Thank a nurse this week

This is National Nurses Week and, I'm willing to bet, the very great majority of us have received health care from a nurse at some point in our lives.

My wife, Stephanie, in an RN and has also helped train nursing professionals as an educator in the Louisiana Community College System. Her daughter, Tanishia, has her BSN and is currently working as an LPN while she studies for her West Virginia state boards ... and my niece, Gale, has her BSN and is a nursing supervisor in the Morgantown, WV area.

All three love what they do and all three are really, really good at it.

My wife, though, gets special kudos ... she was my caregiver when we fought my cancer and she held my hand so many times when the poking and prodding was going on and she pushed me along when my legs couldn't do what my brain was telling them.

And all through that, she worked Critical Care Transport for Forsyth Medical Center — so, does that mean she was a 24-hour-a-day nurse?

Not only was she my nurse, but she was — and still is — my rock.

As an educator, she was tough and fair and those she taught, time and again, thanked her for being tough, because they learned things under her they learned from no one else.

Stephanie helped Tanishia take care of my late mother-in-law, Nora, during her four-month long illness. Tanishia logged long hours throughout, working to ensure her Nana was well taken care of.

Back when I had cancer, Gale was going to school and got to do a little nursing on me one time when I was all tubed up ... and wound up as an active participant in the care of her dad, my brother-in-law, Bob, as he battled multiple myeloma.

I know all three love what they do, but the reality is that none of them signed up to care for a husband, mother, father, grandmother — but that's what makes a nurse special. It's not just a job.

I love all three of "my" nurses and just wanted them to know they are appreciated.