Monday, March 14 Hats off to our nurses! Operating room nurses, sterilizing nurses, recovery room nurses, ward nurses - they are, to a person, compassionate and skilled. Since one of my assignments is to assist them in small ways, I have learned the proper method of lifting patients from stretcher to bed, of removing an IV, and of emptying the contents of a catheter bag. "You're not a nurse until you've been peed on," says Irene, as she shows me the way to collect the urine and record the amount on a chart. Keeping this in mind, I work cautiously, and dutifully empty and measure and describe. "Straw-coloured, almost translucent," I write. "Pale golden, with subtle amber highlights." "Malty, mysterious, brown as a nut." Irene's eyebrows lift, as she reviews my notes. Probably, she thinks I'd
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