I ran into Danny on my very first day at a Skilled Nursing Facility. As a brand new nurse, I heard an IV pump beeping. I remember going in to a patient’s room to try and figure out what the problem was - the pump read “air in line.” I instinctively silenced the alarm, so I had time to search for another nurse to help me figure out why the alarm was beeping. I told my preceptor, who pointed out Danny, stating that it was his patient and directed me to tell him his pump was beeping. At the time, Danny was getting report from another nurse. I interrupted, nervously, but I was sent over with a mission! (It is never a good idea to interrupt a nurse receiving handoff report at shift change). “Hey the IV says you have air in the line” I said. Danny didn’t even bother to look up from his brain (which organizes patient information, medications, tasks, etc), and said “isn’t the bag empty? It should be done by now.” He was annoyed. In that moment I realized I never even checked the bag! All I knew was that there was air in the line and I was going to save the day. It turned out that the bag was done infusing and it needed a flush. I never made that mistake again, and that was the beginning of our love story.

I remember the day very clearly. Our manager had said we were getting a new hire that would start training tonight. I was excited because we could always use the help, but little did I know that my life would be changed for forever. I was standing in “A” hall, when I saw her walk through the door. I was standing about 30 feet away but I could see her gorgeous blue eyes clear as day. She had her hair up in a ponytail and a black headband to keep her hair back and I swear I thought it was an angel. I was shaking with nerves, even though I had only seen her for a minute. I had to get report on my patients from another nurse so I broke away from her spell. Halfway through report, I saw her walking down the hallway towards us. Instantaneously I forgot how to speak. She approached to let me know that one of my patients IVs was beeping and said “air in line”, meaning that the IV had probably finished infusing. Somehow, through a miracle of God, I was able to mutter a few words “it’s probably done”. She walked away and my whole body flushed. I thought to myself, “did that just happen? Did she just talk to me? I hope I said something OK!”. I continued to get report on my patients, but in my mind, all I could do was think about her.