Midnight shift nurses have 7 senses. The 7th sense is an action sense. It lives in that nameless place which connects heart and brain, and allows night nurses to do precisely the best thing to make their patient feel better. Beyond the palliative stuff that medical staff does anyway. Night nurses possess the sparkling essence of caregiving.
My friend Beckie has been in surgical intensive care for a month. She is heavily medicated and in and out of awareness.
The night nurse braided her hair.
Night nurses are mythological beings come to real life. Like fairies, unicorns, wizards and pixies, they practice their magic just outside the white noise of everyday living.
Most humans cannot detect their specialness.
A night nurse, years ago, rustling about her IV-checking and pulse monitoring, found my surgery bear, Paulette Goddard, had fallen off my shoulder onto the bed. Unaware she was observed, she picked up Paulette and tucked her back in the crook of my neck.
Night nurses are human beings elevated on earth to the next plane of existence.
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