Breathe, Baby Breathe

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am recovering from surgery. While I was in the hospital, I was blessed to be cared for by some of the sweetest nurses I have ever met. Although I really liked all of them, I have to admit that Nga (pronounced Nah) was my very favorite.
Nga is a tiny little 61 year old dynamo of a woman that came to the US from Vietnam. What she lacks in physical size she makes up for with energy, drive, and determination. Nga was my nurse for the first night shift following my surgery. She works 12 hour shifts and seems to have one speed--FAST!
Nga decided that since my doctor put on my chart that I should get out of bed Saturday morning (surgery was Friday), that meant I needed to get out of bed on her shift which ended at 7:00 am. So, at 1:00 am here comes this little tornado telling me it was time to get up. I politely told her it was the middle of the night and it was time to sleep! Well, we went through this routine several more times throughout the night until around 5:00 am when I realized in order to get any rest, I was going to have to get up and make Nga happy. I upped my pain meds (yes, they actually let me have a button that allowed me to give myself a little boost of meds in my IV when I felt it was necessary!) and managed to get to my feet with Nga's help and encouragement. The entire time she was saying, "Stop holding your breath; I want you to breathe through the pain!" Once I was up, I realized that it felt sooo good to be up that I didn't want to get back into bed! Nga helped me walk around my bed a little and then eased me back into it. I am not sure who was more proud...me or Nga.
I will never forget Nga...she just managed to touch my heart. She made me laugh (although at the time that hurt like crazy), she made me teary eyed when we talked about our faith in God at 2:00 in the morning, and she inspired me to breathe, even when it hurts.