Soothe

I get home and shed my scrubs as I walk in the door, as I do at the end of every day. I remove my socks and hold the pile against my side walking to the bathroom in my boxers. I throw the contaminated clothes in the laundry bin, toss the boxers in too, turn the shower on and climb under its stream.

After the initial layer of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophila has hopefully been rinsed from by body and gone down the drain, I flip the lever and begin filling the tub. I lay myself down and allow the water, warm and calming, to slowly fill around me. I close my eyes, trying not to think of the patients I’ve seen today.

Inhale. Exhale.

In the tub, with the water running, I fall asleep…