My favorite patient, a very sweet little lady who is SO weak due to severe cardiomyopathy that is only getting worse but tries to hold her head up and keep a bright outlook anyway, informed me today that she is considering giving up hemodialysis. Her exact words to me were, "I know I'm going."
She's right, she is. She has been such a blessing to me, and it has been such a joy to see her every day here and make her smile and to try to keep her spirits up when it becomes a struggle for her. It has been painful to watch her deteriorate so quickly over the past few weeks, though, and I had to step off the floor to shed a few tears today after talking with her. She is still in the decision-making process, and hospice is in with her and they are sending a nurse and a chaplain out to her home later today to talk with her. But we are all aware of the inevitable and she herself says she just wants to stop suffering. Can't blame her for that. She's not going to get any better and based on the nuclear medicine reports I have sitting in front of me from her cardiologist, it's only going to get a lot worse really fast.
I told her primary nurse this (I'm the charge nurse) and of course she's taking it about as well as I am.
Just felt a need to share. Thanks for letting me do so.
I hear you! It's so hard not to get attached to people you see a few times a week. We just lost one on my unit too, but it was a shock. She was x-mas shopping in the mall and dropped dead of a heart attack.
babs_rn
346 Posts
My favorite patient, a very sweet little lady who is SO weak due to severe cardiomyopathy that is only getting worse but tries to hold her head up and keep a bright outlook anyway, informed me today that she is considering giving up hemodialysis. Her exact words to me were, "I know I'm going."
She's right, she is. She has been such a blessing to me, and it has been such a joy to see her every day here and make her smile and to try to keep her spirits up when it becomes a struggle for her. It has been painful to watch her deteriorate so quickly over the past few weeks, though, and I had to step off the floor to shed a few tears today after talking with her. She is still in the decision-making process, and hospice is in with her and they are sending a nurse and a chaplain out to her home later today to talk with her. But we are all aware of the inevitable and she herself says she just wants to stop suffering. Can't blame her for that. She's not going to get any better and based on the nuclear medicine reports I have sitting in front of me from her cardiologist, it's only going to get a lot worse really fast.
I told her primary nurse this (I'm the charge nurse) and of course she's taking it about as well as I am.
Just felt a need to share. Thanks for letting me do so.
Barbara