Juxtapose

I got hugs from all three of my patients today when I left for the day. This is a new record.

Patient number one, because I was Greek and if you tell an old Greek man in his eighties that you're Greek, they get a huge kick out of it and you're automatically "in" no matter what - I always pick them out by their names (Mr. Blablahblahopolous or Socrates Nomnomnomonos or something) and let them know I appreciate their Greekness first thing after introducing myself at the beginning of the shift. After that, I can do no wrong.

I got a hug from patient number two, a very crabby and curmudgeony type, because I let him "teach" me how to do his illeostomy appliance. He was VERY upset that the previous shifts had been doing everything for him and telling him how he should do stuff when all the guy wanted to do was change his own poop bag. I say that any day that a person wants to change their own poo bag and I don't have to is a good day, amirite?!?!

Patient number three was just really sweet. A few minutes before leaving, she was sleeping and I told her family to let her know, when she woke up, that I said goodbye and hoped she did well because I wouldn't be around tomorrow, the day she gets sent home. I got chased down the hall a few minutes later by her daughter who said her mom wanted to say goodbye herself. She said she had absolutely nothing bad to say about her stay there. That's a new one to me - nobody really ever ENJOYS being at the hospital, obviously.

Killer day, today. The sun was glinting through the skyline of the city and I could see it through the windows, and I could tell that it was warm and welcoming outside. By the time I left work, the sunshine had gone and was replaced by the warm springy smell of the grey after a short rainshower. It was fresh and clean and melted a lot of the dirty snow that has been hanging around for too long. It was a really nice drive home.

I'm waiting for my best friend to come home and then we are getting celebratory slurpees from 7-11 because they are full of sugar and preservatives so I can get Baby VDH off to a healthy start in life. I love today.