Thank you's - memorable ones you've received?

Nurses Relations

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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

believe in ourselves as valued and gifted people.

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..

Any new additions to this old thread?

I really enjoyed reading what people had to say :) and we've had many new members since this thread first started - lets hear from you!

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Specializes in PICU, surgical post-op.

I'm in Liberia right now, working on a hospital ship, being stretched so far, I can't even see my comfort zone anymore.

Over the last week and a half I've been caring for a small boy named Anthony (privacy laws are different here; as long as Anthony's mother has consented for me to tell her story, which she most definitely has, I'm fine to use names). He was born with a meningocele, and by the time he came to the ship on his fourth day of life, it had already started to break down. This condition in Liberia means almost certain death.

I sat with Anthony's mother, Grace, after I changed the dressing over his surgery site, and I explained how the surgery had gone. How, instead of the golf ball-sized lump protruding from the bottom of his spine, Anthony now had flat skin. How his legs were working (and so was his bladder, since, in true little boy fashion, he had tried to pee all over me twice during the dressing change). How everything looked good. A wide smile broke across her face.

Now, something the Liberians love to do is shake hands. We greet each other constantly in the streets and on the wards. In general, handshakes here are rather sedate affairs. In fact, by American standards, they're often downright limp. The only real exception I've seen to this 'rule' is in cases of extreme excitement.

This was one of those cases. She pulled her arm back as far as it would go, her smile got even wider, and she shook my hand as hard as it's ever been shaken. Laughing, she pointed to her name tag and said, 'The Lord has shown me mercy, and He has given me Grace.'

Before I discharged them yesterday, Grace got me to take a picture of myself and Anthony for her. 'I will show him when he grows old. This is Alice, and she cared for you.'

'She cared for you.' If that's all the legacy I leave here in Liberia, it will be more than enough.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..

'She cared for you.' If that's all the legacy I leave here in Liberia, it will be more than enough.

You are exactly the reason I "resuscitated" this thread - thank you thank you thank you Alice! Wonderful hearing this story!

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Specializes in PICU, surgical post-op.
thank you Alice!

the best part? Alice isn't even my name. It's just the new name that all the patients and translators around here have given me. Because they, for some reason, can't stop at Ali. I love it.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
the best part? Alice isn't even my name. It's just the new name that all the patients and translators around here have given me. Because they, for some reason, can't stop at Ali. I love it.

(chuckling) -- that's awesome - hey, a name is a very important thing! And you have TWO!

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Specializes in ICU. Med/Surg: Ortho, Neuro, & Cardiac.

There's a family-owned Mexican restaurant chain locally, and we've happened to take care of the grandmother, great-grandmother, and grandfather of the kids who now own the restaurants.

We had the great-grandmother for months with MRSA and every day the family brought chips and homemade hot sauce for all three shifts. Every couple of days they'd bring whatever was the daily special, for all the shifts.

That was really nice of them.

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Being out in the community and someone says, "Hey it's Agnus, Dad's nurse" And then they tell you how much they appreciate you. It's cool.

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JaredCNA I would be proud to work with you.

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Want a story? Okay, here's another one.

Warning: strong religious content! Lengthy too!

-I hope I don't offend anyone. {But remember these are my beliefs!} -

I walked out of his room with a lump in my throat. I gave report, gathered my things & choked back the tears to keep myself from crying all the way out to my car. Then I bawled............

}

What a beautiful story.

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Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Being out in the community and someone says, "Hey it's Agnus, Dad's nurse" And then they tell you how much they appreciate you. It's cool.

Hi Agnus, boy didn't take you long to get "here".

This thread is such a lift for me :)

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I was discharging a mom/baby couplet one evening and as I was packing the goodies from the crib for the parents to take home, mom said to me, "Is this normal?" When I turned around to look at what she was referring to, it took everything I had to keep a poker face. Her baby was having a seizure, posturing, eyes deviating left. I put on the calmest voice possible and said, "Let me take her to the nursery to get a better look at her." Well on my way to the nursery I grabbed one of my co-workers and she was kind enough to see if one of the NICU MD's would come take a look at this baby. We did labs and a dexi and the baby's blood sugar was 7! Needless to say she was transferred to the NICU right away. She stayed there for approximately two weeks until they could determine what was wrong. She ended up being diagnosed with Beckwith-Wiedmann syndrome.

This couple had recently moved to Illinois and because prenatal care had been initiated in Milwaukee, they chose to continue prenatal care and delivery of the baby here in Milwaukee. The baby would have died before they got out of the city limits.

The day before the baby was discharged from the NICU, I got a message the family wanted to see me and say good bye. They presented me with the most beautiful praying angel Lladro figurine. Mom was sobbing and and thanked me for saving her daughters life. She said, "You were Hailey's angel that day, you saved her life."

Hailey is going to be eight this year and I still keep in touch with her and her family.

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Specializes in ED/trauma.

I usually work 2 on, 1 off, 1 on (can't handle 3 in a row). On my 2nd night, I tell my patients that I won't be back tomorrow, but I will in 2 days. "I hope you're not here then, but if you are, I hope to see you!" I just love when they thank me for being there for them. As much as I would love one of those VIP staff members notes filled out for my manager to see, it doesn't really matter, as long as my patients believe I gave them the best care possible -- which is difficult much of the time.

I love when I'm leaving the floor for the night, and they wave good night to me.

I love when I come back next week, and they're still there (I don't love that they're still there...), and they say hi to me. I had this one patient last week with an NG tube who was so frustrated. The doc said he could have a popsicle -- which of course was sucked right back out, but the pt didn't care. He just wanted to taste something! He noticed that I always put my hair up halfway through the day. One day when I didn't, he commented on that. When I came back this week, he was still here, and said hi to me, and noted that my hair wasn't up yet. The next day, his NG tube was finally out, and I told him how great that way.

It's the little things that really make nursing worthwhile -- esp amidst all the charting and med passing... all those things that make it so easy to forget why you're there in the first place.

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