Who likes to come to the hospital? Who plans on coming to the hospital? What, not you? Well neither do our patients. Can you imagine stepping into the hospital for the first time after being diagnosed with a life altering disease? The smell of the hospital hits you first. Next come the sweaty palms as you board the elevator & head up the tower towards your assigned room. As you enter your room the reality of your diagnosis sinks in…..CANCER. What am I up against? Can I beat it? Will I lose my hair? What if I can't beat it?The next thing you know a nurse walks in with a giant smile & welcomes you to the 4thfloor. She gets you settled into your room explaining each & every step as she goes. She tells you what to expect, the good & the bad.She doesn't say don't worry because she knows you are going to worry.Instead she tells you that she will be with you every step of the way and that you have the best team possible taking care of you.
By the time she finished your admission history, taught you how to use the call bell & order your food, your palms aren't sweaty anymore, & you think I might be able to do this. Thank God for the blue-haired angel.
So here it comes, round two of chemo, and your hair is starting to fall out.You are very particular about your hair and losing it brings around a whole new rush of emotions, one of them being anger.You are about to have a port put in your brain, they say it is a reservoir for chemo.Ahhhh, guess it's time to just shave what is left of your hair off…..now you're really pissed.As you enter the dreaded hospital for round three you enter with a black cloud of anger surrounding you.As you ride the elevator up once again, the cloud gets thicker, but then something unexpected happens.You walk up to the nurse's station and find the blue-haired angel has too shaved her head.The anger suddenly dissipates and a smile flashes across your face.You are NOT in this alone, she is with you and you CAN do this!
As time passes & rounds four, five and six come and go, so does your appetite and your hair remains as elusive as ever.Yet again the blue-haired angel or should I now say, the no-haired angel comes to the rescue.She brings you popsicles, the green ones are your favorite and then one day she brings you a special popsicle…the Bomb pop!That's right, you're the bomb, & you're gonna beat this stupid ole cancer.The popsicles aren't cutting it anymore & neither is plain old water, so once again the no-haired angel becomes creative.This time around it is frozen, slushy Gatorade.This is awesome, now you're hooked!
At last it is almost done.Your PET scan has come back clean and you only have the last two rounds of chemo to go.You are moving and it is quite the dilemma.You are so happy that you are now well enough to travel to your winter home, but you are so sad that you have to leave your no-haired angel.It's too bad you can't bring her along.You say your goodbyes and pray that your new chemo nurse will be as compassionate, funny and caring as this one was.

As you walk out of the hospital you don't turn around, but if you did, you would see her silently saying a little prayer for you with tears building in her eyes. What you don't realize is that she truly cares for each and every one of her patients just like she cared for you, and for that she is a hero & worthy of all praise and accolades.