Thanx for being here, and being who you are and doing what you do!

Sun O, here’s a hankie. No, don’t use my sleeve – too much MRSA.

Jeanetta, you do know what I mean. We can’t do our jobs if we let everything get to us all of the time. Sometimes you can’t help it though.

Sil, thanks. I do let it out here. Like most people I think, I’m not one to talk about all this stuff. It’s nice to know I can write about it here and amazingly, people “listen.”

John, I wear your approval with pride, sir.

Bonnie, Amy hated those nursing caps. They are kind of sexy, probably because they’ve been fetishized so much in the media – which probably made the nurses’ jobs even more difficult. As for our white lab coats, they were originally adopted to ingrain a public sense of “scientific credibility” for the medical community, to distinguish them from sideshow quacks and charlatans. The AMA is actually discussing whether the whitecoat should be banned though – discussions are underway this year I read. The concern is that wearing mostly the same coat every day for a week makes it a carrier for hospital bacteria. I could do without the coat myself, but it’s useful for holding cards and script pads. The people who want the whitecoat to stay are mostly older patients.

Cindy, it’s not so much smarts as much as having the patience and persistence to study and learn a whole bunch of stuff you really don’t have much interest in (looking at you Krebs cycle and organic chemistry). I’m not selfless either – if my salary was reduced to what a titty bar doorman makes, I’d gladly do that instead.