Best nurse EVER!

@jolinda On behalf of nurses and their families, thank you. My sister was an RN for almost 45 years before she retired. Her last assignment for several years was as a triage nurse.
Ginger

@jolinda I know I must have had a nurse coordinator but I didn't have much contact with her. I think I could have if I needed it, but prior to transplant my main contact was with the NP who worked with my hepatologist.

I was in two hospitals prior to transplant, the local one when I had HE episodes, and Mass General when I had a couple of other problems. The nurses at Mass General were all wonderful, each and every one of them. One especially memorable nurse was from Haiti named Esther, and although she was much, much younger than I am I developed a real bond with her. Unfortunately, the nurses at my local hospital, with the exception of a few, were not nearly as nice or as good.

I have tremendous respect for nurses, their job is often not easy but their compassion makes a huge difference when you are a patient.
JK

@contentandwell
Agreed, competence is important but compassion changes everything. When it comes to young nurses like Ester I remind myself they see more transplants in a week than I will in my lifetime. I'm finally old enough that I've even had doctors that are my daughter's age...gulp. Slightly awkward sometimes from both sides.

@jolinda Actually Esther was not in the transplant area, she was in the regular medical area. I was admitted because my blood counts were very low.
You must be much, much younger than I am. Nurses (and doctors) are routinely younger than my son and daughter. My own doctor is only 13 years younger than I am but he treats me like I'm his grandmother! I can't figure that out, I'm in pretty decent shape for my age.
JK

I think doctors need a degree of distance from patients and perhaps the age difference is over used in order to find that distance. If he treats you like his grandmother, he considers you family - in a way. That 's lovely.

@estrada53 We have been through a lot together. When I first became his patient, shortly after my first HE episode I don't think he ever dreamed what he was in for. I suspect he might feel a bit funny (guilty?) too that he did not diagnose my cirrhosis, a neurologist did. He tolerates a lot from me.
JK

Age is so irrelevant these days, don't you think? I've known people 10 years older than me who are in "younger shape" than me and conversely I have a few friends who are working themselves to death and look 15 years older than their peers. Certainly illness can take its toll but overall I think age is so individual. If you are good shape and taking care of yourself I can imagine it can be discouraging to be treated as elderly.

@jolinda, This is a fabulous idea for a discussion! Our nurses deserve recognition that is long overdue. I have several nurses that I will tell about soon. This discussion is bring back so many wonderful memories for me. I love reading what everyone is sharing.

And we should certainly have a venue to thank the Physicians’ assistants who do incredible work with little acknowledgement

For one of my last chemo treatments a few years ago, the nurse was one of my students when she was in junior high. That's when you hope you did a good job of teaching and that your students don't hold grudges!