time I ever begged to extubate. "RICK! I am NOT EXTUBATING that lady today!!!!!"

So she needlessly stayed on the vent an extra day. She was awake and alert, able to read a newspaper, sit on the edge of the bed, watch TV, write notes on her sheet of paper, and the doctor refused to extubate.

She was one of my favorite patients ever. She showed her appreciation for my friendship and my hard work with the bird. Yep, that one event made me proud to be an RT. I smiled and had a nice long discussion with her about books.