Maybe...

I was just SUPPOSED to lose my watch when I went through the Las Vegas airport earlier this year. It was a Mother's Day gift, not terribly expensive, but it worked. It had a second hand, was dressy enough, and I could read it in the dark. The present part made the loss upsetting to me.

A month or so later, I bought a similar replacement. It looks pretty close to the other one, but I realized that the date window was really little compared to my old reliable. Some of my friends joked that since I'm getting old, I probably just need glasses.

Being the good nurse that I am, I knew I needed to make an ophthalmology appointment, but I do not have eye problems. Dahey does. Dahey has worn glasses forever and  has always had the distinction in our house of having the most expensive glasses. I talked to my traveling partner and she recommended a doc from her old hospital, Dr. K.

Dahey saw him, had a good appointment and passed all the tests. That was in April. I said I'd have to do the same.

Of course, time got away from me and finally I decided to call their office and schedule an appointment on Veterans' Day, since I happened to have the day off. I thought, this won't last too long. Dr. K is very nice and is a veteran himself.

But it did. Dr. K.'s tech did a lot of tests, but a couple of them, Dr. K. redid himself. So we had another long discussion. I hope my eyes did not bulge out of my head, because what I really wanted to do was shriek.

The words, "you have a condition that will cause glaucoma", weren't really what I was really planning on hearing.  Dahey, my veteran, and I were planning a nice lunch somewhere, since he was off work, too.

After the almost three hour appointment, I left. However, I count myself lucky. I never served on a frozen battlefield in Korea, like the man I talked to today while waiting for some labs. I felt like I was there when he talked about prisoners in "cotton uniforms and tennis shoes." I understood when he said, "I still won't eat rice." because of the memories it brought back. He is in his 80s and still working, even if he needs a rolling walker to get there.

I may have been bombarded myself yesterday, but I want to let all the veterans out there know I thank you every day for your service. This year it's even more special, because one old Navy doc made sure I'll have a chance to see more in the future. I am so very lucky because it is treatable (which starts today) and I have no vision loss.

Losing that watch was probably the best thing that happened to me this year.

More to come...

Things that make me smile

Yes, even though some of our nurses say we should not nominate people for department awards for doing the little things as part of their job, it is the little things that people remember. It brings back all those lectures on servant leadership. Keeping things stocked and thinking of the nurse who follows you are two things that were impressed upon me in my first nursing job, and  yes, it is everybody's business.

And as a result, the things that have made me smile recently during all this Manglement madness have been the little things.

1. Patient X goes home and calls me recently from a restaurant we talked about all during his stay. I even got the lowdown on the daily special.

2. Patients who say "please" and "thank you". There are just too many barbarians who have forgotten their manners. Mr. X., thank you for thinking of me and being polite, even when many of your other fellow patients do not do the same.

3. Dr. F. brought us all goodies this week. It made us feel important, too.

4. And finally, one of my patients came back to the unit, We had a really nice chat and I told him about his old roommate sending us a card, which was posted on our bulletin board. Before he left, he told me, "You know, I miss seeing you. You are the best."

Thanks Mr. D., and so are you. We loved the candy, even if it means another mile on the treadmill for me.

Stay tuned.