I know this post is late for Thanksgiving but this blog is a bit of a journal so I'm going to write it anyway :)
Every year in November people on Facebook list off things that they are thankful for daily. A lot of them are very standard- family, friends, God, living in America, etc. This year I chose to list something in my head every day that I was grateful for but I wanted to go a little more basic. With my job as a nurse working with children with special needs I have come to realize how many basic things are truly taken for granted in this life. I'm not going to list all thirty but just a few that really stuck out to me.
1) I am very grateful for the ability to cough to clear my throat. It has been eye opening working with a little guy who can't make himself cough when he needs to. Instead he has to struggle to get any secretions up and sometimes that results in him throwing up. I have never thought to be grateful for a cough before but now I realize that it is truly a gift meant to help our bodies function properly.
2) I am very grateful for the ability to use all of my limbs the way that I choose to. Watching patients who have no control over their movements and no use of their legs for walking is a constant reminder that these are not things to be taken for granted. Even just dealing with wheelchair accessibility makes me think about how many places are restricted if not impossible to get to without the ability to walk.
3) I am very grateful for the ability to eat anything I want without the fear of choking on every bite. I never considered how different life could be without the basic ability to swallow. The majority of the patients that I work have feeding tubes in their stomachs to put the calories directly in their stomachs. If they have the ability to swallow a lot of them can only eat pureed food or they have severe allergies or diabetes. I am so grateful for the ability to eat and taste all different types of food, even the ones that I don't like. I am grateful not to have to ask if things that I want to try have certain ingredients in them to avoid anaphylactic shock.
4) I am very grateful for the ability to communicate effectively. At work I find myself constantly saying "I wish you could tell me what you need because I would be SO happy and willing to get it for you" or "I wish I knew what was going on in your head." When spoken words are taken away from a person they have to find other ways such as sign language, gesturing, pointing or writing to communicate with others. These techniques aren't as effective as speaking but they are a huge help. My current little guy doesn't have any of those options. His only communication is crying or seeming content. This is a constant reminder to me to be grateful for the ability to speak.
These are just a couple of the things that I thought of over the course of November but they have such a huge impact on all of our lives. I am so grateful and blessed to have good health. I appreciate every day of work with my patients and the wonderful presence that they are in my life
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