...they brought me the wrong guy

It's been a while, I know. I started this blog when I was still young and naive and thought I could go to school and have a life. I was such an idiot... Well, now that I'm done with school and have become a valued member of society, I might as well give it another go. 

So, today I started my new job as a physiotherapist. My first real job. The bartending job doesn't really count since it was just a temporary thing. But this... this is what I've studied for for three years. This is what I've wanted since the time I started studying physiotherapy. Okay, maybe it's not my dream job (that would be watching movies, playing video games and spending my days in a drunken stupor, but I doubt anyone's willing to pay me for that) but it is pretty close. 

Was I nervous on my first day? Nope. I was terrified. So terrified that I was numb. The moment I stepped into the building, I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I was about to be responsible for the well-being of god knows how many people and I had no clue why I was even there. I mean, I knew I was there but I had no idea why I thought it was a good idea to agree to take this job. I was just a dumb student who could barely handle her own life, let alone be responsible for those of others. 

My terror passed as the day progressed. It came back when I had my first patient but I tried to ignore it the best I could. Can't help anyone while you're scared out of your mind. The next 45 minutes were... not as successful as I'd hoped. I felt nervous, rusty and just... unprepared. But the patient was nice, talkative and it wasn't all that bad. I didn't feel a great sense of accomplishment but I didn't feel like a failure either. So then it was time for the next one. 

My next patient was supposed to arrive at 14.30. By 14.38 he'd still not showed his face... In cases like this we're supposed to contact the nurse's station and ask about the whereabouts of the patient. So I did that. I told them the name and they promised to bring him up. Great! Problem solved! Right? 5 minutes later a man walks into the room, accompanied by one of the caretakers. Good, I could finally start. 

I walk up to the man and ask him if he's Mr.A (can't really mention any names here) and he nods. He's Russian and doesn't seem to understand much Estonian and my Russian is nonexistent. 'We'll make it work... somehow...' I think to myself as I try to ask him to walk around, stand with his feet together and so on... About five minutes later another physiotherapist walks in, takes a long look at what I'm doing and goes:

'Hey, that's not your patient, you know.'

Uhhhh... what?

'Yeah, that's Mr.X. He's one of mine.'

'Really? But he nodded when...'

The other PT turns to the patient.

'Are you Mr.A?' He nods. 'No, you are Mr.X, aren't you?' He nods again.

Oh... so it's like that... 

'Trust me, this is my patient. Where's yours?'

Good question! My first day and I'm working with the wrong patient. I didn't think things like that happened in real life. How did this happen? I go make another phonecall to the nurse and tell them my patient is still missing.

'No, he should be there. We just brought him up.'

'Nope, you brought Mr.X up. I needed Mr.A.'

'Wait, who is up there then?'

Ugh, really? It takes a few moments before I manage to make the nurse in charge understand who I'm looking for and who they actually brought up to me. Then I hear her ask a caretaker in the back:

'Hey, who did you bring up to the PT?

'Mr.A. The skinny bald guy from room 2.'

'What? You idiot! Mr.A is the short chubby guy from room 7!'

Oh well... Honest mistake, I guess? Long story short: they brought me the right guy after another five minutes or so and I had a whole 30 minutes to evaluate him and plan my therapy. It wasn't as successful as it could have been. Perhaps it was because I was dazed and confused... or because he didn't speak a word of Estonian and I had the irresistible urge to start speaking Japanese with him. Why? I don't even know. But as messed up as the whole situation was, at least I have a great story to tell. It's not every day they bring me the wrong patient... I hope...