Lyme month day 6–Nurses

Today is National Nurses Day! 

Having been sick for so many years at this point, I have encountered a LOT of nurses. In doctors offices, in hospitals, during procedures, during surgeries. So many nurses. 

I have met my share of nurses who didn’t understand what I was dealing with. 

I have met my share of nurses who I want to give the benefit of the doubt by saying they were just having a bad day. 

But I have met SO MANY more amazing nurses. And this post is a thank you—even though they’ll never read it—to just a few of them that I have never forgotten. 

Thank you to the nurse who stood by my side and wiped every tear off my face during that spinal tap. Thank you for telling me I was brave up until the moment I passed out. And thank you for being the one holding my hands when I came back. I’ll never forget you tearing up with me and telling me that what I was going through wasn’t my fault. Thank you for being there that day. 

Thank you to the nurse who sat with me when I was feeling more than I was supposed to during my port surgery. I can’t explain the feeling of fear but I will always remember the feeling of relief you brought me. Thank you for being there in those moments when I needed someone the most. 

Thank you to the nurse who made me laugh in some tense moments before a procedure by strapping my boobs down to the table with medical tape when the original plan didn’t work. I think about that sometimes and it still makes me laugh. Thanks for being the levity I needed. 

Thank you to my home port nurse. The only person who I would willingly allow to stick a needle in my check every week for two and half years at 7am. Thank you for teaching me how to accept what I was dealing with during those few years. Thank you for teaching me how to take care of myself not only physically but emotionally sometimes, too. Thank you for being a calming voice when I needed one—like when I woke up to blood all over my chest or my port stopped working for the bajillionth time. Thank you for supporting not only me but my mom, too. Thank you for becoming a friend. I am eternally grateful and owe so much to you. The thought of IV treatment again with someone else as my nurse just wont be the same. 

Thank you to the nurse who took my stitches out after surgery and let me take as long as I needed before I looked at my new scar for the first time. You may never know how much I needed and appreciated that. 

Thank you to the nurse in my old Lyme doctor’s office who fought for me when no one else did. Thank you for going above and beyond. No matter what it took. Thank you for paying so much attention to me and what I needed even though everyone else in that office needed help, too. You were such an integral part of my diagnosis and I wish I got to say thank you. 

And really, thanks to the nurse who snuck me an extra pack of graham crackers after eyelid surgery and told me not to tell. That was pretty cool of you, too. :)

There are so many other amazing nurses I have come across, but those were just a few that have never left my mind. 

If you are a nurse and you’re reading this—thank you, too. Thank you for what you do every day. Thank you for your hard work. As someone who does come across so many nurses, in so many different situations, I know your job is not always easy and is not always appreciated. Please know that as someone on this side of the equation, I am just one voice but I appreciate you. There have been so many times that a nurse has been exactly what I have needed exactly when I needed them. And that is something I will never take for granted. 

Thank you.