No offense, Doc.

I thought they were cool!

...but I remember them wearing the distinctive caps of their respective nursing schools. The one I remember best was Sherrie's cap, from a nursing school in Louisiana, I think. It was a narrow, lacy thing with a black ribbon running around it.

I did some extended hospital time and knew a lot of nurses, both military and civilian, and they were all fantastic.

One nurse literally saved my life at a combat zone Army hospital ER.

but nurses in comat zones? WOOT!!! Freaking amazing.

And it became a cape. Just my thought, since nuns had cared for the sick so much...

Glad you were saved by one a couple of generations later in another war.

My nurse was dedicated and conscientious. I was rolled on a gurney into the ER with very serious gunshot wounds to my jaw and shouder, but because we had sent back our other casualties first, the ORs were full. So they asked me to hang on and rolled me off to the side.

It was only because my nurse came back to check on me that they discvovered I'd stopped breathing. With the ORs still full, they did a tracheostomy on the spot and restored my breathing. Because of that nurse.

A doc who remembered being in on my operations on my wounds then ended up at my stateside hospital, but I l never did find my nurse.

But we don't have any pictures of her wearing it. She never wore hers much so it's in great shape. It was issued to her shortly before she was posted to California among the first nurses sent to Rancho Santa Margarita (later renamed Camp Pendleton). Then she was sent to Hawaii so she didn't have much need for a cape!

The thing weighs a ton and the wool is very dense. The women had to be strong just to wear the things!

They all wear crappy looking scrubs.

And cool-looking shoes I can run in to save a fucking life.

I know she originally had a cape, but it was long gone by the time I was aware of things.

What I do miss are the caps, because they indicated what specific nursing program you'd been through, and indicated if you were a student nurse or a real RN.

I remember those distinctive nursing caps. I was in a military hospital, but the Army also employed a lot of civilian nurses who wore their nursing school caps.

As a preface, I took care of a sibling for 16 years. He did succumb to suicide two years ago.

That said:

Nurses are the ones who answer all of your questions. All of them. Even the stupid ones. They know you aren't good at this - or are new at this.

Nurses are the ones who will give you their cell phone number because they know that they can be of help any time of day or night, and will press you to use it. Day or night. That has happened often.

Home nurses are the ones who declare a sudden love of gardening - just to get you outside so that "We need to talk" can happen. He didn't know an orchid from a lawn.

Home nurses tend to "just happen to be in the neighborhood! Thought I'd say 'Hi'!"

Nurses are the ones who become so close - closer than family at times - when thing just can't get any worse. They mostly don't get any worse, and I don't know how they do it. Because they're nurses?

Nurses are the ones who will come to a memorial service. Really. You're here? I wasn't going to cry - until now. And thank you, amazing nurse. I will introduce you as family.

Any nurses out there? My deepest, most sincere and incredibly heartfelt gratitude to you all. You do help patients. I hope you know how many caregivers you have saved. But I bet you don't. Too busy being so selfless. And helping too many caregivers who might be too wrecked to thank you, but you did so much for them. Sometimes there is nothing that can be done for a patient. But nurses! You have saved so many lives that weren't... on your rounds. I hope that some of you who didn't, now know this.

I kiss your wonderful cape. AND your crappy t-shirt and scrubs. Maybe especially those. I kiss the boxes of tissue. Mostly the one with your cell phone # on it. Thank you -

but I worked with many nurses over the years and they are everything you said in your post and so much more. Both professionally and personally nurses have made such an impact on my life and that of my family. No matter what they wear, they tend not just to a persons body but their soul, their families and to their profession...God Bless all the nurses out there.

To Playinghardball -

What an amazing post. What... an amazing post.

Now - nurses ARE paid like the superheroes that they are - right? Right???? Oh wait!!!!!!! Oh no. Because exceptionalism.