Ever since I was in 19 and became a Laboratory Tech in a hospital, I’ve always had at least one friend who is a nurse or a doctor. With all the talk that we hear about the medical state of things, at least in the U.S., why it must just be dumb luck that I happen to know some of the finest doctors and nurses out there.

Move ahead many years later and I have two dear friends in my life who are nurses. One has a high level Director job and the other is a postpartum nurse. Both have been “working on themselves” for years and are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves spiritually, mentally and emotionally (not to mention physically) while serving humanity. Even when one of these friends took a hiatus from nursing for a year or two and experienced what it was like to be a waitress, she was still the most loving, helpful, caring and diligent waitress that I betcha anyone had ever experienced at that particular place of business.

I will also make a shout out to my physician, Al Lindsey and “lady doctor” nurse practioner, Connie Ryan who I have been going to for years. Both are “real”, honest, insightful and take the time to connect with me. I told Connie the last time I visited her that someday we ought to have a party with her as the special guest and all her clients that are also friends of mine. Probably the same thing with Al as well. I’m grateful that I can go to them even with all the insurance ups and downs to get the kind of medical care that offers working with real human beings.

A good friend of mine found herself back in the hospital last week for a combination of pneumonia and wounds from falls (she’s a Diabetic). I had never been to the hospital that she was in (Lakeway Hospital at Lakeway Medical Center) which is gorgeous! and so was not sure which door to go in. As I was walking in, a nurse who had just gotten off duty asked me if she could help me and actually walked me almost to my friend’s room via elevators and hallways to make sure I found her. Wow. I know that was above and beyond duty.

This friend had to transfer to another hospital where the doctor on her plan is and so I went to visit her there this afternoon. She was very dopey acting even though she said she hadn’t had any medicine but the blood thinner they were giving her before her bronchial procedure in the morning. Finally, I went to the nurses station to find out what was going on with her. The nurse assigned to her case wasn’t there, but eventually the nurse who I’d been asking the questions of and who had seen me in my friend’s room and realized that I was taking care of her, gave me the scoop. She told me what drugs (methodone in the a.m. and a pain killer at noon to name a few…..) she had been given (and this is with HIPPA people!) and then I informed my friend. I had been given permission to know about her condition, but I’m grateful that this nurse helped me so that I could help my friend without making us go through the administrative gauntlet.

It’s easy to bundle everything up and call it good or bad, like everyone and everything about medicine or in the medical world is not good but, of course, it’s more complex than that. Like everything else in this world there are good things and there are bad things. There actually are many good people who are physicians and nurses (and aides) who are sane, caring people trying to do the best job they can. They have parents who are aging, kids graduating from high school, widowed moms, and celebrations just like the rest of us do.

Remember our friends in these kind of uniforms too, the angels are out there if you just look.