Nurses

I married a nurse. My best friend is a qualified nurse. I seem to have spent a lot of time with nurses these past thirty years. In receiving heavy duty antibiotics for my ecoli infection I have had occasion to make several visits to an annexe of the local hospital's infectious diseases ward. This is run by senior nurse practitioner Dawn and her sidekick Julie. They have been ever so nice to me.

I turn up at the appointed time. They sit me down, find a vein and begin the intravenous drip which takes around an hour to complete. Next they're asking me what I want to drink and it's always tea with one sugar. Because patients are so grateful for the service they provide, Dawn and Julie receive lots of gifts of biscuits, sweets, cakes and buns so they ply you with their leftovers. They're like a comedy double act - bouncing off each other but also good at their jobs - doing what is necessary while treating patients with respect and good humour. Unlike the brainbox young doctor who oversaw my care - to him I was just a condition to identify and tackle.

If you do an internet image search for "nurse" - it isn't long before you spot soft porn photos which demonstrate that in western cultures nurses are not entirely taken seriously. It is a breed of sexism which diminishes dedicated and very qualified people who play a vital role in health care. In fancy dress shops you can even hire sexy nurse outfits for hen nights. Real nurses like Dawn and Julie, Shirley and my mate Tony do not deserve such ridicule.

By the way, the drip seems to have worked a treat and I am now almost back to full Pudding strength - hopefully leaving the ecoli episode behind me forever...