The Frequent Flyer
The familiar chain between a patient who keeps returning and a nurse who keeps showing up.
Room Twelve, Again
The light for room twelve comes on and you already know who's in it before you check the board, already know his order, his allergies, the joke he's going to make before you've finished the introduction he doesn't need anymore. This is the Devil card wearing its gentler face — not a trap, but a bond so familiar it's become its own strange form of intimacy, built one repeat visit at a time.
Let the familiarity be tenderness today rather than just fatigue. You know this person this well because you've shown up for him, again and again, and that's not nothing.
what may cross your path
- You know a patient's order, allergies, and go-to joke before you've even opened the chart.
- Room twelve lights up and you already know exactly who's behind that door.
- A familiar face makes you smile despite the chart in your hand, despite everything.
- You catch yourself genuinely glad to see someone the system calls a 'frequent flyer.'
Knowing someone this well is its own kind of care.
Discharged Tuesday, Back Thursday
A patient you just discharged is back before the week is even out, and you feel the whole revolving door of it land in your chest at once. The bond the Devil card names is loose on his end — he doesn't remember your name most visits — but it's binding on yours, because you remember his, every single time, whether you want to or not.
Care for the person in front of you today without trying to carry the whole cycle on your own shoulders. Some chains take a system to break, not one shift, no matter how much you want to be the one who does it.
what may cross your path
- A patient you just discharged is back before the week is out, and you feel the whole cycle at once.
- You catch yourself quietly hoping, again, that this time will be different.
- A chart's history reads like the same story on repeat, with no different ending in sight.
- You wonder what it would actually take to break the pattern, and know it isn't up to you alone.
I can love someone through the pattern without being able to end it alone.