As an RN at Metro City General, I work 3 12-hour shifts per week[. I like to work my days in a row, patients are more comfortable and relaxed with continuity, and, when you work your days in a row, you get your days off in a row.
I had a particularly bad stretch one week. I had demanding patients and one VIP. He was the worst. He called a lot for nonsense and when I'd go into his room all he did was stare at me.
Mr VandenBeerk was on isolation for infection. He had an Ilizarov Frame on his left leg with pins sticking out which needed to be cleaned and dressed twice daily. He also had cellulitis which made his leg fat and discolored, like a slice of pizza.
It was a shame, he was kinda cute. My average patient is a 75 year old man who reeks of ointment and has prostate issues, so we always notice a younger guy, and appreciate him if he's cute. Mr VandenBeerk was 41 and fit, about 6' tall with a hard tight body. He didn't look like a gym rat, more like a regular guy who was just very physically active. He had brush-cut dirty blond hair and bright blue eyes. He wasn't fine exactly, his features were a little off, but he was handsome, pensive and serious, he was actually kinda sexy.
He made me very nervous. He would watch me as I moved about, hanging his antibiotics, checking his vital signs. He was still as a stone and didn't talk much, only his eyes moved. When I do pin care, I usually have the patient elevate the extremity on pillows and raise the bed to save my back. Mr VandenBeerk wouldn't allow that. He said he was more comfortable with his foot on the floor so, I had to do his pin care in a squat on the floor, under him. He would watch me with a little smile on his face, I hated that, the fucker. He had long incisors too, haha, he was LITERALLY long in the tooth!!!
Anyway, his silence, his stare, his long ass teeth and off-center features made for one creepy ass dude. I didn't like him, he made me very uncomfortable. I thought his name was Dutch, but he was from South Africa, so he had a Dutch-ish accent. He was "eccentric" (cause he was rich, had he been a regular guy, he would just have been weird.)
He wasn't so bad. He wasn't fresh or terribly unreasonable. I got through my days finally. I was looking forward to my days off and to coming back to a new group of patients. A grand surprise greeted me upon my return. I checked the board and saw that not only was Mr VandenBeerk still here, but that he was my only patient. I usually get 6.
"Hey Geri, what gives?" I asked my nurse manager.
"Well," she explained "Mr. VandenBeerk is a very important VIP, he is building a new wing here. He is very particular and has requested you to be his private duty nurse this weekend."
"I am not a private duty nurse! I want a group. He was fine with me last week when I had other patients, did he complain?"
"Sarah," Geri put on her exasperated voice, pulling her glasses from the top or her head onto her face and looking at me over them "As I said, he is a very important VIP, he's giving this hospital a lot of money. He is paying you double your hourly rate plus bonus. He wants you to be his nurse, that's it."
She tried to console me by reminding me that he was fit and mobile, but then ruined it by telling me he was a but fussy and didn't want a lot of people in his room. I would have to act as his nurse assistant as well, helping him bathe and making his bed. Making his bed!?!? No job is above or beneath me, but I hadn't made a bed since nursing school.
"Goede Morgen Meneer VandenBeerk," he didn't acknowledge my attempt. I'd been to Holland and I know Dutch isn't Afrikaans, but I thought they were close enough.
"Good morning Sarah. Close the door please, keep it closed. It's going to be you and me today. You are the only one I want in here today. Are you okay with that?" What the hell could I say, I had to be diplomatic "we'll have a good day today." And so the staring began. He smiled his creepy smile and watched me move about, doing his am care.
My ears and cheeks were on fire. I am never happier to be dark skinned then when I blush, no one can see it.
"You're blushing," he stated, my head whipped around. "How do you know? It's not obvious." "It is if you know what to look for. Your lips are red." I only wear clear gloss, never lipstick to work.
"Mr. VandenBeerk, you make me nervous. You don't talk, you don't smile and you stare at me from the minute I walk in to the minute I walk out. Could you please not stare at me?" I knew I'd said too much but it was worth a shot. He ignored what I said "Never let anyone know they've got the drop on you. In my line of work that could cost you your life." What the hell?
Amy was another nurse on the floor who'd worked with this man on my days off. She had the exact opposite feelings about him than I had. She liked him. She was very chatty and got people to talk. She told me how he'd been a sniper and had told her a few different ways to kill a man without a weapon. I only half believed this. Why would anyone tell anyone else that? That would explain his stillness though. I could imagine him sitting in the woods for hours, hunting human prey though?
I finished hanging his IV and got the hell out of Dodge. I had to go back in to do his pin care and whenever else he called for me. He never asked for pain medicine. I knew it hurt but I didn't push. When I offered and he refused, I accepted it. I did his pin care in a squat at his feet. He quietly watched me all day. I always got in and out as quickly as possible. I had to help him bathe, washing his back and helping him change his clothes. I never looked down his front, but I couldn't help but notice his high tight ass. Day one ended uneventfully. It wouldn't be so bad. I had to endure his scrutiny but he didn't talk much and I didn't talk much. It was kind of nice, I hated chatty patients and appreciated being able to move about quietly.
On my second day he was again my only patient. I knew what to expect and would just try not to bump into anything or drop anything, just pretend he wasn't there. Geri called me into her office " Mr. V is very satisfied with your care but he complained that you'd been in and out of the room too much yesterday, take your notes in with you and be prepared to just stay there with him." For fuck's sake! What would be next? Should I climb into bed and scratch his ass for him too?
I took all my things and a chair into the room, nodding my hello and endured his scrutiny as he lay in bed, still as a stone, watching me move about.
"I like you Sarah, you're the quiet type. You don't fill all space with noise, incessant chatter. I love women but I don't date because they are too damned chatty, like little birds. Silence is nice. Are you always quiet? Do you ever make noise, sigh, moan, scream perhaps?
Just when I thought I could do it. I didn't know what to say so I said nothing. He could force me to be in here, but I didn't have to entertain his ass too. I was standing over his supine form, preparing to connect his antibiotics to the IV on his arm. "Don't connect it yet, I need my hands." He smiled his creepy smile. Lookit those fucking fangs, he probably wants to bite me. "You're blushing again," he sat up and was right in front of me, his head at my chest level. I took a step back.
He reached up and held my hips, preventing me from moving away. I was shocked, this was blatant. "Mr Vanden----
He was looking at my neck "your heart is pounding, I won't hurt you. Be calm, but don't move away." He loosened his grip on me but did not let go. I placed my hands over his, tried to pry them off. I grabbed his right index finger and bent it backward toward his hand."You don't get to touch me, not like that. Don't touch me again." Bending a man's index finger backward is supposed to incapacitate him. This one didn't even flinch. He let me remove his hands and I slowly gave him back his index finger.