When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was very young, I was pretty sickly. I had pneumonia quite a few times and a lot of fevers. I ended up in the hospital frequently and had to use nebulizers at home to help with my sicknesses. Roughly, when I was 5 (or even 6), I found myself waking up in the hospital and thinking to myself “where am I?” Before quickly realizing “oh yeah…this place again.”.
As I awoke, my parents were there and a male nurse attended to me. I remember it was a male because for one, back in the day, hospitals were dominated by female nurses and were stereotyped to be so. It was somewhat refreshing to see someone different in the pediatric care unit I was in. The main reason I remembered him was because he gave me a cozy blue quilt with a Ham (pig from Toy Story) stuffed animal inside a little pocket. I also got a cute teddy bear from him. Despite my circumstances, it was a good, and memorable visit at the hospital for a 5-6 year old. I never forgot that nurse and my experience to this day, and his kind and caring personality, to someone he didn’t even know; it had had an impact on me ever since. It was the kind of thing that made me want to be a nurse when I grew up.
My life did not follow that path, as I work in the technology industry – but I will never forget about his kindness that day. I sometimes think about that day and wonder if he’d still be working as a nurse after all these years. It takes a special person to be a nurse and to want to help people with their medical problems. I can only imagine how stressful a job like that can be, and the mental burnout that it can cause, not to mention the desensitization that is caused by seeing so many horrific tragedies throughout their career.
I want to say a sincere Thank You to all the nurses who work long days and hours to help people the way you do – you are truly special.
Thank you for reading,
~ CoffeeTechNerd
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