Opinion: I am far more than ‘just a nurse’
I am different from most of the patients for whom I provide forensic evaluations of past abuse. Yet as a nurse, I identify with their need for authentication, validation, and…
I inspect my patient from head to toe and then left to right across her body, noting ridges of scar tissue. “His machete,” she says. Dime-sized wounds are scattered across her thighs. “His cigarettes,” she explains.
I marvel at the elasticity of skin, the regrowth of hair, the capacity of body and spirit to prevail and heal.
After an hour, I set down my camera and ruler. My patient embraces me in a tight, tearful hug.
“I am free to let go now,” she exhales. “You’ve captured it all.”
Capturing it all — the aftermath of kidnapping, gang rape,
