I’m not a nurse, but my mother was. Some people wondered how can I have some medical knowledge without really studying anything related to that. Here is the answer what you where looking for and to understand me better when I’m talking about healthcare and how I got used to it in Hungary and what huge differences what I see between Dutch and Hungarian healthcare but even education.
As a kid I loved to climb up on everything. chairs, shelf, hanging lanais (my dad was really happy about that particular one sarcastic tone here specially when I decided at age 4-5 after a Tarzan movie to yolo over to the other couch in the room using one of the hanging part. I don’t have to say that the small pot which was rather heavy cause it was made out of clay end up on my head. Thankfully I was already quiet hard-headed so the pot broke into pieces instead of my skull). But the more successful climbs what I made it was to reach some books from a higher shelf what I was not supposed to, includes my mother medical study book.
In a beginning I only took them down cause of the pics in them (my mother was a child nurse) so it was a lot of photos about sick children some about my age. I’m really thankful for that black and white pictures for nameless kids and nurses and of course my parents who teach me about how to take care of others, how I was not socked in school or later in life by people who has physical deformity or other visible or invisible illnesses.
Any time when my mom notice she explained a couple of thing to me about how was it taking care of sick children, then put the books back and took the chair (what was my aid for climbing) away to the other side of the house. Back to square one and start again. In school I learned rather quickly reading mainly cause I wanted to know what it in my book, I wanted to read the stories and tales what my parents were telling me before sleep myself. I quickly discovered in my mother medical book there is not simply Hungarian words there but also some really weird language called “Latin” thankfully there was indeed as you can see it in the picture some Latin medical dictionary on the bookshelves so it was just a matter of time understanding those strange words. Reading about how the lungs suppose to work, or the heart or what to do when someone got a seizure.
My absolute favorite however as a kid, when I discovered one of our lower drawer contains some bandages, a special scissors which can cut those neatly, a book with pictured instruction how to make different kind of bandages all across the body from head to toe(and believe me the toe is very difficult a child to do specially on yourself). Guess what happens next…. Yes you are right. I got to be a “Master of Bandages” withing a few hours and everything including me was properly bandaged. We have to mark that, in that time there was some big fight between my plush animals, Indians, Lego figures, G.I. Joe’s and Barbie’s. I don’t remember any more what was the war about. But it was always something where those can’t agree to each other or making alliance against the other (as you now probably notice I was a kid with a very colorful imagination and great story-telling capabilities (which later on surprised my teachers too). My mother was angry and I guess at the same time proud of her daughter to bandage all the casualties and herself into a mummy within a few hours, this skill paid of later in life when I was doing first AID as part of our group who went for Disaster Recovery Competitions, and waaay more later when I was burning 1-3 degree my right hand in Amsterdam and due at that time my job did not pay for sick leave I had to take care of my bandages myself. Which resulted in Bewerwijk when they finally checked up my wounds they also asked me if I would like to work there and I was not sure they were not serious.
So I grew up surrounded by care and books. As an adult maybe I’m too critical to the healthcare profession in the Netherlands cause in my old book the practice was different. Like you know, talking to the patients and get to know them, so you might not suspect alcohol or drug abuse in a first place. I was thinking of medical profession in the past, however I also notice the salary what is unlawfully low for those people who take care of others as much as in Hungary as much as in the Netherlands. How much people don’t respect those who might save their lives, or take care of them when they are sick and can’t get out of bed, and as much I like people and I count myself as a helpful, caring person I really need a positive feedback from my work, from the people who I work with. Plus I deal quiet not well with situation (and its many in healthcare when I’m helpless. My way of thinking is always, there is a way there has to be a way out of this, and sometimes it is not. Life sometimes is a cruel little … who does not show you mercy, and you either accept it or you go mad. Excepting the Unalterable is really hard lesson.
But for more cheerful note. I’m really happy and thankful for my parents and their books around me. They teach me a lot.