Medical personnel are, as a whole, superstitious.

I’ve worked with orthopedic surgeons who had to do hammer strikes in multitudes of 7. If they accidentally did 8, they had to do 14. Every damned time.

I’ve worked with nurses and techs who give away their Friday the 13th. Yes, every Friday the 13th. Or they would just call in sick. Even if it left their department short.

One year for the Christmas tree contest the department tree was the Lucky Tree. We had shamrocks, and fortune cookies, and horseshoes, and wishbones, and Hamsa hands, and rabbit’s feet, and gold balls signifying the gold at the end of a rainbow. This was in 2020 and I decided we needed all the luck we could get in healthcare. In fact, that was the name of the tree. The Good Luck Tree, and the caption on the sign was that we needed the luck we could get. I believe this was the last Christmas tree contest tree that I helmed.

I’ve worked with nurses and techs who swear at the sight of a full moon.

That’s me.

I have been surprised more times that I can count when I am driving up the out for our neighborhood and I see a bright, juicy full moon.

I always swear. And cross my fingers for good luck.

When I get home, I remind the pager to be good.

I wanted to be a little more practical about it. So I pinned a full calendar to my Facebook page. According to my calculations March, April, June, July, October, November, and December will be on my normal work week of Monday-Thursday. 7/13 ain’t too shabby.

I do get to miss the double barreled month of May.

By the way, there are 3 Friday the 13ths in 2026. These are in February and March and November. There are 13 full moons in 2026. Lucky May gets 2.

Plan your schedule accordingly.

And be mindful of the request windows.

And February’s is the first. And it’s a Sunday!