ode to nurses

I was reading a book recently and one of the main characters was a nurse.  She worked in pediatric
oncology.  It talked about her work periodically in the book.  There was one patient she had that she grew close to who was a teenager.  He was on the floor for a while.  He was hanging in there.  Then he got pneumonia and died.  This person she grew to really care for. This family too.  It brought tears to my eyes.

It was just a book, a fictional book,  but it got me to thinking about nurses. What we do.  How much I respect and admire all of us. The nurses who work with kids with cancer, knowing they are probably going to die.  The nurses who work with quadriplegics who are adjusting to a life in which they will never walk again.  The nurses who work with the teeny tiny premies for months hoping they will make it. The nurses who stay with families while their loved ones die.  The nurses who relieve the pain of the people who are suffering terribly.  All of the nurses, day in, day out who care for the sick and vulnerable among us.  Its a tough job, but they keep going back every day to do it anyway.