A Goodnight Kiss and A Bedtime Story

A young girl dying of cancer wanted me to kiss her goodnight and tell her a bed time story before she died. It changed my life. Nurses Announcements Archive Article

A Goodnight Kiss and A Bedtime Story

I thought I would share this touching story with you. I work on a Palliative/Oncology/General Medicine floor and work mostly nights. We mainly have geriatric patients, but we do have some younger children that are on our floor as well.

There is this one special little girl who touched my heart. The nurses on the floor had warned me that she doesn't sleep at night and is constantly ringing on the call bell. It's a busy floor, so I knew that it was going to be a long night.

Well, this night, in particular, I was pretty busy, and sure enough, this little girl was ringing on the bell non-stop. No matter what I did she just kept ringing that bell. I finally asked her after the 20th time of ringing the bell why she wasn't sleeping.

She has cancer and is in pain, and most of the time she just wants to be readjusted in bed to a more comfortable position. She told me she couldn't sleep. Well big surprise I knew that already. I sat down at the edge of her bed and asked what I could do to help her get to sleep.

I asked if she had any nightly rituals that she used to do at home that helped get her to sleep. She told me that her mom would tell her a story and give her a kiss goodnight to get her to sleep.

So I told her a story and gave her a kiss goodnight and sure enough the rest of the night she slept and didn't ring the call bell!

This continued the next few nights that I had her. I would tell her a story to kiss her goodnight and she would sleep.

Well her cancer got worse and a few nights ago she was dying. I was on the floor that night and didn't get her as a patient. Just as she was about to slip away her mom came up to the desk and asked for the nurse that told her daughter stories every night to get her to sleep.

The nurses all told her that it was me.

I had just finished my rounds and saw her standing at the desk waiting for me. She asked if I could tell her daughter a story even though her daughter had now slipped into a coma. Her mother began to tell me that her daughter loved my stories and before she had slipped into a coma would always ask for me on the night shifts to come and tell her a story. I was busy, but I knew that it would help the patient's mom feel more at peace to give this one last request to her daughter.

I walked into the room, sat on the edge of her daughter's bed and began to tell her daughter's favorite story about a princess and a sleeping dragon. As I told the story I held her daughter's hand, and I could see her daughter struggling to breathe. Just as I got to the end of my story I heard her taking her last breath. I got up kissed her on the forehead, like I had usually done and she passed away right after.

I was glad that I took that one moment out of my busy night to grant a last request to such a sweet little girl. It was hard, and I cried.

These are the moments I love being a nurse!

littlemammanurse

About littlemammanurse, BSN, RN

I'm a foot care nurse, PP, pediatrics, and home health care from California.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Peds, OB, L/D, Ortho.

God bless you!

Specializes in Oncology&Homecare.

There are two angels in this story, and one of them is smiling down on you. Thank you for sharing and thank you for being that little girls angel.:lttang:

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

Wow - I nearly teared up reading that. Thanks.

That was absolutelytouching...thanks so much for sharing!:heartbeat

Specializes in Programming / Strategist for allnurses.

great story - thanks for sharing :up:

( no, that's just something in my eye )

Thank you for sharing the very reason we want to be nurses.

Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

That little girl's mom will find comfort in the special care you gave her daughter for the rest of her life.

Specializes in CCU, Geriatrics, Critical Care, Tele.

thanks for sharing such a touching story and being a wonderful nurse!

This is the reason I want to be a Nurse.....and this is also the thing that terrifies me about being a Nurse. I cried reading the story, I don't know how well I will cope with those situations when they arise. I've seen so many people in the health care field become cold and unaffected by what seem to be very emotional situations. I guess when stories like this don't affect me, it's time to look for a different career! Thank you for sharing this story. We should all be reminded that although our license is based on education, compassion and humanity cannot be taught, and that's what separates the good nurses from the great ones.

God bless you for proving to that little girl before she died that the world is still a good place! ; )

What a wonderful touching story. I was teary eyed just from reading the title.

This story just reinforces my choice stepping on the path to becoming an RN in oncology. God bless you and all the nurses like you who can set down the paperwork for just a moment to really be there for a patient.

thanks for the heart warming story! This made my day because you hardly hear the great stories about nursing! congratulations on being a great person!