I’m sure it does. Because I do. I don’t callously whisk his wife out of a room without letting him kiss her goodbye. I don’t leave him hanging without a pat on the arm and a reassuring look. I tell him — I’ve got this — we’ll take good care of her. I explain where to wait — when to expect to see the surgeon after the procedure — how soon he will be allowed back to see his wife when she wakes up. All. The. Things. I leave him in the expert hands of the pre-op nurses to administer tissues and reassurances to because we all know as soon as his wife is out of sight — he will collapse and will need them to hold him up and say all those things. We are so sorry. What can we get for you? What do YOU need?

Most of our stories go unwritten. What you ask about is second nature to nurses. Of course there would be someone there for him. We are a team — pre-op/OR nurse/recovery room. They — either one of them — would never be without a nurse to watch over them.

Because that’s what nurses do.