What's the nicest thing anyone has ever said or done for you?

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Oct 6, 2014

I had a patient pass on my shift, it was sudden and not expected. No family was there. Only me. I was close with the family as they always came in faithfully and loved their mom so much. They were very good to the staff. The patient didn't take well to many, she would be combative and hard to care for, it wasn't her normal disposition prior to her illness, but she had Alzheimers and over time she became a tough one to care for. But for me, she never gave me a second worth of trouble or problem. Not sure what it was about me, but even in the middle of 'combat' with the staff trying to care for her, if I walked in she'd stop everything she was doing or saying and smile and say, 'there's my pretty little one'.

I went to the wake and the daughter and her son came running over to me. The daughter gave me a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek and said, "Pixie, if it weren't my eyes Momma was looking into as she passed, I'm forever thankful that they were your beautiful eyes she was gazing into'. They sent a lovely letter about how much they appreciated me and all I did to my supervisor, the administrator and the President of the health corp that owned our facility a few weeks later.

Oh my! That brought tears to my eyes. Even 5 years later it still does. That one statement reminded me (and still does) on why I do what I do.

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Oct 8, 2014

I was working as a CNA on an ortho floor while very pregnant w/ my first child and in nursing school. This 70-something retired RN came to the hospital for a hip replacement and I was her CNA. Somehow it had come up that I was going to be a nurse. Some weeks later, our NM received a thank-you card for the unit from her, and specifically for me a hand-crocheted baby afghan with a card saying "Good luck with the baby and with your studies. You're going to be a good nurse!" I was floored.

Recently I took care of a woman in her 40s with a dx that you don't associate with active, seemingly healthy women in their 40s. She had a husband and young-ish kids and many other family and friends at her bedside who were devastated. I was her nurse the first night and she suddenly took a turn for the worse and upon a CT scan, determined that there was nothing meaningful that could be done. They put her on comfort care, and she died later that day. Not even a week later, they sent a heartfelt thank-you note to us--thank you for caring for her, we truly know you did everything you could etc. They personally named her 3 bedside RNs and the staff MD on her primary service in their card. I couldn't believe so soon after losing her, and with how devastated they were, they'd think of us like that.

SydneyJo1 · Oct 8, 2014

When I was working night shift on the postpartum unit there was a really young woman who had had a crash c-section and was having a hard time. She was in pain, trying to breastfeed (it wasn't going well), scared, and didn't seem to have any family or friends to visit her. I spent a lot of time with her during my shift, and in the morning when I left I said goodbye to her and told her I'd be back again that night. When I got to work that night, I went in to assess her. She was still miserable, in tears, holding her baby. But when I walked in she smiled the biggest smile and said "I told myself all day to just hold on until 11:00 because you'd be back. I'm so glad you're here!". It made me feel so good to be needed and appreciated like that. :)

mom2sam · Oct 12, 2014

ohhhhh where are those tissues! I love this post! It's a reminder of what nurses and health care workers do on a daily basis to treat our patients physical and psy.

My very first tear jerking moment came about when I was a Psych ER tech and a female patient that was considered by other staff as a "regular" and often times ignored said to me one night as I entered the unit to work the 11-7 shift "The pitter patter of your shoes makes my heart so happy, I know I will be cared for and I thank you" all I could do was hug her and i later took a few minutes to let my tears roll. I love Nursing and I cannot see myself doing anything else.

HemOnc, MSN, RN, APN · Oct 14, 2014

I have been in Oncology all through my working life and have had some amazing experiences! Patients have made me blankets and scarves for my babies, cooked for me, made me such beautiful things out of wood that left me speechless, given me home advice, made me some original paintings and have said some really, really nice words to me. But the most unforgettable thing anyone has ever said to me was that I made his cancer 'almost bearable'....brought tears to my eyes!

danggirl · Oct 14, 2014

The most amazing (and humbling) act of gratitude from a patient and her family occurred about 8 years ago and it still brings tears to my eyes. I worked charge on a med/renal/endocrine floor and so we had a lot of repeat customers. A young, married, diabetic, pregnant woman from Guatemala (was married to an American guy...she spoke no English, he spoke very little Spanish) was admitted one day with hyperemesis gravidarum. It was one of those "once-in-a-blue-moon" kind of shifts where I didn't actually have a patient assignment on top of being in charge so I decided, rather than giving one of my nurses a 7th patient, I would take her. First order of business was to establish IV access and initiate aggressive IV hydration. This poor woman was literally retching non-stop. It was so violent, like a continuous seizure, that it was impossible for her to keep any part of her body immobile even for a few seconds. Her husband ended up climbing onto the bed behind her to hold her and I ended up completely on the bed also in front of her...miracle of miracles, the first IV went in and stayed in. By the end of the shift her retching had slowed enough for her to get at least a little rest. Over the next three days, we got her stabilized on an insulin drip and thoroughly re-hydrated. On the 5th day we discharged her home. I took care of her two more times for the same thing during her pregnancy and thought that the last time I discharged her home would be the last time I saw her. After a weekend off, I came in and saw her name on the board. Apparently, during the process of childbirth, she had broken one of her hips and then went into a diabetic coma. After her stabilization in the ICU, she was transferred back to our floor until her discharge. The day before she was scheduled to be discharged, I was in her room doing some patient education (via a translator) when her husband came in and requested that I put her in a wheelchair and escort her down to the hospital lobby for a surprise. Unbeknownst to me, he had already cleared this with our Nurse Manager and she came with us. In the lobby was the woman's family complete with her month old baby daughter. They brought the baby over to me, took a picture of us together and then gave me an envelope with a card in it. The card was a birth announcement. It said "We thank God for bringing an Angel into our lives to watch over us until the arrival of our own little Angel"...the tear jerker: They gave the baby my first name as her middle name to show their gratitude for me doing my job!!! Marisol Daniela. Could never top that one in my entire career!

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Oct 14, 2014

I was in a local store earlier today, and I saw a former employee there. We struck up a conversation, and she told me she was thinking of joining the home care agency I belonged to she could take care of me because I was such a pleasant person. I hugged her and thanked her for saying such a nice thing.

silverbat · Oct 15, 2014

One night I had a particulary crazy night with a difficult co-worker. I had a team of 15 with an CNA to help. That meant I did all meds, assessments and charting on all 15, the CNA did the vitals and other care. One of my 15 was a gentlemen with basically whole body cancer. He was on 02 and had a Morphine PCA.

I went to break and when I came back, my CNA was upset. She told me" he says he is gonna die". I went in and sat in the chair by him and asked what was up? He said he had had enough and was just going to go to heaven. I told him that was fine and to do what he needed to do. I said, I will just sit here with you for awhile, if that's ok. He said it was and that when he got to Heaven he would tell God to Bless all the nurses. I thanked him and we sat there for 45 minutes, untilhe passed on with the most peaceful look on his face. His wife was very upset and I held her while she cried.

I stayed with them until the preacher came. 3-4 weeks later, in Walmart, a woman came running up to me with her friend and says.. Here she is-- the one who was so good to us when my husband died. Thankfully she used his name and I recognized her. It was good she thought I had helped.

No Stars In My Eyes · Oct 16, 2014

What great, heart-warming stories here.

So many good things have been said to me, nice things done for me over the years of my career; I just can't pick which one might be the nicest.

I will just use the first one, that happened when I was still a student nurse. We were on our Peds rotation at a Very Big Name, hugely Prestigious Teaching Hospital. My assignment that day was 2 pts, one toddler with an ortho problem and one infant in an incubator.This was in the days before NICU's.

The Head-Honcho Dr/Surgeon/Peds Expert/Windy Lecturer was holding rounds and seemed to get into some deep discussion around the incubator. Well, they wouldn't move on and my time was running short. I was scared to death. Not only was this my first infant pt and my first incubator experience, there were all those damned doctors hanging around MY patient! It also made me MAD!

With pounding heart, I got my supplies and excused myself into the crowd, and just went ahead and took care of that baby, paying attention only to the infant and my work, but self-conciously aware of every eye on me. Gads what a weird feeling, like adrenalin, but Oooooh.....so.....slow-motion

. Before they all departed 10 minutes later The Source, MD, said to all of his group, "And I would like to point out that we have, or should have, learned a lesson here today; this young lady, a student nurse, has showed us what is truly important: the patient

only.....and not some mob of self-important Dr.'s and Dr.'s-To-Be, like us. You, young lady, are already a GOOD nurse!"

And then he went to my clinical instructor and praised me, as well!

BOY, did that make my year!

afrolicious23 · Oct 18, 2014

nicest done for me was my family paying for my college education.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2014

We had a horrific code situation. The CEO came down to watch and the next day he brought us a beautiful flower arrangement thanking us for working so hard and doing our very best.

His associate once wrote me a letter of commendation for my work with a very difficult family situation.

This is what comes to mind first when I think about what was the nicest thing anyone ever did for me at work.

Loveyourkidneys · Mar 26, 2015

I got a ticket on my way to work in Christmas Eve. I was going to the office to pay and discuss the officers very rude behavior with the prosecutor. (Not trying to get out of the ticket but really 7 miles over at 345 am Christmas Eve) what a jerk. As I was talking to the prosecutor, her secretary came in to bring some papers. She stopped in her tracks and ran to hug me and started crying. She said "this lady here is the nurse who took care of my brother before he died (on dialysis) she is the reason I got to say good bye to him" I still paid the ticket but that sincere thank you hug was worth soooo much more