About Nurses

The nursing staff at Gwinnett Medical Duluth deserves some praise. While I was terribly miserable in the gerbil cage, they kept me laughing and entertained. I guess it comes with being young and not a complainer, but fairly often they would come into my room just to chat. So see terrible-awful Emory GenPop nursing staff, it's not me - it's YOU! 

It's here that, try as I may, I have accepted I'm never going to be able to connect with Asian nurses. The older the more difficult. Its cultural. You are their job. Filipino totally different. I recognize the accent. Talk about lumpia and throw out the only Tagalog word I know and I've got 'em! Yep, totally made it a game at this point. 

-10 points:  make the Asian nurse smile

-100 points:  make the Asian nurse laugh

-1 billion points:  Asian nurse gently removes a bandage

[Note:  Filipinos are Pacific Islanders not Asians, but I know...white people have difficulties distinguishing the two. If you're going to call them Asian, call them happy Asians. Watch Manny Pacquiao enter a boxing ring and you'll understand.]

It's here the nurses share hilarious stories about other patients. Like the guy that, not even kidding, asked the nurse for a back rub. I nearly laughed out the drain tube from that one. Or the man (not elderly, not paralyzed, no broken bone, or so much as a scratch on one arm) asked if the nurse was going to feed him his lunch. I was in such shock I couldn't even laugh. Either his wife does everything for him including wipe his butt, or the man is watching way too much porn!

It's here, that although I've heard it over and over, I start to accept that yes I am a positive person. And I can't quite understand why they tell me this. They always ask (because I'm young), I share my story (caregiver turned cancer patient), and they tell me I have a good attitude. Is it a feeling I project? Is it because I smile and make jokes? Or simply that I don't break down in tears? And in fact, on occasion, my story brings them to tears. Basically, show me the opposite so I can understand what a bad attitude looks like. 

It's here I get my first hug from a nurse because, while happy for me, she was sad to have me leave. And it's here I make it a challenge, 50 points per hug.