My Friend Barb

You know sometimes we get surprised, when the most unexpected thing is said by someone that you don’t even imagine would say such a thing.

Having said that, there was a nurse that worked in the hospital, and she was one of the best nurses I’ve ever met. She was very particular about patient care. She was always very courteous and always very much concerned about the patient, someone who really practiced good etiquette all the way around. I used to be very careful myself to say just the right appropriate things when I was around her.

Every time my children went the emergency room, I would always request Barb to come and help out. So one day I saw Barb in my office and I said, “Barb what are you doing over here?” And she told me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, it has been recommended that surgery be done and she desired reconstruction.

So, I went through the consultation process, and said, “Barb we’ll take good care of you, you know you’re like one of my family. I take great care with all my patients but I’ll give extra attention to you, because you’re one of my favorite nurses.”

So I see her a month after the surgery and I say “Hi Barb how are you?” And here’s Barb sitting way quietly in my office, and I can feel her stress. I said, “Barb, are you alright?” And she looks at me and she says, “How would you feel if you knew I was going to cut your testicles off?” I was shocked. I wasn’t even expecting Barb to say anything like that.

I kept looking at her, with a surprised look and I just didn’t know what to say to her. Barb said to me again, “Yeah, that’s what I mean. Just imagine if your testicles, if your privates are going to be cut off, how would you feel?” And then I said, “Barb, I really do understand how you feel and I’m going to try my best to get a nice reconstruction for you so we can minimize the trauma of loss of a body part.”

Everything went very well and she did OK, but 3 years down the road she passed away. I still really miss Barb.