Maybe the best $2 I ever spent

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I had an old curmudgeon for a patient over the weekend, they're my favorite kind. I learned a while back that they're not the "do this because I say so and the doctor ordered it" type patients, because no one is going to tell them what to do. And after 80+ years on the planet, I'm not going to argue with an alert and oriented patient that they need to do much of anything. You've made yourself a DNR/DNI knowing full well what those implications are, I'll do my part to keep us from getting to that point, but really, I'm not driving.

This particular patient has alienated many family/friends due to some bad choices, and freely admits the mistakes. We were chatting Saturday night and somehow gambling came up in a middle of the night interaction. Sunday on my way in to work I needed gas, so I stopped in and picked up a couple dollar scratch tickets. When I got in for my shift I said "happy Father's day" and dropped the tickets on the bedside table. I certainly didn't expect the tears that welled up in his eyes, although I did expect the swearing that followed the scratching of two non-winners. Later that night, when he should have been sleeping, he put on the call light to tell me that every day of his life, which he doesn't expect will be long, he will remember that a nurse he barely knows bought him a father's day gift, when no one in his family even called. I did remind that since we just met, I was maybe a little less hurt by his poor choices in life than the family members that didn't call. He laughed, said it was a good point, and said he'd go to sleep now. He reminded me he might not wake up in the morning and that would be fine with him.

He did wake up the next morning. Said he hoped I'd be his nurse again that night, but I told him it was my night off. I went to visit him on a subsequent morning after he transferred to med-surg. I walked in the door and he said "I've been waiting for you", and handed me a full urinal. I really like the cranky ones, this one was among my favorites.

Do you have a favorite patient story? I like to hear them.

[AnnieNP, MSN, NP]

What a great story!!!

[SquatsNScrubs, BSN, RN]

You rock.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

I specialized in cardiac critical care because cranky old men were my favorite of all. There is no loyalty like it once they let you in the club and usually their doing that requires only the granting of autonomy and dignity as much as possible.

Well done Nurse JBMMom.