I was looking for things to do to stay busy and to stay out of the way of a very pissed off surgeon, while I waited for my patient to be ready to head back to the OR suite. The patient was a total train wreck and the anesthesia team was having a difficult time in deciding exactly what they were going to do with her, but that is a different story for a different day.
I walked to the next set of bays over and asked a fellow nurse if she needed any help. She said that I could start her patient’s IV for her while she asked the medical questions. I walked into his bay and introduced myself. He had a quiet, calm air about him. I briefly explained what I was going to do so that I wouldn’t disturb my coworker as she did the talking.
I always pump the cart up when I start an IV. I want the area close to eye level as I sit on the stool so that I don’t have to bend over and strain my back. I had pumped the cart up and was basically kneeling at this man’s side as I was holding his hand and looking for a good vein. This was when I began to notice the pattern of the sleeve tattoo that he had.
The pattern was quite detailed and ornate. Right at eye level to me was a line of small BDSM symbols hidden in the pattern! Now that I had seen them, they popped right out of the sleeve like they were the main focus. I was mesmerized and before I could stop myself, I reached up and traced a finger down the line of the symbols. I could feel his eyes on me and looked up. He knew! I could see it in his eyes, he knew that I knew what they were and what I was.
I continued on with my job and put the IV in. As I was finishing up, he looked at me and said, “Thank you, little one.” It was quiet and no one else heard it but me. I didn’t know how to respond other than to lower my eyes and back out of his room.
I have thought of that all day. I was surprised by the whole experience, by how it made me feel, by how I am still thinking of it. It was a brief connection, but a connection nonetheless.