An Unsung Hero
If you have followed me even just a little while, you know how much respect I have for all those in the medical field from the top with the doctors all the way to the support staff bringing me my meals when I am hospitalized. I make sure that all who have some sort of role in my treatment, healing, and recovery, know that I truly appreciate all that is done for me.
I make it a habit to personally return back to the hospitals and offices, to personally say “thank you,” to my caregivers. This picture above was taken a couple of years ago, reuniting with my chemotherapy nurse and my counselor from over thirty years ago. Yes, I never forget what anyone has done for me. This was also the first time that my daughters got to meet anyone from my Hodgkin’s days, though they know plenty of my later health struggles.
But there is one staff member, that I have never been able to thank, the operating room nurse(s). The last face(s) we see before we get put under, they are often the ones comforting us, especially under the stress of a major surgery. But unlike going back to my doctor or a specific nurse involved with my care, I honestly cannot remember any names, if any were even given to me.
Operating room nurses, just like paramedics and firemen, often never get the chance to learn what happens to patients that they have taken care of. Their story of you, ends with a blank finish. They have no idea if you have survived or not. They just do their job, and go on to the next patient.
Take some time today, if you happen to know an operating room nurse, and tell them “thank you for everything you do in that operating room.” It will mean the world to them.
Paul's Heart 