Have you received memorable cards and gifts from patients and families that made your day? I have always loved to see the cards, flowers, etc that people will send after our patients go home. Especially I like a progress report that shows our caring made a difference!
We may feel like "just another provider" but when we get a little thanks or recognition, for example, "The best unit my mom has been on" etc., it just helps ease the pain of the trials we face and feeling unappreciated.
I know we aren't supposed to take gifts but my supervisor once made an exception. I was caring for a lady in a nursing home and she passed away. Her family gave me a special watch that was made with abelone shell, it was gorgeous. They just liked how I had cared for her in her last days.
This is something that says "thanks" to all of us - and from some of us, to you. It is written as if people with disabilities might have written it, but it seems to apply to any of our nursing experiences:
BEATITUDES FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE
BLESSED ARE YOU who take time to listen to difficult speech, for you
help us to know that if we persevere we can be understood.
BLESSED ARE YOU who walk with us in public places, and ignore the
stares of strangers, for in your friendship we feel good to be
ourselves.
BLESSED ARE YOU who never bid us to "hurry up" and, more blessed,
you who do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them for us,
for often we need time rather than help.
BLESSED ARE YOU who stand beside us as we enter new and untried
ventures, for our unsureness will be outweighed by the times when we
surprise ourselves and you.
BLESSED ARE YOU who ask for our help and realize our giftedness, for
our greatest need is to be needed.
BLESSED ARE YOU who help us with the graciousness of Christ, for
often we need the help we cannot ask for.
BLESSED ARE YOU when, by all things, you assure us that what makes
us individuals is not our particular disability or difficulty but
our beautiful God-given person-hood which no handicapping condition
can confine.
REJOICE AND BE EXCEEDINGLY GLAD for your understanding and love have
opened doors for us to enjoy life to its full and you have helped us
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
His daughter came around a few days later - to thank all those who had worked with her Father. I just gave her a hug and told her how sorry and sad I was that he'd passed on. She smiled and told me that "Dad thought you were a gentle, funny soul. He liked you. Thank you for all that you tried, for taking every patience with us and your diligence and vigilance to your task. It meant a lot to me - and to Dad".
This was actually a month or so ago - and I still think of Thomas L.
May I never forget him...
{{{{{{{{{{Roy}}}}}}}} thank you - don't know whether to put a sad face or a happy face... I think it is so good that it was you taking care of him!
This thread has been so wonderful to read!!! Thank you to everyone for your stories
I am a new RN having just graduated in December and actually just finished working my first week as a RN on a L&D floor. It has been amazing! On my first day, my first patient ever as RN was a beautiful Hispanic woman giving birth to her fifth child without any support person or family whatsoever. I have not mastered Spanish yet (but working on it) but I tried very hard to use what I knew even though there was in interpreter in the room. Anyway, the birth went so smoothly and mother and baby came through happy and healthy. After completing the newborn assessment and getting mom cleaned up and helping them bond, I started working to fill out the birth certificate paperwork with the help of my preceptor. When we had the interpreter ask the new mom what she wanted to name her daughter, the mom looked directly at me and said my name!!! My first thought was maybe she was asking for my suggestion, so we had the interpreter ask her more specifically. But she said that she wanted to name her daughter after me because I had made this birth wonderful for her. I almost cried right there!
So, that's my "memorable" thank you ... there is a little girl out there who was named after me
I have two stories that stand out over 12 years. The first thank you came in the form of a birthday card from a supervisor that I had a love/hate relationship with. Her son had AIDS and had hidden the fact that his health was rapidly declining. She had a mission trip in another country she had been planning and he didn't want to ruin it for her. A few days after she had left he came into the hospital. He talked her into not coming home, even though they both knew he was dying. Everyone was afraid to care for him; it was a small hospital and he was our first patient like this. Myself and another nurse cared for him every night for the three nights he lived. I walked into his room to give him pain meds and knew he was taking his last few breaths, and I woke up his father and brother so they could be with him. His father told my supervisor what a good job I did in caring for him, and she gave me a card that said....."I felt very good knowing you were caring for my son and my family in my abscence. I can't think of anyone I would rather have had there." I still have that card!!
The second thank you was from a girl that I had cared for her and her new baby when she delivered him. He came into our ER three weeks later a SIDS death. Two years after that she delivered a baby girl and the same nurse and I were both there to watch everything come full circle for this family. My thank you was to God for letting me share in this miracle and heal a little bit myself!!
I'm not overly religious, although i was brought up in a highly Christian household. I cared for this wonderful man who was one of God's onward Christian soldiers in the Salvation Army, post-op from L4-5 fusion. Anyway, wanted to write a note or two to various persons and then he asked me to help him write a new verse for a hymn... dictation style of course. he said i helped inspire him with my (& God's care). He was going to be D/C one day and he stated in the morning that there would be a surprise for me later @ the end of my shift... i told him not to bother and that it was my pleasure to care for such a nice man.You know the type, always smiling first thing in the morning despite the pain, and always with wonderful manners , & always trying his best to succeed with the physio and rehab etc. Anyway, unfortunately he had an undiagnosed ACA and died un-expectantly that morning. A courier came and delivered a dozen red roses, a teddy bear and chocolates with a card... from my wonderful salvo... it read "To the greatest nurse to me, with God's love flowing though you my wounds are healed and my soul is restored. Thankyou friend, thankyou for our loving chats @ 3am and for helping to soothe my pain - both of the heart and the back. These gifts are for you, the bear is to hug - to remind you that comfort is everything! the flowers are to remind you that a beautiful life is not without the occassional thorn and the chocolates are because i cant (he was a T2DM)!! Enjoy!and thankyou once again for everything! I cried and cried... i only looked after him for 4 days and 3 nights, but he touched my heart. :)
If you remember me, I was the lady having C Diff diarrhea all over the floor around Christmas time, and i wanted to thank you for putting up with me and my messes and being so patient about it...." Etc...
I made me laugh, think I still have it around here somewhere!
Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.
I have been a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in Urology for 2 years. I recently had a mother send me a beautiful card and picture of her child thanking me for the following. Her daughter is an 11 month old baby we follow with urinary reflux and has a history of pyelonephritis. It is standard practice that whenever these babies get fevers they need to be catheterized for a urine culture. Mom calls the office on a Thursday afternoon b/c her daughter had a 101 fever all day and her pediatrician's office would not take her seriously (they had already been directed by us what needed to be done in case of fever). I advised the mom to come to our clinic so I could cath her and reassured her that she was not being over concerned. She came to clinic, we got the sample, started her empirically on antibiotics and sent them home. I called to check on her the next day (b/c it was a Friday) and then called her on Monday to let her know the lab results. This is standard practice for us and I do it almost once a week. This mom wrote the most beautiful note stating she had never been treated so nicely and had anyone go so much beyond the call of duty for her before. She also stated noone has ever called her with lab results either. I was very touched by the thank you but also amazed at the poor service she has received from previous doctors to think that what I did was so extraordinary.
If you remember me, I was the lady having C Diff diarrhea all over the floor around Christmas time, and i wanted to thank you for putting up with me and my messes and being so patient about it...." Etc...
I made me laugh, think I still have it around here somewhere!
Missy:lol2:
Reminds me of my kid the other day ... severe scoliosis, in halo and steinman traction following an anterior release, hadn't pooped in a week. I sent up a silent prayer and gave her the dulcolax/miralax/colace cocktail. Right around 7:25 she "responded". After the oncoming nurse and I spent the next half hour cleaning the poor child up as she bravely hit her PCA button, she turned her eyes towards me and said "Thank you so much for giving me that pill and that drink. I feel much better now." If i had been her, I would have been trying to kick me in the head!
Oh, I came across this thread and have been sitting here blubbering like a day old calf! I am more determined than ever to go ahead and pursue my years of dreaming to become a nurse. Although I am in pre-nursing classes this semester, I know that I know, I want to be a nurse almost more than anything (after being a mom to my two beautiful boys)! Just to take care of people, and make a difference in someones life, man oh man. Our A&P teacher keeps telling us, that is a PERSON in that bed, a human being, treat them like one, not just a heart attack, a cancer patient, etc., put yourself in that persons place (or their family) how would you want to be treated? I always knew I have walked through fire most of life for a reason and that it would be used for good one day, that one day will be when I become a nurse. My hat is off to all you nurses, cna's eveyone that makes a difference! You are loved and very much appreciated, never for one min think you are not. Blessings to all!
awww...that is so sweet. and such words to live by. i am right now changing careers and trying to get into nursing school. what a testimonial you just gave to nursing!!!
that made me cry. i am a 47 yo woman that is going to change careers to become an rn. i am trying right now to get my prereqs done and get accepted into a school. seriously though, this is a concern of mine because i have such a heart.....i know that must make sense to nurses. i care about people. plus, my sister died almost a year ago in a traffic accident and im still dealing with that. how do ya'll do it? does school teach you how to deal with people and their loss? i'm thinking that it must.
Liddle Noodnik
3,789 Posts
{{{{{{{{{{Roy}}}}}}}} thank you - don't know whether to put a sad face or a happy face... I think it is so good that it was you taking care of him!