Most Memorable Patient

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2006

I was a student nurse.

Working our first peds rotation at Children's Hospital. This rotation was always high in demand - I picked it for no other reason than to see what peds would be like (and definitely for the instructor. I loved her to death - she was just completely awesome! :))

Up untill that time - I really didn't have an idea of what I wanted to do once I got done with school, KWIM? I had some vague ideas of getting into some kind of critical care at some point in time.

Anyways, this was my last week of clinicals. Up untill that point, the whole experience had been a roller coaster. We had some really sick kids who coded and din't make it and also some sick kids who got well and went home. Peds was starting to "affect me".

But my last patient was the cake.

She was in for a double ureter reimplant. I was assigned to her the day after she'd had the surgey. She was this really sweet 6 year old girl.

Absolutely the bravest person I've met in ages.

Ne'er a cry or whimper. She was absolutely delightful - never asked for pain meds unless it really really really hurt. Despite my assurances that it was ok to ask for something to make the pain go away - she never did.

We were assigned 8 hour shifts and I went about it my own way - general checks/assessments q2h, checking her tubes (2 JPs and 1 SP) and drains qh. Meds as ordered. Gave her baths. Linen change. Played "chance" and some other games - heck, even played with her stuffed toys :chuckle

The only thing she wanted to know was when could she get outta bed - because she wanted to go for a ride in the toy cart :) She asked me all kinds of questions, from her body, her condition, to me, my background etc.

I'm telling you, absolutely the most adorable patient I've ever had.

So anyways, I go back the next day. And I'm assigned to her again (mildly surprising. I'm the only guy in our batch on the floor whose constantly been reassigned to the same patients. I didn't find out till the end of our rotation that this was done at patients request - they'd liked me and the job I did so they wanted me again!)

So I walk into the room to do morning assessments and while checking her BP I could see she was trying hard not to giggle. So I turn my back to get her meds - and I can see her squirming in her bed. So I ask her what's up.

She asks me to close my eyes, she has a surprise for me.

I close my eyes and in my hands, she places this little card. Made in green paper.

Here's a link to the card: http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/MIRoughneck/cardinside.jpg

It said "To Roy,

Thank you for taking good care of me

from,

XXXX"

Her Mom explained that she'd spent 4 hours, painstakingly drawing with her right hand (she's a southpaw but her left hand was boarded with an IV board).

My vision was blurry. I don't cry easy but I did feel that one tear drop down my cheek. I gave the kid a warm, heartfelt hug.

I'd been having a horrible week to the point that I even came to doubt myself. I was wondering if I'd bitten off more than I could chew. Debt was killing me. Working two jobs just to barely keep my head above the water, sleeping about 4 hours a night at best etc. etc.

That card and her smile when she gave it to me changed all that.

That was when I decided - right then and there - that it was all worth it. That's when I decided that when I graduated, I was going to do peds. Life or death, sickness, suffering or recovery; I just knew right then that I'd be doing it with kids.

That card is now with my parents - my father keeps a collection of stuff os us kids (including a tape of me speaking my first words and sentences).

I know it's not a very special story compared to what some of y'all have experienced and it's probably pretty regular for nurses to experience stuff like this.

But it was just a life defining experience for me :)

mandana · Jun 10, 2006

I know it's not a very special story compared to what some of y'all have experienced and it's probably pretty regular for nurses to experience stuff like this. But it was just a life defining experience for me :)

Are you kidding? That is a wonderful, wonderful story. What a great moment.

Amanda

buddiage · Jun 10, 2006

Roy,

That experience was good enough to make me well up... wow.

adnstudent2007 · Jun 10, 2006

Wow. What a wonderful story. I want to go cry now. I can only imagine how wonderful that would have been for you.

TazziRN, RN · Jun 10, 2006

I was a CNA doing homecare. One of my favorite clients was an elderly (90's) man with advanced Alzheimer's. My job was to help him with a shower and take him for a walk in the hour I was there. During the walk I would talk with him, and he would come up with out-of-the-blue, north-forty comments like Alzheimer's pts often do. One day I said "Well, Thanksgiving is over, next comes Christmas."

Him: "Yep." *pause* "Just so's I get lots of presents."

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2006

Heh! Thanks y'all :)

The week precceding that one was absolutely horrid. We lost a bunch of kids in like 24 hours. (the floor below ours was the oncology ward). One of them was the first child to a set of parents who had been trying for 6 years to concieve

Hey! No cheating! Share your stories too

Noahm · Jun 10, 2006

I took care of a 102 year old woman the other day. She was an inpatient on our medical ward for quite awhile. Totally alert and orientated. On the day she was discharged back to the nursing home, she grabbed my hand and told me she was sure that she was going to be a "goner" as a result of having to go into the hospital at her age. "I thought this was the end of me, and I was in so much pain and ready to give up, but you nurses have been so wonderful to me, so patient, so very intelligent and hardworking and I know you saved my life. I just feel like I want to keep on living now." Then she gave me a kiss on the cheek and was on her way!! I work on a very short staffed medical ward where many of our patients are elderly. We work hard but the cards are stacked against us due to the short staffing, we rarely hear "thank you".

mandana · Jun 10, 2006

I just posted about mine the other day. It was a fairly young man, 45-ish, with ALS. Some magic happened that day and all my other patients were off the floor, so I had all day to spend with him. We just talked. I can't even remember really what we talked about - music, the weather, mundane stuff. His speech was already very halting from the disease, so it took a long time for him to talk and I knew that he didn't often have the opportunity to really just chat with people. It was awesome. I knew when it was time for me to go that our encounter was meaningful for him, and I really feel like he added a lot to my life. I think about him all the time, and I'll never forget him.

It's funny the way people touch your life. I had one more - she was a 94 year old woman in for ORIF. On arrival, I pushed 2mg of Morphine and she was out like a light for several hours (not in a scary way - she was easily arousable) but when I'd wake her for one reason or another, she'd ask me if her husband was on the way. Of course, I assumed that she was just dotty and that her husband was deceased. Imagine my surprise when her 70 year old son comes wheeling dad in!!! The most amazing thing was that this woman, who had been asleep for hours instantly perked up when her husband came near her. He wheeled up next to her and the two of them starting kissing passionately, she was like a completely different person. It was really beautiful!

Amanda

dragonsfancy · Jun 11, 2006

My most memorable patient has to be a 99 year old lady with very advanced Alzheimer's/dementia. I had just completed my training as a CNA, certified and just off of orientation. The patient was this little bitty tiny woman. 42 lbs., around 4 foot something and MEAN! I would go into her room to do a.m. care and she would look up at me with this horribly mean look on her face and holler at the top of her lungs "Sh*tfire, you're the devil!" and then proceed to hit or bite me.

There would be times when I'd go in and she would have had a bowel movement. Let's just say that she could have easily been a major league pitcher, as some of her poop balls more than once found their target.

I carry a scar on the back of my ear where this lovely lady bit the crap out of me and drew blood while I was bathing her.

She would cuss out the chaplain.

Then there was the time that she stopped eating and drinking and it took four nurses and CNA's to hold her down while the fifth RN put an IV in. She held perfectly still right at the end only for the RN to get the line secured with tape and for us to let go of her. Then she reached up and gave herself an 8 cm. skin tear by pulling the IV out by the tubing.

After all this, you might wonder why she was my most memorable patient. Well, the day she passed, I was holding her hand and she reached up and caressed my cheek and said, "I'm not always clear of mind, but just know that I love you." and she closed her eyes and passed about twenty minutes later.

It's patients like this that make me happy to be in the field that I'm in.

Jamesdotter · Jun 11, 2006

I guess my most memorable patient was "Goldie" whom I met in the 1960s. (I think I may have mentioned her on some other thread). She was in her 80s, hospitalized with a fracture in the shaft of her femur. She was in traction, which wasn't effective since she liked top drape her other leg over the tractioned one and swing them while she sang bawdy songs. The first day I cared for her, she took one look at me and said "I know what kind of a girl you are. It shows in your face. GOD will take care of you"! One of those situations where you have to leave the room to laugh.

Oh, yeah. Her doc put her in a hip spica when he found out how she was entertaining herself.

htrn · Jun 11, 2006

I had a patient a few months ago, I've known her and her hubby since they were HS sweethearts, really neat couple with a wonderful family.

They had two boys in the last few years and their 3rd child last year. She died at 4 hours from a birth defect incompatible with life, diagnosed during pregnancy. I worked that night and took care of them for the last three hours of their daughter's life. As sad as it was, they had a wonderful birth plan, a supportive MD and incredible family. I was priviledged to be a part of their lives at that time.

This past Easter Sunday, I was lucky enough to be her Delivery nurse when she came in to and delivered a very healthy baby girl.

Couldn't have asked for a more wonderful Easter.