My husband. He’s pretty great. We’ll be married 19 years this month, and I’ve come to the conclusion we do life together well. I’d be lost without him, and I don’t think it makes me any less of a woman to admit that. He is a wonderful husband, a dedicated father, and the hardest working man I know.
In addition to all of that, he’s a nurse.
Today, for National Nurses Day, we at DMB would like to thank and celebrate the many women and men in our Detroit community, and across the country, for their decision to devote their lives to serving others. You are a brave, selfless, committed, and elite group, who work hard with little gratitude. There is absolutely no match for what you do.
My husband, Adam, has worked in the Emergency Room at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit for over 16 years. He often downplays his job. I think he’s been doing it for so long he maybe forgets the impact he has on his patient’s lives . . . one shift at a time. I can’t forget. I won’t forget. This is our life.
It is for all of this, that this wife couldn’t be more proud, and more thankful, that I am married to a man in such a remarkable and generous profession.
- You’ve worked shifts of 12 hours or more for your entire career.
- You’ve held out-of-control patients still until security arrives for fear of who they might hurt.
- You’ve handed your money to patients because they had nothing else.
- You’ve worked consistent overtime for 14 years so I could be a stay-at-home mom.
- You worked the midnight shift for 10+ years, because it meant a better paycheck for our family.
- You’ve answered so many of my medical questions, and yet remained patient when I felt it necessary to seek a second opinion . . . even, when the opinion went through Google.
- You see people at their absolute worst and take care of them no matter what.
- You’ve wiped, cleaned, and handled things no one should.
- You show loyalty to your job, while giving the same loyalty at home.
- You’ve gone to weddings, funerals, school events, family barbeques, soccer games, church, on vacation, and literally everywhere else, in a sleep deprived and foggy state.
- You’ve been a part of pulling things out of people that one might find in the sporting goods department.
- You’ve advised family and friends about sick loved ones, our loved ones, at times when it would have been easier to not answer the phone.
- You helped care for my father in his last days, so he could rest comfortably at home.
- You took care of me following my three C-sections that brought our sons into the world.
- You drove two hours in the middle of the night following your shift because a handicapped patient forgot her helmet . . . and you never told anyone.
- You’ve repeatedly seen the world as ugly as it can get, yet I see more compassion in you today than I ever have.
- You are not an alarmist, rather a calming force, to those who cross your path.
- You’ve learned and now you teach.
- You give people their dignity back.
- You are a healer.
- You keep people alive.
- You stand close by when the grieving begins.
- You have been, and will always be, my first responder.
Kindness, grace, empathy, humanity, heart, thoughtfulness, understanding, HELP; this is you dear husband, and so many others. You all have families, responsibilities, and lives outside of your stethoscope, and yet you continuously give over yourselves to your patients and your profession.
Although these words definitely are not enough, thank you for all you do.
