I did it!

I finally put a foley catheter in a real person! My first one was even on a woman! This little 84 yr old lady was on her way to ICU shortly after I did the catheter. Now before you go thinking that it was my fault she was sent to ICU let me reassure you by telling you that the whole reason we were given the order to do it was because she was going to ICU and they were going to put one in there anyway. I was super excited and terrified at the same time. I had my instructor there and another student nurse, a smart buddy. :) The hardest thing for me was holding things open. My hands hurt afterwards and I could feel my shoulder shaking a bit. The "hole" was much further down than I expected and I really had to hold it open far apart to see it. I spotted it, cleaned her, and went. I got in first try. No problems. I couldn't believe it was actually going in. My instructors is "cheering me on" and telling me to keep going and I'm thinking how far am I going!!! And then I saw the most beautiful thing... urine coming down the tubing and into the bag. The tubing that I inserted! My buddy inflated the balloon and it was in for good.
My professor was very proud and she said I did great, and my buddy said she's never seen a better first try foley. I was obviously gleaming with pride. However the best thing came after everyone left and it was me and my patient. She was all clean and covered up again. I held her hand and she looked at me and asked if she could go pee, I told her she didn't have too because she had the catheter. She asked me again if she could go pee and I understood what she meant and said yes you can sweetie. She looked into my eyes with the most honest and grateful eyes I have ever seen and said thank you so much. I was touched by this, I felt like she had done me a big favor but she felt like I had done the same to her. It's just such a "degrading" procedure and you're so exposed that I really felt like she meant it and was honestly grateful for the catheter. It really was a great experience. It wasn't easy, but it was great.