Chapter 19

JIM AND BRUCE

Jim was thriving in his new role as primary caregiver, but he was being spread really thin between being “daddy day care” and Jeannie’s home entertainment system as well as surrogate nurse, so God sent us Bruce. You know that really awesome, friendly neighbor in your building that you see in the hall and you think to yourself, Boy, if I had time, I would love to hang out with this guy. That’s Bruce. And I got my wish, just not in a way I would have ever expected. Sometime while I was in the hospital and Jim wasn’t able to book the highly in-demand Irish nurse squad that Karen had recommended, he approached our neighbor, Bruce. We knew that Bruce was a busy actor in New York City. We had only recently learned about the nurse part when I was diagnosed with the brain tumor.

Technically, what I needed was a live-in nurse, but since my home was already bursting at the gills, the fact that Bruce lived in the building and agreed to be on-call as my nurse twenty-four hours a day was another miracle that is beyond explanation. Don’t get me wrong, Jim was still on duty, but Bruce was the cavalry. He would come over five or six times during the day or night to take my vitals, change my food bag, clean my tracheotomy, and administer my variety of medications. He quickly became a member of the family. He also continued to train Jim in the complexities of Jeannie care as I watched in amusement. A favorite moment was Bruce teaching Jim physiotherapy to clear my lungs as they took turns pounding on each other’s backs. Jim and Bruce were like act II of my personal vaudeville show. Now I had two funny people taking care of me! It was terrific for Jim to have not only the medical support, but also a peer and friend to share the hard work as well as the laughter.

The Unlikely Nurses.