in the last year i have extensively written about my compromised health, i think more than ever before. one article about a rare inner ear tumour that i had in the past will come out soon, and i have also written a full-length manuscript about life with von hippel-lindau disease, which might get published one day, too. hence, i am more than ready to turn elsewhere and explore other areas of life, but one little thing from my recent hospital experiences came up as a theme for a blog entry, and refused to be discarded. in february 2019 i went to the national institutes of health in bethesda, maryland, very close to washington dc, for one more surgery. it was my eighth major operation, and my sixth at the nih. this time i was there for a complete bilateral nephrectomy, which again lasted almost ten hours, but eventually turned out to be successful. however, the surgery is not the theme of this brief text. here i want to write about the people who work at the nih and how i experienced them.
being discharged from hospital is way more fun than being admitted, even though at discharge i usually feel like a walking slab of wounded meat. but upon admission, which is usually surrounded by some gloom, there was one thing to look forward to. i would get to see the doctors and nurses and other nih staff that i had met in the past, and that had always treated me with respect, warmth, and professionalism. that is something that always lifts up my mood, and that unmistakably proves to be true. this time was no exception. i felt i had many friends at the nih who were really happy to see me and take care of me again.
every time i stay at the nih i also encounter people i had not known before, and many of them turn out to be as nice as everybody else. for the first time last month i met the staff of the tiny dialysis unit at the nih, where i was dialysed three times a week throughout my three-week stay in the usa. despite some minor technical issues that were emerging occasionally, mainly because of the different approaches to dialysis in europe and in the usa, i felt welcome and cozy during my dialysis sessions, and i chattered away with the staff most of the time. they made me feel comfortable and confident. we raised different topics and got to know each other pretty well. when i was leaving i got big, warm hugs from them, and i somehow feel that that was not the end, that we will have a chance to hang out again in the future.
but one detail that took place during my dialysis days is symbolic of the energy that was present there. one day i mentioned to rick, the male nurse, that i liked trader joe's, and that my cousin nat from seattle had recently sent me a package in which there was a bag of trader joe's dried and sweetened lemons, which i immediately got addicted to, finishing the whole thing in two days. then we switched to another topic. lemons were forgotten. at least until my last dialysis session at the nih. that morning rick came to work and brought me a bag of dried lemons. he remembered it when he was in the store. this touched me so much that i did not know how to thank him properly. my words of gratitude could not match how i was feeling inside. the nih proved once more to be full of compassionate, humble, knowledgeable, kind people. if only more medical institutions were like the nih in this respect the world would be a much, much happier place.
in the end, i hope this virtual text reaches out across the pond and says hi to rick, denise, carol, nguyen, lilian, dr. austin, and lets them know how their friendly but professional approach made the whole experience much more bearable for me.
