Best Experience you've had as an LPN

I've experienced quite a bit as an LPN. I've worked mostly in Peds so I've had a lot of success stories and a lot of heartbreak. I am part of the code team so I (unfortunately) deal with a lot of adult and peds codes. I have seen a patients survive & then thrive when there was no hope. I've seen patients die for mysterious reasons. To be honest I couldn't pick just one experience.

One time I was transferring an elderly gentleman to his wheelchair. He would go where you steered him, but didn't speak, or look you in the eye, or register people in any way. I had been taking care of him for over a month, and never saw one sign of mental life. As I was talking to him (telling him some dumb story or something), all of a sudden, he looked me in the eye, smiled a tiny bit, and patted me on the shoulder. Then he was gone again. But for just a brief moment, I saw the human being in there. It was pretty inspiring to me. Since that time I have always tried to remember that the meatsacks we are working on are really people :) It's easy to forget sometimes.

One day I was sitting at the nurse's desk and noticed that there were at least a dozen elderly folks sitting in their wheelchairs. Not one of them appeared "happy" as all were staring off somewhere, lost in their own thoughts and without any form of conversation. They were just "there." For some reason, I had an overwhelming urge to get up and give each and every one of them a great big hug. I started at one end and just went down the line until I had hugged them all. I went back to the desk and sat down and looked them all over and most of them had at least a faint smile if not an outright grin on their face that lingered for quite some time. It was at that moment that I realized how much of a difference I can make in someone's life not just as a nurse, but as one human being caring for another.

I gave them a moment of feeling like someone cared. They gave me the insight to see how much of an impact one simple gesture can affect others. That lesson will last my lifetime.