I don't think this gets said often enough. I had surgery this past Monday (bilateral hernias -- definitely not recommended as a reason for a vacation) at my local community hospital. Fortunately, everything went well and I'm slowly healing. Now, my surgeon and anesthesiologist were excellent, but I have to give a special thank you to all the nurses, from the short stay unit to the OR to the recovery room to the surgical floor (my surgery was late in the day so I stayed overnight), all of whom helped me through this experience with as little pain and stress and discomfort as possible. I will be thanking them directly, but I'm sure there are nurses or friends/relatives of nurses here on the Mudcat, so I wanted to make this public statement of appreciation.

Because of changes in the health care system here in the US, hospital nurses are taking care of sicker patients and working longer hours with less support than at any time in the recent past. I know it's the doctors who are called the healers, but when you're in the hospital and are sick or hurting or scared, it's the nurse who's there to help. Thanks, all of you.

Aloha,
Mark