The Nurse
My mother was a nurse in a pediatric floor of a Catholic hospital in Illinois for over 30 years. I thought I’d start out with the Catholic hospital detail because, for most of my childhood, I saw my mom dress in white uniform with panty hose and the nurse hat. That same requirement may have applied to all hospitals, I don’t know, but it certainly applied in that hospital.
Besides the uniform, her standard ensemble also included several pens, a pad of paper, a thermometer and, of course, a stethoscope. I have no idea whether the hospital provided all those things (I’d guess so), but they obviously trusted the nurses to bring them with them.
My mom was a part-time nurse working the 3-11pm shift. I did ask her about that shift and she replied that even on days that she worked, she felt that she could get up, get my sister and myself off to school (and then take an hour or so nap), do some housework, and make dinner (lots of casserole and hamburger helper type meals - that may have been common at the time also). By the time she got home around midnight, she could get some food and take a bath and be in bed before 1am.
The part-time aspect required her to work every other weekend. As I’ve mentioned before, my dad was a workaholic so there were some interesting ramifications regarding both of them juggling to care for my sister and me.
Now that I’ve shared some background info, the part that struck me the other day was recalling how my mom never spoke of some of the unfortunate patients she had over her 30 some years in that department. Occasionally, I’d overhear her tell my dad about this kid or that kid going home (this was all pre-HIPAA), but never the bad situations.
The other day, a brother was relating some of the conditions he saw of the kids in a children’s hospital. Stories that made my heart ache for them and their families. This made me wonder what emotional baggage my mother held in all those years? Unfortunately, I can’t ask her.
“Even in laughter the heart may ache, and the end of joy may be grief.” - Proverbs 14:13 ESV
“We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” - 2 Corinthians 6:3-10
“In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.” - Ecclesiastes 7:14
I have no doubt my mom’s strong faith sustained her during some difficult times dealing with some very sick kids.
