I recall a death of a patient, his name was Herbie. Herbie was 95 and had nothing wrong with him. He was just old. He was on no meds, lived in a LTC facility, and was an interesting old man.
One day he requested someone come and get me. He had something important to tell me. This was on a Thursday. Herbie NEVER asked anything of anyone. I knew that it must be quite important if he wanted to talk to me. I went to his room immediately.
He asked me to sit on his bed, we had important issues to discuss. He explained that the following Tuesday he would become ill, go to the hospital, and die.
I responded in horror! I told him he had no real medical issues, not even abnormal blood tests! He was fine and he wasn't going anywhere. He became quite upset and told me I wasn't hearing him. He needed for me to listen. He repeated the story and explained he would die the following Tuesday.
It wasn't worth getting him this upset. I finally agreed to listen. I told him I didn't like discussing this but if he felt it was this important, I would listen.
He went on to tell me he wanted me to have his favorite item, his brand new color TV. :) How sweet. I told him I appreciated this and I would treasure it. Obviously, I would never take a patient's TV but he would have been quite irate had I not agreed to his requests.
After I left his room I really didn't think much more of it. Well, not until the following Tuesday. I was passing 7AM meds and Leonard ran up to me, told me Herbie fell and he thought he broke his hip. Leonard was Herbies roomie. I went running for Herbie's room. Suddenly it dawned on me, it was Tuesday!
I hit the doorway and knew instantly. Herbie was dead. I couldn't see him because he was laying on the floor between the bed and the wall. But as soon as I hit the doorway I knew. It just "felt" weird. I knew he was dead, not a doubt in my mind. I went to where he was and sure enough, he was dead. He never even attempted to break his fall. He hit the floor face first. It was later determined to be a massive stroke. I couldn't help but to think back to our conversation. He didn't become ill and go to the hospital, however it most certainly was Tuesday, just as he said.
My personal belief is that Herbie was still in the room. I don't know how it all works at the point of death, but I honestly believe Herbie was still there.
So the following are my questions. Have you ever had a patient (especially an elderly patient) tell you they would die and when? And have you walked into the room of a deceased pt and before seeing the patient you "felt" something odd and knew they were dead before you actually saw them?
I can remember back to an instance with a patient that happened when I was an RN for about 3 months. I was very new and unorganized and scared of everything. I had come on shift and was making my rounds and was very busy with everything when the wife of a patient called me in to see her husband. He was on comfort measures only. She called me in because her husband wanted a cup of coffee. I was so busy and all I could think about was, "I don't have time to get this guy some coffee right now. I have so many more things to do that are more important than coffee." I told them I would get him his coffee as soon as I could. I went on and did my other things. All the while I started to feel horrible for not getting the coffee. Each time I did something that was not making the coffee, I had this weird nagging feeling. I finally gave into it and brought the man his coffe. He smiled and said, "Thank you." As my night went on, I kept checking in on this man and his wife. She was awake by his side the whole time and holding his hand. I left and a few minutes later, I looked outside and it was snowing. It was the first snowfall of the season. It was so beautiful and peaceful looking. I had a feeling I should go back and check on my patient. I walked inand immediately knew he had passed. The wife had fallen asleep in those five minutes while I was gone, and he died then. After consoling her for a while, she said, "Thank you so much for getting him his coffee. He has been wanting it for days."
I will never forget that man, or the lesson I learned that night.
Reading about Herbie made me think of ol' Fred. He was similar to Herbie and in his 90's. He never told me when he was going to die (never had that happen, actually) but Fred was a character for sure, would say some of the most off color (but hilarious!) things and in front of no matter who.
:confused: It is so ironic to see this post!!! I have been toying with the idea of compiling nursing stories, and very recently decided it should not be a negative rant on the cons of nursing, but on the UNSEEN and often unacknowledged aspects of it. Would love to use some of these great stories! PLEASE PM ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO "TELL ME A STORY!!!"
:confused: It is so ironic to see this post!!! I have been toying with the idea of compiling nursing stories, and very recently decided it should not be a negative rant on the cons of nursing, but on the UNSEEN and often unacknowledged aspects of it. Would love to use some of these great stories! PLEASE PM ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO "TELL ME A STORY!!!"
Yeah! PM me toooooo! :)
There are lots of good things that happen due to our care. I'd love to see more stories. Sometimes things happen in spite of our care. I want to read those stories, too. Mostly I want to know I am NOT the only one that knows someone has died merely by stepping foot through the thresh hold of the doorway.
When I worked at an ortho rehab center, I walked into a residents room (recovering from knee surgery, 52yoWF) and simply got goosebumps. No reason, just KNEW something bad... did every test I could, she was A&Ox3, O2 sat fine, BP a little up but okay, pulse same, no complaints. But still... I kept going into the room every couple of minutes and EACH TIME I got goosebumps! Finally I asked her if she would mind me sending her over for an EKG, that she had poor coloring (not really true, but I couldn't exactly tell her it was cause she gave me chillbumps!) Turns out 45 minutes after she arrived in the ER she had a MASSIVE MI, with no prior cardiac history. They saved her life, but just barely. Now I listen to those gut feelings!
:confused: It is so ironic to see this post!!! I have been toying with the idea of compiling nursing stories, and very recently decided it should not be a negative rant on the cons of nursing, but on the UNSEEN and often unacknowledged aspects of it. Would love to use some of these great stories! PLEASE PM ME IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO "TELL ME A STORY!!!"
SHANNONDESIRE
15 Posts
I can remember back to an instance with a patient that happened when I was an RN for about 3 months. I was very new and unorganized and scared of everything. I had come on shift and was making my rounds and was very busy with everything when the wife of a patient called me in to see her husband. He was on comfort measures only. She called me in because her husband wanted a cup of coffee. I was so busy and all I could think about was, "I don't have time to get this guy some coffee right now. I have so many more things to do that are more important than coffee." I told them I would get him his coffee as soon as I could. I went on and did my other things. All the while I started to feel horrible for not getting the coffee. Each time I did something that was not making the coffee, I had this weird nagging feeling. I finally gave into it and brought the man his coffe. He smiled and said, "Thank you." As my night went on, I kept checking in on this man and his wife. She was awake by his side the whole time and holding his hand. I left and a few minutes later, I looked outside and it was snowing. It was the first snowfall of the season. It was so beautiful and peaceful looking. I had a feeling I should go back and check on my patient. I walked inand immediately knew he had passed. The wife had fallen asleep in those five minutes while I was gone, and he died then. After consoling her for a while, she said, "Thank you so much for getting him his coffee. He has been wanting it for days."
I will never forget that man, or the lesson I learned that night.