Alice

I have ment so many fantastic people throughout all of my hospital stays. I have been admitted to hospitals in five different states. I have come across many nurses and doctors. It's hard to make connections to them all because of the different shifts they may work, or they are simply overwhelmed with patients to spend much one-on-one time with each person.

The strongest connection I have made with any worker in the medical field has been here in Arizona. I'm not trying to be rude, but comparatively the nurses in Arizona have terrible bed-side manner than any other state. I feel like I am mostly just a number to the nurses out here. The woman has made an incredible impact on my life is the charge nurse on the oncology floor at Mayo Clinic.

She is an older woman who recently lost her husband. She has no children, so she calls me her adopt-a-granddaughter. The most ironic part is that her name is Alice. My grandmother on my mother's side was named Alice. She and I were extremely close. She passed away a few years ago. Her passing was and still is extremely difficult for me to deal with. I think of her all the time.

I don't believe in a lot of weird spiritual stuff. I consider myself a pretty practical person, but I believe that my Grandma Alice sent nurse Alice to me. I used to go to my Grandma for everything; happy, sad, worry, anything that was on my mind. She always had a way to make me feel better and view the situation in a different light. With my family being so far away I can now go to nurse Alice with anything that is on my mind. I love having a grandmother type relationship again. No one will ever take the place of my Grandma Alice, but I once again have that outlet to go to anytime I need to. She knows that I will always be there for her as well.

The thing that made me know for sure that my Grandma Alice sent nurse Alice to me was a situation that was all too familiar with my grams. I was standing at the nurses station one day talking to some of the girls when I ask if anyone had a mint. I felt like I had bad breath. From over in the corner I heard Alice say "I have some Certs in my purse". She asked if I wanted spearmint or cinnamon. I immediately had a flashback of my Grandma. She ALWAYS had cinnamon Certs in her purse and would always give them to us kids. I had the biggest smile on my face, and I said I would love a cinnamon Cert. I didn't even know they still made Certs. It was a clear sign to me that my Grams was watching over me.

I believe miracles happen everyday. They may be as small as bringing a wonderful memory to our mind, or they can be as monumental as finding cures for illnesses. As I go through all of this I am trying to recognize and appreciate the many different types of miracles we all come across each and every day.