Ten-Finger Exercises

2 good stories from nurses

I road in the car with a hospice nurse today as we went to do an info session for a prospective patient. She was raised in VietNam and Singapore where her father was a missionary. As we rode, we got to talking about the audiobook I've been listening to, one of the Ladies' Detective Agency books set in Botswana. Then our conversation drifted to detectives and spies and so on.

When we arrived at the man's home, he told us a little about his life. He had worked for the CIA and lived for six years in Botswana!

A second nurse was talking later about a trip she made to Seattle for a meeting. She was near Ellensburg when she noticed car off the road and the person in the front seat sitting with their back to the driver's side window. It just didn't look right to her for some reason. She got off the highway and turned around and went back.

When she reached the car, she saw a youngHispanic woman Hispanic giving birth to a baby. The nurse, dressed in her only good suit, took off her skirt and delivered the baby wearing her slip so that she wouldn't get the skirt all bloody.

A patrolman came soon, heard the story and took the new mother and baby to the hospital. The nurse followed in her own car, wrapped in a blanket. She washed up and changed back into her suit and got to Seattle in time for the meeting. Her name is Nancy Lou, and the boy baby was named Lou after her.