This post won't have pictures because I can't find them right at the moment. Seriously, my laptop has gone crazy again. It's getting some Shawn therapy and hopefully he can recover the repressed picture files. ha ha I know it's corny but after going through the dreaded mental health rotation this summer, it was really funny to me. Anyway, I thought I would write about patient care.
I took care of a little lady recently who was dying. Death wasn't imminent but she knew it was coming. She was such a tense little thing. Refusing to sleep. Couldn't be made comfortable. She was up and down all night. In report we were told that this little lady was going to be trouble because she had been the night before. Sure, we made plenty of trips to that room throughout the night. She was medicated appropriately. She was clean and dry. She sat in a wheelchair. She was repositioned in bed. The TV was turned on. The TV was turned off. The door was partially shut. The door was opened. The bed position was changed. As a nurse, one of my biggest frustrations is not being able to make a patient comfortable. I'm not just talking about pain but comfort in general. I had really tried everything I could think to do with this lady.
We were in the room transferring her from the wheelchair to the bed (after one of her sit at the nurses station and visit with the crazy night shift). As I was standing in front of her, I bent to help her stand to her feet. She put her arms around me and laid her head on my chest. As I hugged her, I could physically feel the tension leave her little body. We stood there like that for a short while and she said she was ready to get in bed. After placing pillows under and around her, we left the room. A few minutes later, I walked by and she was asleep. I've thought about this little lady several times the last couple of days. I don't think it was anything I did that helped her relax enough to go to sleep. I think she just needed to feel some love.
My point in sharing this story is that everyone needs to feel loved. Some people think hugs are corny or nonsense. I think (personally) that more hugs should be given out. It just might make someones day (or night).
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3 comments:
Okay, you've made me cry. I thought back when Brayden was in the hospital. They gave him is first bottle it shot the drainage up so they took it away. Betty had called and said Daddy wasn't doing good. I was sitting in the waiting room tears rolling down my cheeks. A lady across the room with another family got up came over and said I think you need a hug. She gave me a hug and left. It didn't stop my hurting but the hug did help.
You always make me cry! That was so sweet!
Looks like I wasn't the only one grabbing for the tissues after reading your post. Kindness makes all the difference.
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