thank you to my nurses

Published

i've been meaning to post this for several weeks now, and have been stopping myself for various reasons, most of them centering around self-doubt (is it appropriate?, will it cause eyerolling?, will i sound stupid?, etc., ad nauseum). but! it keeps coming around in my brain...my heart won't let go of it...so i would like to steal/borrow a little board space.

(sorry the post is so long! skip to the bottom for the take-away message:redpinkhe)

i was recently in the hospital & had surgery. i received excellent care.

this is a specific thank you for my nurses, nursing assistants, dietary assistants, the pharmacist who came up to see me, and anyone else involved in my care "behind the scenes."

i also hope my fellow allnurses read this post & take away a good feeling about the work they do and the care they provide. through this experience, i have been reminded myself of my value as a nurse and the impact i can have on my patients, even with the smallest of gestures.

s, nurse: thank you for understanding that i needed limited exposure to certain family members while i was waiting to go to the OR. thank you for guarding my well-being so that their anxiety didn't escalate my anxiety.

c, nurse: thank you for coming into the room at the beginning of your shift and saying, "how are you doing? okay, here's what we're gonna do today..." and laying out a plan. you were confident and upbeat and made me feel like things were going to happen that day...other than my lying around in bed being in pain! thank you for helping me change my gown when my j-p drain leaked. thank you for noticing and offering to do it. it was uncomfortable and kinda cold, but i didn't want to ask, 'cause i know how busy you are.

j, nursing assistant: thank you for your light spirit, royal blue scrubs (i like that color), and gentle hands. you made me feel better just by coming in the room. thank you for my ginger ale (i never drink soda & it was a luxury & helped my nausea). thank you for sharing a cute story about your daughter; it made me feel better & distracted me from my pain. thank you for bringing me stuff to bathe with. thank you most of all, though, for writing on my little white greaseboard under -goals of the day- "pain > 5"...this made me smile. i'm glad you didn't notice & change it.

r, nurse: thank you for your gentle way and soft voice. thank you for your respectful offering to get a female nurse to help me change my gown when my drain leaked again. i hope you didn't feel uncomfortable when i said i was fine w/your doing it. when i woke up from one of my many snoozes, i was happy to see your name on my little white greaseboard as the oncoming nurse. thank you for responding to my call bell request for toradol. also, i am sorry that you had to stop what you were doing & call the doc for an order for oxybutynin for my surgery-related bladder spasms (maybe next time he'll remember to order this & save you some time?! :>). the oxybutynin & pyridium helped so i could sleep.

tall blonde night nurse in purple scrubs (i'm sorry i can't remember your name): thank you for taking care of me. when you told me you had looked in on me several times & i was sleeping, i felt comforted and watched over. thank you for my zofran.

dietary assistant: thank you for your smile and your well wishes. thank you for bringing me those weirdly awesome yellow gel treats and cream of chicken soup which tasted so good after having been NPO.

pharmacist: thank you for coming up to apologize personally for not having my cytomel on hand. i wasn't concerned about it at all; it was a nice gesture for you to come.

& to whomever was my nurse when i first got to the floor: i am so sorry that my dilaudid PCA made me feel agitated and wonky, and that i ended up asking you if you'd ask the doctor to discontinue it. thank you for understanding and calling him. i hope that didn't take too awfully long...i can't remember much.

thank you for all these things, plus the 2000+ other basic and above & beyond feats you performed that i was unaware of. thank you all for taking such good care of me, even though i'm sure you were: (choose only two ;)) understaffed, pulled in 10 directions, tired, frantic, hungry, in pain, needing to pee, worried about your kids, dealing with all the b.s. of the job....thank you for meeting my needs even though you may have been silently thinking what a PITA i was and praying for the end of your shift. :bugeyes:

allnurses, thank you for allowing me to send this gratitude into the (internet) consciousness.

of course now i wish i'd posted sooner, as there are details i can't remember...from the meds and the passage of time...

no! i'm not going to overread and overanalyze and overedit this, i'm going to post it as is, errors and all.

thank you, nurses! what you do matters so much.:heartbeat :loveya:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep...and i thought of my OR nurses (thank you for safeguarding me and assuring that everything went as planned) & PACU nurses (thank you for keeping me comfortable and hookin' me up with zofran so i didn't retch).

i know there are others...but i just can't remember them all.

okay. to bed now.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Thank you for this wonderful post!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.

Thanks, because usually everyone forgets to thank most of those who cared for them. They only remember the surgeon/MD....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in M/S, MICU, CVICU, SICU, ER, Trauma, NICU.

Thanks for the thanks.

We in PACU are often "the forgotten". No one ever remembers us except when the experience is EXTREMELY NEGATIVE.

I guess that is a good thing that we are often "the forgotten."

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm a nursing student, and reading posts like this makes me look forward to being a nurse and taking care of people.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My husband and I gave my nurses a thank you cards when we had our son. One of them was doing her clinicals and she was excellent!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.

That was so nice of you! Thank you for thanking us.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Thanks for the thanks.

We in PACU are often "the forgotten". No one ever remembers us except when the experience is EXTREMELY NEGATIVE.

I guess that is a good thing that we are often "the forgotten."

ugh! i know!

jo, i'm embarrassed that i almost forgot to thank my pacu nurses, who were awesome. there were two of them...i think. i don't remember their names or their faces. i couldn't tell you what they were wearing. i couldn't see them, like my eyes were filled with mineral oil, or i was under water. through the haze, i remember their hands and their voices only.

i was soooo grateful when my sharp-eyed pacu nurse noticed i was lookin' pukey & asked if i needed more zofran, and that i only had to nod, because i was still pre-verbal and never could've gotten the request out (inside was thinking, "oh no, i'm going to throw up...o yes! o thank you!! yes please, i would love some!! thank goodness!! you read my mind!!").

thank you!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
My husband and I gave my nurses a thank you cards when we had our son. One of them was doing her clinicals and she was excellent!

very nice!! i bet that meant a lot to them. it always does when patients make kind gestures. it embarrasses me & can make me teary.

i thought about sending flowers, something yummy, or just a thank you note...and then i just didn't do it. i think i was worried they wouldn't remember me, especially after a week or so passed. i should've not second-guessed myself & gone ahead & sent something!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion