Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Here is proof that my camera does little macro photos. However, I still don’t know how to do it, because Rebecca set it up on our fun walk to the U District. She was going to show me how she did it when we got to our café, but we were so thrilled with our coffee, our tea, our raisin and apple pastries that we forgot about it. I should have taken a picture of my raisin Danish.

For reasons unknown, this flower reminds me of a patient I have had several times. We became more or less intimately acquainted about three months ago when she had an evening of terrible diarrhea. Patients get so upset about needing to be cleaned up, but I tell them that we nurses love it. Some of us – perhaps I should just speak for myself – actually do. It is the one time that a nurse can slow down and really talk to the patient about more than their circulation, their pain, their nausea, or other medical issues. And no one comes in and says, “Joanna, I need you right now!” When you are up to your elbows in poop, no one disturbs you. They find someone else to handle the problem that they wanted to interrupt you for.

Anyhow, several months ago, I cut about four inches off my hair. Not ONE PERSON noticed. Not a family member, not a co-worker, no one in my choir (my fellow altos seem like the most likely to have noticed – altos are an observant and caring group – but even they did not.) I marveled about this and could not understand how it could be, but there you are! Then, I was walking down the hall at work on a recent evening, and a voice called out, “Joanna, Joanna!” I went into the room, and it was Patsy, my patient who had diarrhea, and the first thing she said was, “Why, you cut your hair!” We both laughed when I told her that she was the only one who had ever noticed.

1 comment:

weebug said...

you know, i think that the patient contact thing is one thing that i love most about having to occassionally help out with blood drawing at my job. it gives me a chance to get away from the instruments and be reminded that even lab work is an important part of health care.