Friday I admitted a man to my inpatient Hospice unit. He had 3 women with him and an young man. I knew that he had a son and a daughter and assumed the third woman was his wife. One of the girls I had picked out as his daughter, they had that connection. Turns out she was his son's fiancee. Saturday, they came out to me and started talking about how they would like to get married Tuesday. They were going to wait until Sept. but with this gentleman's diagnosis and quick decline, they wanted to get married while he was still alive and able to be a part of the ceremony. His son's fiancee loved him (the patient), she felt it was more important to have have him at her wedding than to have the big church wedding. Unfortunately, there is a 5 day mandatory waiting period in our county. Sooooooooo.....I called our medical director and asked permission to write a letter in his name explaining the special circumstances, he agreed. I called our hospice chaplin to see if he would be willing to preform the ceremony, he agreed. I called the kitchen to see if they would make a wedding cake, they agreed, lol. Monday, the courts were closed for MLK day. That night I gave the patient a beautiful afgan knitted by our volunteers to give to them on their wedding day and suggested that he ask, when the time comes for little ones, they bring the baby home and they will know he will be a part of that as well.
I honestly kept my fingers crossed all day on Tuesday that the patient would still be A&O enough to understand what was going on and also that the courts would waive the 5 day waiting period. Well, the letter worked! The 5 day wait period was waived and they were married at 2pm on Tuesday in the patient's room. Pastor told me that he didn't shorted his sermon at all and gave them a really personal service. He also said the patient acted as best man and handed his son the wedding band to put on his bride's finger. Best part? They saved a piece of cake for me, lol. I love when I get to do wonderful things like this for my families!:redbeathe
I know exactly how you feel. I have many stories like yours as I worked for San Diego Hospice for 5 years. The inpatient care center is the best place to be if you want to feel rewarded for you work as a patient advocate. I workied in the admitions department as a program representative. I was San Diego Hospice to the patient and the families, untill the nurse would take over the patient's care. The work you Hospice RN's do is nothing short of amazing. I am not yet an RN but and working towards it and look forward to some day going back to SDHPC (San Diego Hospice and Palliative Care).
Thanks everyone, but I didn't post this so everyone would think I was amazing, lol. I just think it is really cool that this happened. It is so nice to feel that kind of JOY when everything just falls into place and works out for everyone. I really, really feel like there was a higher power working here to make it happen and that is the TRUE miracle.
Reading that bought tears to my eyes, it really did, That is absolutely beautiful and it is times like that which make you love what we do. It is good to know that people like this exist in the world, that people such as yourself will do nothing short of bending over backwards to try to help patients and their families out as much as you possibly can, especially when their time on this earth is unfortunately drawing to an end. The afgan was a really thoughtful idea for you to put forward and i am sure that as time passes and the grandchildren are bought into the world they will be bought home in it as a gesture and memory of their grandfather, How beautiful this all is and how lucky you are to have experienced it.
AZTECA
46 Posts
Shay,
I know exactly how you feel. I have many stories like yours as I worked for San Diego Hospice for 5 years. The inpatient care center is the best place to be if you want to feel rewarded for you work as a patient advocate. I workied in the admitions department as a program representative. I was San Diego Hospice to the patient and the families, untill the nurse would take over the patient's care. The work you Hospice RN's do is nothing short of amazing. I am not yet an RN but and working towards it and look forward to some day going back to SDHPC (San Diego Hospice and Palliative Care).
p.