A lady I admire!

A late afternoon, a beautiful accordion music came out from the NICU hallway.

Working in a “pod” for babies, I could not help to peek to see where the music came from: That is Her! My co-worker!

I want to call her the charming lady! Or here, in short, I would refer her as Ms. Charm. She was taking care of a baby girl with poor prognosis. She has been in the NICU since she is born and now she is 4 months old!

Knowing the prognosis, the NICU stuff are trying to give the little girl a fulfilled enjoyable life as long as she lives. There are several primary nurses taking care of her everyday so that she can have a “family” around her all the time. Ms. Charm is one of the “family members“. That day, she took her accordion to the unit and played the music outside of the little girl’s room for her. And on the hallway, lady G. is dancing with the rhythm while she is stocking all the C-lockers in the unit.

What a charming evening in the NICU!

I have only worked here in the NICU for a year, I do not know much about anyone. With the difficulty of the language and the different background, it even make it harder for me to really get involved in the culture. But for my limited observation, I am touched by the compassionated care and the loving, caring hearts the NICU stuff have!

I admire Ms. Charm not only for her love care giving to the babies but also for her self improvement, her truthfulness, her caring characters, her versatility and her confidence.
I remembered when I first met her as a student, she was in a blue hospital scrub dress with a book in her hand. She introduced her self as “New for the NICU” and had the same preceptors as I did and commented that my preceptors are ‘nice team”. Later on, I always seen her has book in hand and have bright smile on face when she talk to people.

She is physically fit and ride her bicycles to work most time. She is fluent in English and Spanish. For her Spanish language improvement, she even took couple months off work and went to Mexico to practice. After she came back, she went on and passed her interpreter examination! She also can speak some Chinese as well!

She is not only a INCU nurse, she is also a lactation consult certified so she really can help the nursing Mom for breast feeding. I appreciate one time she helped me for a nursing Mom and I learned how to help them at the same time from her. It is very important to be able to help the nursing Mon as a NICU nurse. The babies are immature and the mom are mostly young. They both need to learn how to make the breast feeding work.

Recently, Ms. Charm is getting oriented to be the delivery support team member. The book in her hand change to the NRT text book and she is trying to attend every delivery! Even at her dinner break, she would never want to miss any single opportunity to learn. Yesterday, I personally seen how she admitted a new baby. As a new NRT nurse, she was so organized and within two hours, she got everything done! I am so proud of her and I wish someday I can act just like her!

She is the person I really admire, as a nurse, as a co-worker, as a person.

Chinese love story

An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world. It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.

The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a m ountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple's home for the last 50 years.Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..

In a twist worthy of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.

At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.

In the beginning, life was harsh as hey had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives. Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are industrious, life will improve.'In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and contin ued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.
Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find the elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, 'My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother's convenience, although she doesn't go down the mountain that much.'

The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away.

'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?' Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China , collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.