When I was being discharged from the hospital after removal of my kidney a nice hospitalist MD talked to me for a few minutes. He talked about a number of things including chronic care management. Almost his last remarks were “you know you can live without kidneys, just go on renal dialysis and get on the list waiting for a kidney donor.” Depressing but true.

The volunteer who was wheeling me out of the hospital was a nice elderly lady who spoke with an accent and had Ingrid on her name badge. She told me she was German and Ingrid was the Americanization of her German name. I told her my Mother had been from Germany and her name was Ingeborg. The volunteer said that was her name also.

In all my years I have never encountered or knew of another Ingeborg. Suddenly I felt better, it was as if my Mother, an angel named Ingeborg, had come to tell me everything would be alright.