I Double Dawg Dare You, Do It!

[Bipley]

In nursing we all do things that we look back on and we are proud of. Even though we do it we don't always acknowledge it. So I double dawg dare you, just HOW have you made a difference in a single person.

Let's face it, it is always easy to point to another and show what they have done, now I challenge you to show what YOU have done. Think long and hard about this. It could be a smile at the right time, holding someone's hand at the right time, breaking rules such as taking your mask off in OR to show your smile to a pt too fearful to undergo surgery before they are put under.

I think those of us in nursing need to respect what we have done vs. what we were unable to do. So.. what is yours?

I have a favorite. It was H. I referred to him earlier in a different thread.

H was 90+ years old and a hermit. He looked like what Jesus Christ would look like at 90+ years old... long beard, long hair, the works.

I used to try to get him to come out of him room and join in fun with other LTC pts. He refused. So I would go to his room and talk. Verrry little talking with Herbie. There, I wrote his name. He deserves nothing less.

My all time favorite thing to do was to get my old folks to tell me what life was like when they were my age. Considering I was about 25 and Herbie was about 92, we had a lot to discuss.

I would ask him questions. Example, during the holidays I would ask what a Christmas tree looked like when he was my age. He would explain that his family didn't have money. They would use food (popcorn, fruits, etc.) to decorate their tree. It was amazingly hard to get Herbie to talk, but when he did he was very interesting.

In our main building we would have a variety of trees during Christmas. I tried to cover everyone's beliefs and traditions.

One year I paid especially close attention to what Herbie explained his trees. Herbie was kind of cold, standoffish, not really wanting to elaborate on anything. It was clear he was merely annoyed at amusing me with his stories. Well, I did pay attention and I listened to exactly what he told me.

One of our trees was exactly as I pictured Herbies trees from when he was younger. Fruit and popcorn for decorations, candles for lights. Paper people cut out in place of tinsel. A hand-drawn angel to top the tree. (That was beyond my skills, had an artist patient do that one for me.)

I finally had the tree decorated JUST as I understood Herbie to describe it. It was about 10PM. I went to Herbie's room. I woke him from a deep sleep. I apologized, yet begged him to come with me. Most annoyed he did as I requested. I took him to the main building where everyone else was asleep and we had the room to ourselves. I had an employee whose ONLY job that night was to watch that ONE tree. It had live candles lighting it. ALL that employee had to do that night was to watch the candles so the tree didn't catch on fire. (Needless to say, I had a LOT of offers for that job that night!)

Hand in hand, Herbie and I walked into the main dining area where we had several trees, including HIS tree.

We sat down and he looked at that tree in awe. He just stared at that tree, I quickly realized I did a good job. It was as he described. I could easily tell just by watching Herbie.

We sat there for the longest time just watching the tree. Without moving his eyes from the tree he put his hand on mine and said, "Thank you, child."

That still makes me feel good to this day. In nursing we all get caught up in the pressures of the job. But we all do good things for people too. It might be simple or it might be elaborate. Or... it might be inbetween.

I think during a time of stress (our very jobs!) we need to focus on what we do quite well.

So, what IS it you do well? What have you done or what do you want to do to impove how you feel about your patients, or more important, how you feel about yourselves?

Com'on... I risked telling my story. The least you can do is to not leave me hanging. What have you done or what do you want to do?

Mods... I *need* this thread for reasons I'd prefer not to go into detail. Please don't move it. I need to hear from my fellow medical peers.

[MMARN, BSN, RN]

HI there, just love reading these stories, anyway here's mine. I worked as a district nurse [ similar to your home nurse I guess] here in england and 1 of my patients was Colin a 42yr old terminally ill man..He was a lovely, gentle man who never had a cross word to say and faced his impending death with great courage and dignity .During my time looking after him I found out his passion was that he loved anything to do with tigers,[ toys, photos,tshirts etc,] anyway as we got him pain controlled on a syringe pump he was getting very frail and unable to drive, his wife couldn't drive either .There was a warehouse opening that advertised all sorts of stuff inc huge stuffed toys of different animals. I had been to take a look and saw lots of tigers, some were very realistic. Colin had always wanted to visit and see real ones, but has his health deteriorated realised this wasn't going to happen. I visited him every day and we became friends as well as patient / nurse. On this particular day I said that I was coming back after work to take him and his family out for a ride [ he didn't know where, but his family did ]. After settling him in the car etc, we drove to this warehouse, I had arranged for a wheelchair to take him around especially to the display of large stuffed toys. Well, the look on his face was priceless when he saw all these big cats arranged like they were in the forest . The manager of the store came over [ I had previously asked if it was OK to bring Colin in a wheelchair ] and presented him with the cutest looking 'tiger cub' . We drove back with Colin cuddling his tiger.

From that day on he always had his cuddly toy with him, and when he died a couple of weeks later, the family put his tiger into the coffin with him.

Nowadays every time I see a toy tiger I think of Colin and remember the happy times we shared and how priveleged I feel to have known him and be a small part of his life .

OMG. This thread is going to kill me!!! :o :nurse:

[sddlnscp]

This thread is so awesome - thanks you guys. You all know I am just a pre-nursing student right now, so I don't have stories like yours. However, I do what I can wherever I can - right now, that is social services. Just yesterday, I had a client who is an older gentleman come in and ask me to help him with his application, he couldn't see very well to fill it out. Well, I kindly took the app. from him and filled it in as we talked. I listened to him talk about his life as a farm-hand when he was younger and how he wished he could still work, but his health will not allow it. I completed the app. silently, then went over it vocally with him and had him sign it. When he left my office, he went into the office right next to me (not knowing that I could hear him) and told my co-worker, "She (meaning me) is the nicest person I have ever met . . . I was afraid to ask for help, but I didn't even have to with her." That was a small feat, but it made me feel so good.

Similarly, I have a client who is mentally challenged (in his late 40's) and lives with his father. When I first met him, he was also living with his mother who was terminally ill with cancer (she has since passed away). He was too afraid to be in public to come to my office, so I went to his house. I stayed above and beyond simply filling out the app - spent time talking with the family, and even held the dying mother/wife's hand for a while (she was not conscious - but that is just the way I am). Well, after that, I made a point to "need something signed" or some "piece of information" at least once a week and went over to the house to visit with the family. Well, after a couple of months of my visits, the client finally started going out of the house. He would do little things, like go to the grocery store for a loaf of bread or gallon of milk, but these were huge feats for him (the father later told me he hadn't left the house in over a year except to go into the backyard). One day, his father took me aside and said, "Thank you so much. You don't know what you've done for him, he would have never changed without you. You made him see that people can be good, even to him." He was sincerely touched and I had no idea - I just really enjoyed them. Now I don't have to go to the house anymore because he proudly comes into my office once a month to update me on his circumstances and "chat" before going off to run errands for his father (whose health is failing). It puts a huge smile on my face every time I see him and I know that, no matter where I end up, I will never forget him!

Keep the stories coming - I love them - and it makes me want, all the more, to become a nurse!!!! :)

[nhelkhound]

I met a 25yoF who later became my best friend. Although a student nurse, I did all that I could with her and for her. My proudest accomplishment is that I was always her advocate, even when all others were against us. She suffered from juvenile onset Huntington's Disease. She died at home with me at her bedside. I miss her everyday.

[Bolts]

Guy's you all are soooo cool, this thread is the best. Too often we seem to focus on the bad/dramatic things in life, it is a breath of fresh air to hear about the good thing in life that are so simple yet mean so much to the people involved.

My story was when I was on a 4 day placment during my training. I was working on a ward, two rooms, 8 patients, and 1 RN to supervise me. Being a bit of a clown I would go in the rooms early in the morning, cracking jokes, organising the patients showers, making beds, ect. I would talk to all the patients except one. The ward was gastrointestinal, so seven of the patients had had proceedures relating to that, the last patient, Geoff was physically handicapped. Not knowing any better I thought it extended to being mentally handicapped, that sort of scared me I really didn't know what to say or do, and the RN really did most of the work where Geoff was concerned.

That worked for me, till on the last day I was asked to feed Geoff, ok I thought So off I went. I grabbed his tray said G'day and introduced myself, as you do, and was almost floored when he said G'day back. He must have noticed that I was a bit shocked, so he was stirring me up (giving me a bit of lip/cheek). I thought well he started it so I gave him some back. Over the next 10 minutes we are both laughing like lunatic's, what ever was wrong with him physically certainly didn't affect his sense of humour. We were laughing that hard and loud the NUM left the front desk to see what was going on. I was really suprised, I spent the rest of the day with Geoff met his carer. He taught me the most important lesson about nursing, empathy.

My only regret was that I didn't meet him on the first day, I left that afternoon, placment over.

Bolts

Like I sad at the start, the simple thing that mean so much to those involved.

[BuffyRN]

I have a few things that come to mind, but I think the most heartwarming for me was the gentleman who was brought to our ER from a nursing home with apparent pneumonia and was in respiratory distress. For whatever reason, the overwhelmingly busy night we had been mustering through had settled down just before he arrived. His two daughters came in shortly after he arrived.

We got him settled down, but it was quite clear to the doctor and myself that our patient was a very sick man. With that, I spoke to his daughters, explained their dad's prognosis, and told them I would happy to honor their wishes for his care, whatever they chose. These times are extremely difficult... and luckily they were in agreement, deciding to sign a DNR. We all cried together, and I stressed to them that they should never feel guilty for the decisions they made.

I stayed with them and their dad, making sure he was comfortable, answering any questions they had, and encouraging them to talk to him. After a little bit, both daughters gave their daddy kisses and told him it was ok to go be with thier momma. I knew it wouldn't be long, and it wasn't. Their dad went to his wife in just a matter of moments.

I felt such a bond with that family, and I really don't know why. It was meant to be. A couple of days later, I read his obituary in the newspaper, and imagine my surprise and emotion when at the end of it the daughters wrote a special thanks for the caring and compassion of me and the ER doctor. They even thought so much as to send a thank-you card to us and enclosed copies of the obituary. I still cry every time I tell that story.

[Bipley]

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