<Begin Segment 24>

ES: And we moved into our home, I went back to work the second day of January because my job was still there for me when I got home.

TI: Back at the Emanuel Hospital.

ES: Yes. They told me that my job would be there, and so I asked if the job was still there.

TI: So I'm curious, when they said that was it because nurses were in such demand or was it because of some sense of loyalty to you that the job would be there?

ES: I just felt like it was just some kind of a loyalty to me, that they just thought it was good just to say that to me. I never really thought that there would be a job for me, but then I just took it for word because there was nothing written. But when I did go back he says, "Oh yes, we're ready for you to come back." It was there. And so he says, "We have a person taking your place right now, but she's there with the understanding that when you got back that you would, you have that job." I was Supervisor of Labor and Delivery Room.

TI: So what did it mean to you that they kept that position for you when you came back and that they would all along think that you would come back?

ES: They just assumed I was coming back because I was corresponding with them all the time. I knew this lady who was working with me.

TI: But it sounded like you weren't quite sure.

ES: I wasn't. I thought they just said that. But then I was really surprised when they said, "You can come back any time you want to."

TI: And how did it feel for you when you did finally go back and the job was still there?

ES: Well, I was glad that it was there, but I didn't go back until the first of January because I had hives. I broke out with hives, every day. I got back in October and even after I got back to work I'd break out with hives. I think it was, they say it's nerves, because I was even allergic to, I had skin tests done and he said, "You're even allergic to carrots." And so anyway, they said that it's probably an emotional kind of thing that made me have that condition for so long, but anyway, they put me on a special diet and I worked from 3:00 to 11:00 and so the meal was all planned for me, that I could eat little bits of it at a time. And I finally got over it in a couple months, but in the meantime I was, I had carried adrenaline with me, so any time I felt like was coming with hives I could shoot myself with a little bit of adrenaline, and that cured my...

TI: So they said this might have been kind of caused by the stress and things like this. Was this a really difficult time for you when you think about the --

ES: Well, I had a terrible time with some of my patients at first. They didn't want me to see, and so there was a Chinese girl working there and she had a sign, says "I am Chinese," but I didn't have anything and some of the patients didn't want me to take care of them.

TI: Because you were, you were of Japanese ancestry.

ES: Yeah. But they thought that this Chinese girl was Japanese too, see, and so that's why this Chinese girl wore a sign, says "I am Chinese." But that didn't affect me any because the hospital wanted me to work there and so I said okay. But then it all turned out okay because I worked there for fourteen years, until when Dr., my gynecologist that I worked with at the hospital wanted me to work in his office, so the last about ten years I worked in a doctor's office in Portland.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.