Bell Lap

Muriel A. Murch, BSN, was born and grew up in England, where she graduated as a nurse in 1964. In 1965, she married Walter Murch in New York City and they motorcycled to Los Angeles, California, relocating to the Bay Area in 1969. Muriel added a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University in 1991 from whence came Journey in the Middle of the Road: One Woman’s Journey through a Mid-Life Education, published by Sybil Press in 1995. Her short stories and poetry are included in several university press anthologies and online journals focused on the writings of nurses and women’s health.

"Clinically accurate and artfully poignant, these stories provide another way of knowing. I wish I had read this book when I was a nursing student. The Bell Lap is ready made for the classroom of medical students, nursing students, and other healthcare givers. Patients and family members as well as the general public can learn something from it too. There is a community inside and outside the door of the patient’s room. The nurse, more than any other healthcare giver, is a member of both communities and an advocate for the patient in both. Murch has elevated advocacy to an art form in The Bell Lap." – Judy Schaefer, Hospital Drive

• 1. Prologue 2. A Drop of Blood 3. The Brigadier, His Buggy and the Butterfl y 4. Mr. Tims’ Morning 5. It Says Love 6. Morning Coffee 7. The Museum Visit 8. Spring Fever 9. Phone Calls 10. The Waiting Room 11. The Vigil 12. Doctor Patel Comes to Tea 13. The Visitor 14. The Dentist 15. The Letter M 16. Epilogue: A True Story