Many times, patients have brought us treats as gifts of gratitude for the care they recieved. I, as well as the majority of other nurses that I've ever met are exceeding grateful for the gesture. Having worked hard through several hours of chaos, seeing sweets on the break-room table is a welcome reward for our efforts. Usually, the physicians, nurses, and technicians swarm over the plate without ever inquiring of its origins, they were just thankful for the rush of glucose through their bloodstream to keep them going another few hours.
But there were a small number of staff who have sworn to never partake of something homeade saying, "You never know where its been!" Most of us never really heeded their words of warning. But one fateful day when reading the card attached to the plate of chocolate chip cookies that the staff had been snacking on all shift, I read the name on the bottom of the card to see what patient or staff member was so kind to go through the trouble of feeding us. To my horror the card read, "...we were very grateful that your staff is so open to promoting healthy breastfeeding practices. As a token of our thanks, please enjoy the cookies lovingly made from my own supply of breastmilk..."
Lesson learned.
