That was just plain feel-good nice

I saw Edith,the long-ago-retired nurse from my GP practice, at the supermarket. Rather than giving her a smile, and “hi”, I stopped her and thanked her for all the times she’d been so kind to me when I was at the doctor’s. She was one of those special nurses who could make me feel better with just kind look and a gentle pat on my shoulder. (And I’ll bet MichaelinVermont and GrumpyCat can do that too … LOL)
Anyway, she seemed to be touched by my thank you. That was nice. Then she asked me how I was, and it went like this:
Edith: So how are YOU?
Seenie: I’m doing OK, thank you.
Edith: You are not. You’re walking stiff.
Seenie: Oh, Edith, I’ve got severe Psoriatic Arthritis.
Edith: Oh, sh*t. You don’t deserve that. Nobody deserves that.
So there you have it. Made my day.

Isn’t it amazing how a little well-intentioned sympathy can go so far in helping us? Edith sounds like a mensch.

It is, Jane. And Edith is the best. She’s one of those rare, old-fashioned no-nonsense kind humans…and yippee, she’s a nurse! OK she’s retired, nice for her, but too bad for the rest of us!
The conversation did go on a bit longer. I said that my best guess was that I’d had PsA for 15-20 years, but my symptoms had always been blamed on the usual suspects. She laughed and said “Oh ya, eat better and exercise more … sure, doc, I’ll get right on that!”. It felt good to be able to laugh about that.

I AM ALWAYS SO THANKFUL FOR MY NURSES:)

I was my grams caregiver and my dad's through this same disease and I always felt good just knowing my smile made someone else feel better and now I am enjoying the same kind care from mine. The doctors are always so busy and precise but my nurses get through to the real person inside of me.