You will be spending the night with Liza Jean.
You’ve already had quite a day.
Some sort of medical thing has been addressed by a surgical team. Something was implanted or shifted or removed. Things monitored and modulated.
Thanks to the anesthesiologist whose team kept asking your date of birth, you’ll awake in a room equipped to receive you.
Liza Jean Baker is a bedside nurse in a post-op surgical unit. She works the Dracula shift, 7 pm to 7 am, Friday and Saturday nights. She visited us at our coffee shop recently.
Her job is one of the most demanding in nursing. She wrestles with swelling, bloating, stomach gas, nausea and people experiencing acute pain for the first time. She learned about post-surgery pain firsthand when her wisdom teeth were removed.
Liza Jean Baker hadn’t planned to spend weekend nights on a post-op floor. But those particular hours pay a premium which helps with student loans. She maintained 3.98 GPA while earning her BSN and submitted 102 applications before going to work.
Sleeping gets turned upside down, of course. Liza Jean says she eats her way through her night shift and follows with a good breakfast. Then she sleeps. Socializing can be a bit complicated.
Her father, an orthopedic surgeon, discouraged the pursuit of medicine, demands outweighing rewards and all that.
But her mother, a career pediatric nurse, whispered into her other ear. It wasn’t until her mother stopped encouraging her that Liza Jean took the step. Now the nursing profession is a bond between them.
Medical technology will give Liza Jean real-time readouts as you are stabilizing throughout the night. Just as important, she’ll lean in to fuss over you and to ask if you need help with pain, and if you might like to sit up for a while.
Randy Gaynes
Excellent story on Liza Jean, Pat. Hopefully I won’t have to cross paths with her for awhile but it’s good to know she’s there lending a helping hand and the occasional bedpan.
Now, about that Hasidic-looking fellow in the back of the picture…is he trying out for “Fiddler on the Roof??” (Sounds crazy, no?)
Pat Shiplett
Randy…thanks. The guy in the picture happens to be Dex. A universally beloved barista who keeps our coffee shop humming. Despite that beard, Dex is a teddy bear.
Patrick Koeller
Nice story. It’s good to remind us.
As well the role played by good teachers. As well the role played by (true) public servants.
Society. We all work for each other.
Thanks, Pat. And thank you, Liza Jean.
Pat Shiplett
Liza Jean stopped by the coffee shop to visit her brother, Peter. He and I have become friends. I go to him whenever I’m stuck on a grammar or a style question.
Stephen Starr
Thanks goodness for the Liza Jean’s in life. Where would any of us be without them! Knock on wood, the only time I was hospitalized, I felt certain it was the care of the nursing staff that hastened my recover. Much gratitude to Liza Jean.