Now That's Entertainment!

"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance."

~H. Jackson Brown~

I just spent an interesting week in the hospital with a cast of characters that were fun and fascinating!

The most delightful people I have ever been privileged to know, in a healthcare setting, are my “girl power” doctors.  I haven’t been given permission to name them, but in real life I talk about them all the time and sing their praises to the heavens.  Keeping in mind that I am the patient that makes everyone shake their heads because I always have difficult health issues, they still leap to my defense and never give up trying to figure out what’s going on.

Nurses are an interesting group.  Just like in the school system, where I work most of the time, I see nurses that do just enough to get by, could really care less and parrot policies instead of forming relationships.  Some nurses are quite cautious with their patients…and who can blame them?!  Again, when I would stand up for my body and rights, I would get the look of shame and the policy speech, but since I don’t get angry about it or act ugly, just hold my ground, they decide to become friends in the end.  And then there are the nurses who walk into your room with warmth and kindness.  You know they are really there for you.  They actually listen, thinking you might know something about your own body. 

The aids work so hard, but always have a smile on their faces…especially when they wake you up in the middle of the night to get your blood pressure.  Most people never know that they have babies at home or parents who are ill or marital difficulties because few people actually listen to them.  I happen to be a listener by profession and nature and I admired each one of them more and more as I got to know them.

The most fun, of course, are the male doctors!  The week before my surgery I met with a young surgeon who I had never laid eyes on before.  In his youthful exuberance and the pride that goes with being a cardio-pulmonary surgeon, he completely forgot that he was not my oncologist!  He decided he needed to give me the worst news he possibly could.  Now, we must forgive him since he has the god delusion that most surgeons are either born with or develop over time.  I shook his hand and politely told him that I don’t always believe what doctors have to say and he patted my hand, letting me know that denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.

I came home and called my girl power oncologist, who flipped!  Needless to say, we fired Young Dr. God Complex and hired one of his office mates.  This turned out to be pretty awkward since my new surgeon was immediately leaving town after my surgery, leaving me in the care of….of course.  Just so you know, my surgeon was awesome…except for that timing thing.

The first day after surgery no surgeon even checked on me…hmmm. The second day after surgery no surgeon had been in by five or six in the evening, and then my superhero girl power doctor arrived and magically made the third partner come all the way to the hospital, in spite of not being on call, to check on me.  Dr. F. can also leap tall buildings in a single bound.  The next night I was honored to see Dr. G. Complex for one minute and ten seconds so he could let me know that he wouldn’t be pulling my chest tube or letting me go home.  I was very nice to him and it threw him completely off his game.  He showed up one more time, the next night for less than fifteen seconds to repeat his sentence.  In twenty-five years he’s going to be a great doctor…or maybe sooner, by the time he gets to know me!

My fabulous surgeon returned, friendly, jovial and positive.  He pulled out the chest tube (which I’m working on forgiving him for, since it hurt like crazy).  I’ll give him the honorary girl power doctor tee shirt!

My oncologist, who also has superhero powers, is working feverishly to find a primary source of this cancer so we can get on with treatment and I have complete confidence in her.

I have a plan.  Because I’m an educator at heart and because Dr. G. Complex doesn’t know that he should NEVER underestimate me (or any of his patients)…really, never!  As a teaching tool, I intend to send him a card every year with a picture of me alive and well, doing something AMAZING! 

And just as an omen of good things yet to come, when I got home from the hospital, an email was waiting for me telling me that Sasee Magazine out of South Carolina is publishing my article in their November issue.  I guess I’d better get the camera out and buy stock in Hallmark!

"Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable."

~Walt Disney~