The following is a post written by Nancy B. Kennedy, author of  Miracles & Moments of Grace: Inspiring Stories from Doctors, which is now available for review. You can follow Nancy’s blog at www.nancybkennedy.com

March 30 is National Doctors Day. So, here’s a thought for you: When you find yourself in a chilly exam room gowned in that flimsy blue paper robe, have you ever wondered what is going on in the mind of the doctor perched on that low stool in front of you?

I wish I could say that I have had such lofty thoughts. But to be honest, I’m generally too wrapped up in worry about my own puny self to give my doctor any thought. I want a diagnosis! I want a pill! I want to feel better, and I want to feel better now.

But after writing Miracles & Moments of Grace: Inspiring Stories from Doctors, all that has changed.

(photo: vistamommy)

I was filled with awe listening to the stories of these skilled men and women who know how to diagnose, how to treat—how even to cut open a living person and repair what’s gone wrong. Having only a meager liberal arts degree to my name, I’d find myself thinking: Do they really know how to do that?

But as I talked to my doctors, I found that more often than not it was the doctors themselves who expressed awe for their patients. Repeatedly, doctors told me tales of gaining inspiration from their patients and from the experiences they shared with them, allowing them to become that caring, listening soul sharing the exam room with you.

Because of these experiences—experiences of unexpected healings, of divinely appointed chance, or even of the tragic deaths of their patients—doctors often find themselves forever changed.

In this book, you’ll follow doctors into operating rooms, emergency departments, mission hospitals and more. You’ll look over the shoulder of a doctor trying desperately to revive a baby born with no blood. You’ll enter the burning Pentagon on 9/11 with a doctor on a search for survivors. You’ll stand in a shabby pavilion with a surgeon operating by flashlight inHaiti. And you’ll go down with a doctor on the US Airways flight that ditches in theHudson River.

After you emerge from these wonderful stories, you might just find yourself standing in the same place as the doctors have found themselves—forever changed.

How about you? Have you been inspired by a doctor or nurse recently? How will you show your appreciation on National Doctor Appreciation Day?