Giving Thanks
You'll see how blessed you really are when you count your blessings.
T
hanksgiving is a time to
give thanks for all the
good things that came
your way ... and for the good
fortune to dodge the bullets
that came your way. Here are
20 things I'm thankful for ...
1. being able to wear scrubs
to work instead of my clothes.
2. still having (most of) my
faculties to continue to work in the OR.
3. the strength to subdue and secure a strapping male teenager com-
ing out of anesthesia.
4. working with all the refurbished, broken-down "new-to-us" equip-
ment that failed because of system error, operator's fault or both. This
has built character in me and it's a secure feeling knowing over the
years some things haven't changed.
5. the gut-wrenching flu that saved me from having to work with Dr.
Weasel from 0800 till dark thirty.
6. skin so tough and calloused that surgeons can't penetrate it, even
in an attempt to hurt my feelings (yet, I can still feel with my heart for
my patients).
7. the obnoxious team member who should have retired 20 years
ago who'll finally hang up her scrubs at year's end.
8. the shredder (shredding documents is oddly therapeutic).
9. Xeroform and iodoform, which make tolerable those infected
wounds that funkify the room clear out into the hall.
10. those times I team up with a staff member who has your back
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Behind Closed Doors
Paula Watkins, RN