Yesterday was National Nurse’s Day, so I thought I would write a few words about nurses.
In my memoir, An Innocent, A Broad, I wrote about my experience having my first baby, Jack, unexpectedly, during what was supposed to be a weekend visit to London. Jack was born a few months early, in a London NHS hospital, and though Denis and I had packed for two nights, it would be almost six months before we would return to the US with our baby. Denis had to return to the states to work, and since I didn’t know anyone in London, I spent most of my days and nights after Jack was born, hanging around the Neonatal Intensive Care unit, staring at my dear, tiny baby, and becoming friends with the nurses, who were my saviors.
I won’t go into details here, it’s all in the book (hint, hint). But we were very broke, Denis was a struggling comic, and after Jack was born, I stayed in the nurse’s home across from the hospital, which was a dormitory for nursing students and doctoral residents. The nurses at the hospital were a wonderfully diverse group – Irish, English, Indian, Nigerian and each one of them showed me great kindness. One of them delivered a heavy metal breast-pumping machine to my dorm room on the back of her bicycle on her way home from the hospital after her shift. I had just had a caesarian and couldn’t carry it myself. Another NICU nurse worried about my anemia and she brought me these wonderful baked dishes of broccoli and other greens. The nurses jollied me out of depressions with stories about preemies who had flourished, distracted me with hilarious stories about their weekend escapades and sometimes just comforted me with their silent, calming presence and kind smiles.
I wrote about my experiences with Britain’s National Health Service for the Huffington Post, when some uneducated politicians were carrying on about “death squads” during the debates on our own proposed national health care reform bill. You may read it here. I wrote about my experiences with the NHS nurses in my book, which you may find here.
Here’s a little excerpt about nurses, who are confusingly called “sisters” in the UK, which made me think they were all nuns at first (I was very young and stupid):
“Denis’s actual sister is a nurse, and so are some of his female cousins. Until Jack was born, I thought the only thing that separated these women from me was a degree in nursing. They seemed like normal people at all the weddings and barbecues we attended, sipping their wine coolers and wiping their kids’ noses. Now I know that I have as much in common with them as I do with an international spy or a death-defying stuntman.
Nurses have nerves of steel and the mind-over-matter proficiency of a Buddhist monk. If, for example, you haltingly inform a nurse that you have just passed what appeared to be a large part of your brain into the toilet, via the birth canal, the nurse will not gag but instead will admonish you for flushing it away before showing it to her. Blood, phlegm, and mucus—all things intrauterine or subdermal, septic or dyspeptic—are attended to with efficient grace by nurses, who are the underpaid soothers and healers in every hospital, all over the world”
When Devin was born, almost two years later, in a New York City hospital, she was full-term, but had some minor problems and I was beside myself with grief. I’ll never forget the nurse who came in to my room to check my blood-pressure, but stayed, and sat and listened to me as I cried and carried on about all the things that I was afraid would happen to my baby. She shared such wise words about hardship and blessings that when I think of them now, they bring tears to my eyes.
So, to the nurses in my family, the nurses who are my friends and all nurses everywhere, I hope you are thanked again and again, today, for what you do, with such heart and grace, every day, all over the world.
(This post is a rerun. It was originally posted last year)
Ann, thank you for a beautiful post…Brings back remembrance of why I became a Nurse…:)
I have a quick nurse story: I live in the back half of a duplex. My neighbor in the front half is a nurse. We never see each other, because she works nights, but every Tuesday (garbage day) she wheels my bin from the street (where the pick up is) back around the duplex and parks it in front of my garage door. So when I get home from work I don’t have to park my car and then go all the way back around the house to get the bin. After profusely thanking her the first time she did this, I told her she didn’t have to, but her response was so funny. She said, “Why wouldn’t I, I’m putting mine away anyway.” She has been doing this for three years, and every Tuesday night after a long work day, I smile when I see that bin parked so carefully next to my garage door. Thanks Sandy!
My mother was an RN, and I have a lot of respect for nurses. It is very thoughtful of you to remember them on their Day.
Thank you for a lovely post…….God Bless my Mom, RN and my cousins Anne, Bonnie and Mary, all RNs. They are and have always been blessings in my life and the lives of their patients.
Both my sister and my sister’s wife are nurses. Let me tell you, they are lifesavers. Figuratively and literally. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a medical question and had to ring them for advice. And the stories they tell about the patients they love are inspiring. I could only hope to be as brave as they are someday.
I loved your memoir. I actually bought it for my iPhone during that nine day stent in which we lost power during Alfred. I made sure to charge my phone in the car during the day so I could read about your journey in our tent in the living room at night, in a freezing cold house and 14″ of snow outdoors. Anyway, I loved it. Adored it, really. And although I always liked Denis and thought he was great and all, I loved you (non stalker) more. And I told everyone I knew about the book. It’s hard to find good literature to read these days. Oscar Wilde said “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” And your book read like a splendid diary. Sensational indeed.
Go nurses!
Cough, *stint, not stent. My mind was still on the awesomeness of nurses.
Wow, thanks Lauren, I did the exact same thing during that storm. Loaded Madame Bovary, which I had hated in high school (Madame’s Ovaries we called it) and I decided to read it again to see if I liked it better now, Yes, I did, indeed. Couldn’t bear to watch the battery dying in my bed that i made in front of the fireplace. Had to run out to the car to charge it first thing in the AM.
Get it? Ma’damn Ovaries?! That’s hilarious. Never read it. I’ll have to add it to my reading queue after I finish my guilty pleasure: Becoming Sister Wives. Love me some quirky religious reality TLC.
Thank you Ann for all your kind words for all the hardworking nurses. On Saturday we will have another nurse in the family as Mairead graduates
Hooray for Mairead! xxoo
The nurses in “An Innocent” really came to life as individuals for me, despite the years between Jack’s birth and the book. They must have been incredible. Yeah, the writing is pretty decent too
Our family has met a legion of superheroes dressed as nurses in the past couple of years–right here in the USA–and we are beyond grateful for them. These people did the technical part of their jobs at the highest level and gave much needed emotional support to the patient, family and friends.
The political state of health care in this country is another matter.
Now the health care discussion is an entirely different topic.
Why do I Always mess up when typing on a phone? You all can feel superior anyway!
I wish there was a ‘LIKE’ button!!! Happy Nurse’s Day!
As one of the Male Nurses (although I will never understand why the need for a distinction) I am proud to provide care and comfort to those in need
Ann,
This post brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for posting this piece. It was wonderful.
Ann, this is my first post. Just had to comment about your lovely post on nurses. My mom was a pediatric nurse for 40 years, and there is not enough room on the Internet itself to name all the ways she has soothed and cared for her children and grandchildren. She is the constant, patient, unable to shock (no matter how much blood), rock our family is built on.
I am just a lowly librarian- no lifesaving or death defying- but am hugely appreciative of your work. One last note- I have recommended your book to three different friends going through premature births. Thanks so much for the blog- I am one appreciative reader.
I really enjoyed reading your memoir and this post.
Thanks, Sandy RN.
Happy Mothers Day to all the blog Mothers!!