Author: Marianna Crane

After a long career in nursing--I was one of the first certified gerontological nurse practitioners--I am now a writer. My writings center around patients I have had over the years that continue to haunt my memory unless I record their stories. In addition, I write about growing older, confronting ageism, creativity and food.
My memoir, "Stories from the Tenth Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers" is available where ever books are sold.

A Story You Won’t Soon Forget

For the past ten years, I wrote my book in isolation. Long hours in front of my computer at my home, or a coffee shop, library and on Amtrak traveling between our home in North Carolina to Washington DC or New York City, and in other spaces I can’t remember. Wherever the location, I rarely…… Continue reading A Story You Won’t Soon Forget

A Broken Man Who is Hard to Forget

Richey rolled himself in a manual wheelchair into the exam room of the spinal cord clinic for the first time on a warm spring day in April. He managed to lift his quivering right arm to shake my hand. I was the new nurse practitioner in charge of his care. He had some ability to…… Continue reading A Broken Man Who is Hard to Forget

Dream Deferred 

Dream Deferred  by Langston Hughes   What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does…… Continue reading Dream Deferred 

Excerpts From My Book

  My book will be published on November 6, 2018 by She Writes Press. I have changed the title over the course of writing the book so many times that I can’t give you a count. The latest one, and I do hope the final one, is Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner…… Continue reading Excerpts From My Book

There Are Some Patients We Never Forget

This was first published on January 29, 2012.   When you have been a nurse as long as I have there are patients who take residence in your memories and resurface frequently. They could almost be family except they have a short history in your life. What they were like before or after you knew…… Continue reading There Are Some Patients We Never Forget

Nightingale Tales

My new project involves interviewing my classmates from nursing school. We “older nurses” are dying off. Who will be around to tell our stories? As I gear up to start this project, I’m educating myself in the art of interviewing. In the meantime, a serendipitous thing happened. Lynn Dow, RN, wrote about her long career…… Continue reading Nightingale Tales

Twenty Years After the Cancer Diagnosis.

Next Sunday, November 5th, will be the 20th anniversary of my mastectomy. Afterward, my surgeon draped her arm over my shoulders and said I was “cured” as she escorted me out of her office on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C. Each November 5th , I would make a big deal of the anniversary date of…… Continue reading Twenty Years After the Cancer Diagnosis.

Nurse at the Switchboard

Ten of us from a class of 44 traveled to Cape May, New Jersey to attend our 55th nursing reunion. We first met as young Catholic teens in the late ’50s enrolled in the diploma program at Saint Peter’s School of Nursing in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Hard to believe we are now in our…… Continue reading Nurse at the Switchboard

Spotlight: Marianna Crane

This appeared in the September 2017 Erie Family Health Center Donor Newsletter   Anniversary Spotlight: Marianna Crane   Over thirty years ago Dr. Sally Lundeen, a nurse and Erie Family Health Center’s first Executive Director, spearheaded a project that would provide care for the underserved elderly right where they lived. The Senior Clinic* opened on…… Continue reading Spotlight: Marianna Crane