An Act of Kindness

Richard was an inpatient for about a week. During this time, his hair began to fall out from the chemo. He had gone through this before so it wasn't a surprise. Losing your hair after chemo is kind of a messy process. You can literally pull it out by the roots. You wake up with hair all over your pillow case. But it takes about a week before it's all gone, so while it's happening, it's not too attractive. Richard had hoped to shave his head when it started to fall out so it was over all at once. But using a razor is not an option when your platelets are down in the 20,000 range.

During the middle of his hospitalization, I had gone back to our apartment to do some chores, and when I returned, Richard's head was shaved! He told me that one of the nurses had "some free time" and had offered to do it. As a former hospital nurse myself and based my own observations of the workload on that unit, I am not convinced that this nurse was just looking for a way to fill some free time. This was a deliberate, kind, thoughtful act that was much appreciated. The nurse's name was Jan and I am so grateful to her and her colleagues for taking such good care of both of us. Kudos to all the nurses on Station 94 at Rochester Methodist Hospital.