By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, AJN editor-in-chief
I’m sure there are many people like me who worry about issues and problems that gnaw at them—things they should do, must do, are expected to do, would like to do, etc., but don’t do. We wish things were different, that we had more time, more money, more help. If only this one thing were better, we could (fill in the blank).
Head Nurse is a blog I’ve just started reading more frequently. While sometimes it’s a bit “rough and tough,” à la Nurse Jackie language, it’s very real and the author does a good job of bringing you into her world (I deduced from several posts that the author is a female neurology nurse . . . I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong).
I especially liked a recent post, “Things That Made Me Cry Today,” for its simple list of observations—and especially an item about a woman who sat next to the author in the waiting room of the prosthodontist’s office. (The author mentions in another post having recently had a plate palate removed, hence her own visit.) This other patient is evidently there for a implant prosthetic. She’d
had the right side of her jawbone taken out three years ago and had been unable to eat or swallow since. Her three wishes were to go out in public without being self-conscious, to be able to talk on the phone and be understood, and to let her grandchildren see her smile.
I was so excited for her when she walked to the back of Dr. Elf’s office. She was starting something that, while it may not make her perfect, would make her whole.
Nothing left to say except that I have nothing to complain about.
Editor’s note: two errors, both now corrected, were introduced by the editor of this post and not its author. Thanks for bringing them to our attention.
Ah, so sorry. Thanks for making that clear. Will be fixed momentarily! Editorial error, not an authorial one, I’m afraid…–JM, blog editor
Two very small corrections:
I did not have a “plate” removed; I had my *palate* removed secondary to oral cancer.
The fellow patient I spoke to and wrote about was not in the prosthodontist’s office for reconstructive surgery; that’s not in a prosthondontist’s scope of practice. Instead, she was there for a prosthetic like the one I wear, to replace missing bits of her upper jaw and make her more functional.
Thanks for the mention of “Head Nurse”!