ALEXA

No, not that one. Not the one that can tell you the time, play a favorite sone, show you a recipe to make chocolate chip cookies, turn your lights off and on – do lots of things almost beyond your imagination, at least beyond a seventy-nine-year-old’s one-time imagination. No, not that Alexa. This one: the one who was my 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM nurse for the three nights I was in the hospital to have a pace maker installed in my body. That Alexa.

She is in her mid-twenties, a very recent graduate from nursing school. She is an RN and will soon begin studies to obtain her BSN. She was once very overweight having lost 150 pounds in the past year. She told me that most of her friends hardly recognize her now. I told her she should be very proud and she said she was. I was proud for her having been on countless diets over all these years, knowing how difficult it is to not only stay on one through it but to maintain the weight afterwards. That Alexa.

The difference in the two is, of course, profound. While the virtual one can keep us informed and up to date on myriads of subjects, it cannot provide what we really need when we really need it: TLC, tender, loving care. That is what my Alexa provided. And it wasn’t easy, not because I was a bad or contrary patient but because she was/is such a loving and caring nurse. She always apologized for waking me up in the middle of the night, several times at least, to take my vital signs or hand me a pill the doctor ordered. She did not have to, of course, but she did, and I always told her that she didn’t have to. She was taking care of me. What was there to apologize for anyway?! That Alexa.

She worked three straight twelve-hour shifts, actually twelve-and-a-half, because she and the nurse she replaced and the one who replaced her always came into your room to discuss your situation before handing on nursing duties to the other. It was comforting to be in attendance as they conversed. They cared. And it was not as if my Alexa cared more than the nurses who worked that day shift. They were simply busier running here and there as their patients were being moved from here to there on a constant basis as I was on the cardiology floor and every other person on my floor had serious heart problems. Mine was simply a tune-up, if you will.

For my Alexa her job is her ministry, her vocation. In fact, it isn’t a job. It is easy to spot the difference in any field: for all-too-many what one does is simply a job, a pay check. For many others, like Alexa and, truly all the staff who attended me, what they did was, yes, a pay check, but it was also their vocation. Even the three transporters who wheeled me here and there for tests loved their job. Imagine that!

I am not saying that my Alexa was more special than all the other nurses who ministered to me. It is simply to say that it is heart-warming and uplifting to have had the opportunity to get to know, even in such a small way, someone who is a true caregiver. There are millions of them and we sadly take them so much for granted. No virtual Alexa, no matter how smart, can replace my Alexa. She was such a blessing and I will always be grateful and thankful for her.