A Warm-Hearted Nurse in a Cold ER #thankfulin(F)All

Today, I'm thankful for a kind, warm-hearted nurse who took care of me in an ice, cold emergency room.  

So, I'm sitting there waiting....

and waiting....and freezing....

and waiting.

You know, the typical emergency room experience where nobody gets in too big of  hurry? When you sit in a little ten-by-eight room for what seems like eternity. As the person drawing blood exits, you find yourself wondering how many hours it might be before you see another face come through the door again. My husband considers it pure torture.

So, today I was given a breathing treatment. I obediently sat there puffing on the "peace pipe" as my family jokingly calls it, until all the solution was gone. I quietly sat and waited. Mind you, the oxygen was still on and the respiratory personnel had said she'd be back to check on me before she walked out of that heavy, wooden door to my iced cubical.  I continued to sit there as patient as possible, trying to block out the sound of the air pushing its way through the small tubing. Hisssss!!! 

After thirty minutes of that, my husband had all of the hissing noise he could stand and promptly got up and disengaged the hose from the oxygen receptacle. And...we waited. Still nobody came through the door. My patience was running thin at this point, not to mention my husband's patience who had run out about ten minutes after we were introduced to our holding cell.

Finally, about an hour or so later, the door opened. A cheery voice proclaimed, "And, you're ready to go now!"  I looked over at the smiling face, then down at  the discharge papers in her hand. YES!!! Deliverance has come! We were SO READY to get out of the ER. But...somehow, this nurse had other ideas.

She sat down and gently took the IV out of my arm, then carefully applied gauze and a piece of tape to catch any extra blood. Then she went over every detail of my diagnosis, which was Pneumonia, medication regime and then....

Yes, about thirty minutes later we walked out of the unwelcoming ER...smiling. The sweet, caring nurse had talked and talked. She had taken time to make us feel cared for. She had shared stories that made us laugh. She was one of those nurses that you'd ask for when you go back the next time. A nurse you'd also gladly accept as a friend. 

It's amazing how taking a few extra moments out of the day to say something kind, to share a smile, or to stop and chat with someone for a few moments can change the course of lifetime. We really kind make a difference. It is a trickle down effect. 

One person touches a life, then that person touches another life...that's the cycle of life we should all strive for. 

I left the ER today with prescriptions...a smile on my face...and a challenge to make a difference in someone's life each day. Pneumonia? Yeah, that will go away in time, but the deposits we make in the life of others by being kind and caring and going the extra mile will make ripples in our world that will last for eternity.

 I know this has been quite lengthy, but can I encourage each of us to give it a try the rest of this holiday season? Let's greet someone with a smile, take a moment out of our hurried schedule to show some love...let's make a difference~