HAPPY NURSES WEEK!

Happy Nurses Week everyone!
I know all of you know someone who is a nurse so celebrate them this week. When I think nursing, I always think of my childhood. I grew up at the hospital. As most ofyou know, I aspirated a peanut when I was 3 - meaning instead of the peanut going into my stomach it lodged into the lower left lobe of my lung. I kept getting sick and coughing and the doctor had diagnosed me with croupe - another kind of lung disease. well, we then went to Childrens Hospital in LA and they found that it was a foreign object in my lungs. Because of that peanut, I went to the doctor's office ALL the time, first every three months, then every six months, then once a year. I would have to take PFT's - pulmonary function tests every year to see how my lungs were developing. This was all between the ages of 3 - 18. Imagine driving to LA - Sunset Blvd every three to six months to get my lungs checked. and we lived in Baldwin Park and Diamond Bar. Anyway, back to why I started this story, I had the same RN, Lucy, from the time I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis at 3 until about 15. Then she started doing research. But every time I went in - which had increased to once a year at that point - from the age of 15 to 18, they would page her and she would come down and see me during my visit. She really saw my grow up. And I always wanted to establish that kind of relationship with my patients. I don't know why I denied it for so long. I always thought I wanted to be a pediatrician growing up. Then I got to school and realized that it was way too competitive and too hard and too long. I even called Cal State Long Beach during my second year at UCI to see if I could transfer to their BSN program. But then I got comfortable and said that I could do something else with my BS in Applied Ecology - environmental and public health. and then it all came back to nursing. worked for a little bit and found my way bnck to where my heart has always been - the heart of a nurse. I was working at the nursing home and I would do my rounds every morning, check the change of condition reports, check the rooms, talk to the patients and one day there was one pt sitting in the middle of the hallway, I bent down, straightened her wheelchair into her spot and looking straight into her eyes and said "Good morning, Mrs. B." and she never really talked, but that morning she looked me straight in the eye and said "You're nice." and my heart melted. and I again realized that I wasn't made to work behind the desk. I know I complain a lot or vent a lot about work. it's stressful. it's hard. and it is very tiring. but it is so worth it. So anyway, to all of my fellow nurses, happy nurses week! you truly keep the caring and compassion to the bedside that no one else can provide.