Originally Posted by MeghanRN
I know all of the PICU nurses (I'm step down unit) have come to see her and all come out crying..they knew her before the neurodevastation..
It's hard for us when one of "our" kids starts to go downwards. Last year one of our chronic babies developed a huge cyst in his brain and his parents made the decision to take him off the vent (he was trached) and let things run their course. This was the first baby I had EVER taken care of on my own, my first day off orientation. He was never normal (ex 24-weeker with multiple bleeds), but he had, at one time, been a happy, smiley boy. To see him largely unresponsive or in pain was so heartbreaking for me and lots of the other nurses on our unit.
But that didn't stop me from going in to be with them the day they ended up withdrawing. I'll never forget what the dad said. He crushed me in a huge bear hug and then held me out at arms length, tears in his eyes. "This is how we know he is loved. The nurses come in on their day off. This is how we know he is loved."
People often say "nursing is 24/7" referring to the fact that there's not always time in an 8 or 12-hour shift. To me, it just means that I'm on call 24/7 if there's a family who needs me. Simple as that. (Ask me about my tattoo sometime ... kind of my life motto
)
Would you like to comment?
