Know Jack 481 Smile and Wave Boys

I once took a job at a university children’s hospital step-down unit. I didn’t want to, but I allowed myself to be talked into it. Even though I had never worked Pediatrics, per se, I was not frightened by the prospect of working with kids. I dreaded the thought of dealing with anxious parents. They weren’t called Karens then, but every nurse knew the horror stories

As often happens, my worries were groundless. I started tiny IVs, calculated peds doses, and was often the nurse requested by kids and their mothers. Nevertheless, I believe it was largely by virtue of where I worked that most parents considered me an expert and trusted me to handle whatever came up. I say that with good reason. I left that hospital and went to work in a rural ER. There was no doctor actually in the building. They would come if I called, but I was out there on a limb most of the time, overseeing the ER and the Medical floor. Something amazing happened to me during the 150-mile trip from the university to the country. All the knowledge, judgment, and skill in me somehow leaked out on the road. I became the village idiot that the hospital pulled in off the street to work.

It was strange because during the transition, I never felt a thing. Though the question was in doubt, I could walk and chew gum at the same time. I am sharing this for all those who have experienced SSSD, Sudden Senior Situational Dysfunction. It’s an acute onset, loss of functionality related to a new environment. Sometimes the new environment is not a new location, simply a shift in interactions or time. Most parents are familiar with the condition. An acute episode often coincides with your children becoming teenagers. You find yourself constantly asking things like: “Do you think I’m talking to you just to hear my own voice?”

There is no need for alarm. Everyone experiences SSSD to some degree. Even God knows what it's like to have His advice tossed aside by those who know their situation and can do His job better than He can. The condition is survivable and can have a positive outcome. The key is to know when to just smile, wave, and let life take over the role of teacher.

What old people know, where they’ve been, and what they have experienced are only valuable in certain settings and with select attitudes. Life and its consequences are universal. They take time and, as with nursing, usually only come into play when alternatives fail and something hurts.

“Just smile and wave, boys, smile and wave.”  Skipper