The Blue Angel

spotangel, DNP, RN, NP

It had been a rough day and it was only 10 a.m.I worked as a telemetry nurse on the day shift. I had started out my 7 am to 7 pm shift, with a shocker. John one of my regular patients was scheduled for a cardiac catheterization at 10 am. John was admitted as he had cocaine induced chest pain and was also relapsing into his drug habit despite attempting to stay clean. I had seen him have visitors the day before that had given me an uneasy feeling. I had spoken to him after they left and he swore that they did not bring him any "presents" that would hurt him. He called me his "angel nurse" and told me that I always treated him with respect and not like a junkie.

I walked into his room after getting report that he was sleeping, to find him dead on the floor. He was 46 years old. I called a code, we worked on him for quite some time with no luck. I then had to be with his mom as she viewed her only son, and comfort her. I then took him down to the morgue. I now was in the next room with Ms. Gonzales, another one of my patients. She was having chest pain. I wondered what kind of day this would turn out to be as I hooked her up to the E.K.G. monitor, took vital signs, gave her nitroglycerin tabs and an aspirin and then called a doctor for further instructions. As I was working on her, her roommate kept calling for me.

"Nurse! Nurse," the old woman was confused, "I need to pee".

She had a foley catheter in.

"Go ahead and pee Mrs. X. I'll be right with you".

"No! No! I'll get wet. Come and help me".

She did not understand that the catheter would take care of the pee.

"I'll be right over," I called out as I turned from Mrs. Gonzalez, my chest pain patient. As I turned, my foot tangled in the cable wires of the E.K.G. machine and vital signs machine. I started falling. There was nothing to hold on to. As I fell, I heard Ms. Gonzalez say, "It's okay. He is holding you. You will not fall".

All of a sudden I was upright with no reason. I went over and took care of the old lady who wanted to pee. When I came back, Ms. Gonzales was smiling.

She said, "Child, you are protected!".

When I pressed her for details, she told me that she had seen a blue angel hold on to me and prevent me from falling. She described him as a Cherub and told me that those angels are very powerful. I asked her if this was the first time that she saw an angel. She told me that when she was younger, one of her daughters was dying. She was at the bedside crying when she saw a host of angels come and take her daughter's soul to heaven. Her daughter looked happy and this sight gave her a lot of peace.

Ever since then, she has been seeing angels. I joked that my angel may be "blue from worrying trying to protect me". Later, I went home and sat mulling over all the events of the day. I absently looked at the shelf over the T.V. set. There was a blue angel candle holder that my sister had bought for me over 2 years ago from New Zealand. It was my very first angel. I later on learned how to ask your guardian angel his/her name and found out that this angel's name was Providence. Providence has been with me through thick and thin and I keep him perpetually blue! Now, I collect angels!

The Blue Angel

About spotangel, DNP, RN, NP