The Mean Nurse!

Ok, so my wife had rather extensive sinus surgery last Friday week and I have been playing nurse to her for the last week. It's a tough surgery as far as how you feel afterwards. The doctor told us to expect this before she had the surgery of course. He was right.

The sad thing, is that if you have to feel that bad, it might be nice to have some kind of cool "ouchie" you could show everyone and perhaps with which you could gross them out really good but with sinus surgery, all the work goes on up inside your nose so there really isn't much you can show someone. Still, you feel like you've been run over and I think that would pretty well describe the way my sweet wife has felt over the last week.

I'm proud of her for hanging in there so well even when she felt so bad. I've had sinus surgery too and though it was not as extensive as hers, I can tell you that it's no fun indeed. Still, the benefits outweigh the momentary bad stuff. I now have viewer sinus infections than I used to have so that's good. I was getting tired of all the antibiotics quite frankly and would prefer to reserve them for my old (older?) age.

Well, with her convalescing at home, I tried to put my best foot forward in helping her get some well deserved rest. You know it's not easy to be a good nurse. Anyone can serve as a care giver but it takes a bit of extra effort to be a "good nurse". I've seen many examples of bad nurses in hospitals and a few examples of exceptionally good ones. The difference of course was in the amount of caring they were willing to impart into their tasks. Certainly our loved ones are deserving of our best efforts so we should aspire to be the good nurse.

So, anyway, my wife was a good patient most of the time but every once in a while she would touch her nose in some way that would bring out the "mean nurse" in me - at which time I would express my displeasure with my patient and threaten to duct tape her hands to the couch. This would result in a short term improvement in my patient's behavior. The mean nurse was satisfied.

Of course my goal was to be an excellent nurse. I can tell you that I've had an excellent model and example to follow. When I am sick, my wife pulls out all the stops to take care of me. She waits on me hand and foot and she is always willing to "baby me". She is very nurturing and loving under such circumstances. So, I had a hard act to follow!

Sometimes we forget that the marriage vows include a line that says we promise to love and take care of each other when things are less than perfect. Times like this tend to remind us of that promise and the fact that it extends beyond just a loving touch or look in the eye when it's convenient but rather includes some pretty good amount of plain old fashioned work!

Of course, I tend to think that's the problem with people and marriage today - they have forgotten that a good marriage takes work! I can say now at the seasoned marriage interval of 24 years that I understand and accept this and I even look forward to opportunities where I can show my love in some act of service for my wife. That's really what marriage is about - loving someone enough to be of service to them.

Jesus said no greater love does a man have than to lay down his life for another. Many people seem to understand this and even (I think with good intentions) proclaim their willingness to do this in an extreme situation. But perhaps the more revealing and truly testing situation is a much simpler one; the case where you have to give up your time and something else you might rather do in order to serve someone you claim to love. I think the difference between a good nurse and a bad one comes down to a few things.... Can I serve without grumbling? Can I serve without feeling "put upon"? Can I serve without feeling like I am giving something up? That's a keen mirror into our own souls' character and our committment to someone and certainly sheds signficant light upon whether or not we truly understand what it means to love someone.

Christ understood this well; He carried it all the way to the cross and along the way, he forgave things that we would have a hard time overlooking and forgiving and He did it all with an attitude of service the entire way.

I think we should ask God: "Dear Heavenly Father, please help us all to be the kind of servants that we should be - a loving soul willing to forsake ourself as Jesus did in setting His splendid example of service and self-sacrifice". That is indeed going to be my prayer.

Til later,

Love - Jerry