DEAR ABBY: I didn't read the original letter from the man who won't touch the hospital patients he visits, but I did read the comment from Bob Burns, the hospital chaplain in Florida who wrote to tell him that he can't "catch" anything from simply touching a sick person. Abby, may I add my two cents to the discussion?
Last winter I was in Arcadia Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, Calif., with the flu, pneumonia and something else the doctors couldn't identify. (It turned out to be meningitis.) In spite of the fact that I was pretty much out of things, I overheard the neurologist tell my nurse that he was going to give me a spinal tap, and asked her to distract me. Well, when I heard "spinal tap," I was panic-stricken.
The nurse knelt by the side of my bed and took my hands between hers and started to talk. Suddenly, she let go of my hands, peeled off her gloves, and then she clasped my hands again. Do I have to tell you how much more comforting the touch of her warm skin was than latex?
Abby, I don't remember that nurse's name, but I will never forget the compassion she showed that day. I didn't even feel the needle go in. -- JOAN FRY, NEWHALL, CALIF.
DEAR JOAN: Thank you for a touching letter.