The whole month of August is a blur to me. I was hospitalized with an extremely painful and life threatening episode of pulmonary embolism, with multiple blood clots in both lungs. A week later I was hospitalized again with pneumonia and pleurisy.
But enough about that. Let’s talk about nurses shall we? Having had multiple ear surgeries since the age of five, I am no stranger to hospitals.
First of all, all day shift nurses have the appearance of a 12 year old, (when did nurses get so young?) Apparently my gray hair screamed to them, “TALK TO HER AS IF SHE HAS DEMENTIA AND CAN’T UNDERSTAND YOU!” Granted they were all very sweet, but sometimes a little too sweet, you know what I mean? As in “pat your hand” and “dearie” sweet. I’m not in a nursing home yet for pete’s sake!
For some reason most all the “older” nurses are relegated to the night shift. What’s worse, not a single one of them wore their hair gray, but they did compliment me on mine, “if my gray looked like yours I wouldn’t color anymore.” hmmm….. really?
And the nurse doesn’t even wake you in the middle of the night for your vitals anymore. The Aide in the scrub pants and rubber “crocs” with the snake tattoo much too eagerly throws the light switch on above your bed sending you into a Frankenstein upright position before ripping the velcro on the blood pressure cuff without saying a word. Oh how I longed to hear the swish, swish of crisp, starched white uniforms from my childhood and looking up in the middle of the night to see a Florence Nightengale angel like face with gray hair pinned up under a white triangle cap.
But in all fairness, both hospital stays were good, as far as hospitals go. And it’s ok that times have changed in the last 40+ years as far as dress code goes, as long as the care is good.
Isn’t that how it is with Christians? We may look different now from the days of the disciples or even from the Jesus Freaks of the 1970′s, but as long as we continue to care for others in the name of Jesus, it doesn’t matter to Him what we look like.
“For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in. I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for Me.” ~ Jesus
copyrite 2009
Oh, I hear you Nena. My last hospital stay was enough to make me swear away from them for as long as I live! I know sometimes we have to go, in emergency situations, but how I wish we could be treated in our own homes where we are comfortable and with the people we love.
Laura, the care was good, just different from 43 years ago!
Don’t know if I would want to be treated at home, I probably wouldn’t get any rest for looking at everything that needs to be done! lol!