PRAY FOR US A NURSE

Memoir by Therese Linderholm
Trade paperback: $15.00

D E S C R I P T I O N

A MEMOIR OF GIVING AND ACCEPTING
What it takes to be a good nurse is pretty much what it takes to be a good person…and vice versa. Over a long career as a healthcare professional, Ms.Linderholm leveraged the lessons she learned from her Irish Catholic family and robust social life to help her better care for her patients. Nursing seemed to be in her blood. When diagnosed with stage four cancer in 2010, her role in the caregiving equation was suddenly reversed—as if she had passed through a mirror into a strange new world. Then again, when the 2020 pandemic erupted everything she thought she understoond about caregiving was again upended. With humor, wisdom, gusto and insight, Linderholm provides some memorable viewsfrom both sides of that mirror, just doing what it takes to be a good nurse and a good person.

E X C E R P T

I think we are all hoping for miracles. Did you ever see that old movie The Song of Bernadette? I loved it. In short, Bernadette; a fourteen year old poor peasant girl gets a visit from Mary while playing with friends. Mary instructs Bernadette to dig a hole, which creates a spring of miraculous holy water that cures illnesses. The whole town doubts her, but Bernadette believes that the water can cure people…and it does cure some people, but not Bernadette. In the end Bernadette dies from tuberculosis.

I remember watching that movie and thinking that it was so unfair that she did all that hard work for other people, but could not be saved in the end.

The funny thing about this whole cancer diagnosis is that some of my friends, the ones that have been thrown a real curve ball in life, are the ones that have been incredibly supportive. They are the ones who have been diagnosed themselves with cancer or Parkinson’s or M.S. The ones who have lost a loved one, the ones who had a brain tumor, and the ones who were dealt a really shitty ass deck of cards in life. They are the ones, who count me in their prayers, make sure I have enough to eat, send me a card or an e-mail, share artwork, or sit by me on the couch and have a chat. They are the ones who I can say “I’m scared” and they answer back “I’m scared too, let’s be scared together.”