"The Ailing Nurse"

A friend of mine was recently scheduled for surgery. Arriving in the pre-op area on the morning of his surgery, the nurse began to ask him the routine questions:

Nurse: "Have you ever had problems with high blood pressure?"

Patient: "No mam, no problem at all, I've been very fortunate."

Nurse: "Well yes, you are so lucky, I have had problems with mine! In fact, I'm on blood pressure medication now and it has terrible side affects, dry mouth, I can't sleep, just be glad you don't have any of those problems. OK, have you had any prior surgeries?"

Patient: "No mam, I've been pretty healthy."

Nurse: "Wow, you sure have been. I've had a hysterectomy myself, had my gallbladder removed and then had to go back with appendicitis a couple years later! I've had lots of minor surgeries too, like this mole right here, I've had those removed but fortunately, they were all benign."

(thank GOODNESS, he thought!)

Nurse: "Let's see here, now let's go on to review your FAMILY history"

Patient: "Excuse me mam, my surgery is in one hour and if YOUR family has medical problems like you, I'll miss MY SURGERY!"

He thought seriously about getting off of the stretcher & perhaps exchanging places with the nurse! It was obvious that he felt much better than she did!

There's a BIG DIFFERENCE in being personable vs. getting personal ~ agree?

Denise is looking forward to speaking for the Caromont Nursing Conference this week along with being the Keynote Speaker for The Georgia Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers & South Carolina Ambulatory Surgery Center Association.

On Friday she received a standing ovation from Gaston Family Health Services as she addressed customer service issues ~ what a terrific group it was & a great time they had. Thank you all!