"You're gonna make it"

Every morning, for the last couple weeks, I wake up and find myself staring at the 40 pounds worth of nursing school books and wonder how I am going to get through it all.. or if I will even get through it all.  And here is the short story of how my already defeatist attitude was changed.

Yesterday, I was fifteen minutes away from finishing my twelve hour shift.  I was paged into an older gentleman's room to help him use a bedside commode.  He was being admitted for a GI bleed.  I didn't realize how bad it was until there was blood all over the floor.  As I stood by the man's side, to make sure he was okay, I realized he was far from being okay.  I watched the color disappear from his face as he began to sweat and slump over.  I immediately called for help to get him back into bed.  With his blood pressure continuing to drop, I decided to check it manually for accuracy.  I knew he was in trouble with a pressure of 55/30.  The man looked at me and asked, "Am I gonna make it?"  I could hear it in his voice how scared he was.  It frustrated me that I knew what needed to be done to help this patient, but there wasn't anything I could do to help him because I am not a nurse yet.  I decided to help him in the best way I knew how.  To give him hope.  And while I answered his question of life or death, I also answered my own question of success or failure.  "You're gonna make it."