Mechelle-
It makes me so happy to hear about you loving your peds rotation in nsg.
school! The more people that are happy doing what they're doing, the better,
I always say!

Your story about trying to communicate with a Spanish-speaking patient
reminded me of the greatest communication challenge I've ever faced, as a
nurse or an IBCLC: at WIC, we had a couple who were both Bosnian deaf-mutes
come on the program . I swear to you, they "spoke" not a word of English, no
French, no Russian, nothing anybody knew, but it didn't matter as much as
you'd think because they were both totally deaf and mute. No "International
Sign Language" either. Can you imagine what that must have been like for
them? When my nutrition staff told me their situation and arranged for them
to see me, I thought they were just pulling my leg, since I had a reputation
for being able to communicate with ANYONE. Well, we managed to communicate,
somehow, but I had to really hope no one was watching me! The staff
practically fell over when I emerged able to tell them after the first
meeting that they had a 9 yr. old daughter, mom had tried to BF but found
that her nipples were too painful, and that she planned to try again with
the baby she was expecting. By the time she was due, they had been here
about 2 months; they brought their sweet little daughter in, and she
(neither deaf nor mute) helped me tell them how to get started so it
wouldn't be painful. (I think that's what she was telling them - maybe she
was just communicating her wish to get out of that WIC clinic!) Anyway, they
had the baby, the baby nursed beautifully with no big-time problems, and
grew perfectly fat and happy. Such nice people - but I really was glad that
I had no witnesses as I mimed breast pain, and correct positioning, and
checking urine & stool output!

Cathy Bargar