tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post8430369753763693381..comments2023-06-14T03:36:55.988-07:00Comments on Head Nurse: Sometimes nothing works.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16520599099436383317noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-7247661427407519772011-06-08T22:51:58.167-07:002011-06-08T22:51:58.167-07:00My mother-in-law had decades with COPD. After 6 we...My mother-in-law had decades with COPD. After 6 weeks as an inpatient, the last two in ICU, we made a decision on the Friday before Mothers' Day to do no more surgery, and let her go. She held on until early Mothers' Day morning. Yes, in a way, there was nothing more to be done. But on the other hand, the care that the ICU staff provided for her and for us, especially over those last two days, was nevertheless an enormous gift, and a blessing in a very difficult situation.Osa Morenanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-59913940692611850902011-06-08T11:32:27.101-07:002011-06-08T11:32:27.101-07:00I understand Jo. Every feeling, every thought, ev...I understand Jo. Every feeling, every thought, every "what if," every bit of the denial anger incomprehension etc etc. Just like what you can offer the palate surgery patient you mention in a later post. We get it. You did good. And will do more good. I'm sorry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-35534417666432754762011-06-06T21:53:15.802-07:002011-06-06T21:53:15.802-07:00Not surprising you would remember that so vividly....Not surprising you would remember that so vividly. What a way you found to honor your friend - taking her along the nursing road in spirit like that.<br /><br />I've had a fascination w/ the dorm-hospital affiliated nursing schools of years gone by~~ some stories are tragic, some are comic - maybe I was unduly influenced by the movie "Night Nurse"(1931) w/ a very young Barbara Stanwyck :) <br /><br />I think most of the time the distance-closeness weight finds it's proper balance if you don't try to mess with the process. I have a handful of "never forgets" from my early years at Children's Hospital. No, I don't think the ideal is to get to the "shrug" state. I know I never will and am OK with that.Elysehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17412725521063514479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-19659291486279466242011-06-06T08:01:08.035-07:002011-06-06T08:01:08.035-07:00Linda - I am so sorry for your losses. Way too muc...Linda - I am so sorry for your losses. Way too much - you havent had a chance to get over the first loss.<br />Jo - sometimes yo have to just step back and realize, we can only do what we can do - it is not always up to us.Sometimes it is the patient who is jsut tired of it all, and has met all thei goals (the cancer pts I had who held on long enough to say goodbye to their families proved that to me) and other times, well, whatever Being you believe in, it is Their decision. They are the ones who have provided the knowledge and the caring that we give...but ultimately it is up to Them (Him, Her, whoever). You cared - that is the most important thing; - and you gave it your all - that is the second most important thing. Now you have to give it all up to whatever Higher Being you believe in (or dont disbelieve)and realize they are the true Higher Power who makes those decisions.daniellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04460011312097894940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-58107113073902200552011-06-06T07:04:44.450-07:002011-06-06T07:04:44.450-07:00Jo,
Thanks for doing your best. I'm an enginee...Jo,<br />Thanks for doing your best. I'm an engineer and the laws of thermodynamics tell me that death and corruption eventually always win. <br /><br />But then there's LIFE! Life struggles against entropy. It's wonderful and miraculous, and unfortunately, temporary.<br /><br />Ya done good, kiddo!Just My 2¢https://www.blogger.com/profile/01870976662057532723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-28807889152907985242011-06-05T22:17:03.654-07:002011-06-05T22:17:03.654-07:00(Cont'd, i.e., to post or not prn, i.e., *your...(Cont'd, i.e., to post or not prn, i.e., *your call*, Jo):<br /> <br />In regard to patients; and not knowing whether or not you'll ever be able to put that last thing behind you, no matter how big it was ............ *41 years* ago, (i.e., your AGE, Jo, I think!!), when I was in Nursing School ............ one of my fellow classmates died in our Nurses' Dorm ............ in the hallway, directly outside of the door to my room. <br /><br />To make a long story short, my classmate----(bubbly, blonde-and-blue-eyed, and our Junior Class President, too)----had previously had Open Heart Surgery, a few years before, by the world-renowned Dr. Michael DeBakey. Early one quiet Sunday morning in the Nurses' Dorm, she jumped out of bed; and was sprinting down the hallway----(to answer the phone at the end of the hallway, i.e., pre- cell phone days!!)----and the suture line of her heart ruptured internally, instantly causing her to drop ............ in the hallway, directly outside my door. When the Hall Phone kept ringing-and-ringing, I opened my door to find her, supine on the floor ............<br /><br />Another nursing classmate and I did 2-person CPR----(being students, we didn't know what else TO do)----even while our stricken classmate....was placed on the Ambulance stretcher....then carried down....from the Second Floor....to the First Floor....out into the Ambulance....then into the Hospital ER across the street....where the ER Physician and ER Nurses then took over. <br /><br />That long-ago day, I ............ unsuccessfully ............ tried to *BLOW LIFE INTO* a wonderful young girl, whose Nursing Career was cut short, before it really even officially began. Later that same quiet Sunday morning, when her parents arrived at the Hospital, the Nursing Supervisor met them outside. Her poor mother's anguished screams ............ reverberated ............ from the outside walls of the Hospital to the walls of all the surrounding buildings/houses, and back again. I have never, (and will never), forget how those cries of her mother sounded to me, as a Nursing Student ............ 41 years ago. <br /><br />So, in my intervening 35 years of active Nursing, experiencing the deaths of many other patients, (Med-Surg Nursing; Skilled Gerontological Nursing; College Health Nursing) ............ (i.e., although not NEARLY as many deaths as you've probably already experienced, Jo, in your Nursing Specialty over the past nearly 10 years) ............ I did go on. <br /><br />But, even though my classmate who died was (technically) "My Patient" ............ for less than 30 minutes, (unlike your patient, who was your patient, throughout two years) ............ I don't know whether I'll ever, really, be able to put it behind me. I vowed, that tragic day, to be the best nurse that I could be, i.e., to honor my classmate; and the good nurse I KNOW my classmate wanted to be ............ and would've been, too.Rosannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17290435002631069643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-45788606173199950212011-06-05T22:10:16.997-07:002011-06-05T22:10:16.997-07:00Jo, I'm sorry for the loss of your longtime pa...Jo, I'm sorry for the loss of your longtime patient; and, Lynda (first in Comments), I'm also sorry for the recent loss of your 48-year-old brother. <br /><br />Simply because of circumstances/the situation/the relationship, to me personally there's "hard"; then there's "hardER" for caregivers and/or survivors; and (although different) ............ both of your current deep sorrow, after deaths ............ are in the "hardER" category, I think. I'm just so very sorry.Rosannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17290435002631069643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-8728827713436691552011-06-05T12:49:41.640-07:002011-06-05T12:49:41.640-07:00LH-O - if I knew you you would have been welcome t...LH-O - if I knew you you would have been welcome to call me anytime. I remember the feeling of not being able to call anyone oh so clearly. But for some reason - even when it is the middle of the afternoon the people you want to call because they might understand have all gone shopping, working - anywhere except at the end of the phone! Virtual hugs to you too.Eileennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-88941354068955143992011-06-05T11:27:57.441-07:002011-06-05T11:27:57.441-07:00Thank you for this, Jo... And condolences to Lynda...Thank you for this, Jo... And condolences to Lynda. How awful. Yeah--they WILL die, and someday, so will we, and ain't that a kick in the teeth. It's especially tough when you have come to know and love them, I think. Warm thoughts to you Jo, you rock.terri chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09398808840234914275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-91045905103415866822011-06-05T09:39:50.239-07:002011-06-05T09:39:50.239-07:00I've always been able to "move on" (...I've always been able to "move on" (though I grieved) in those situations...<br /><br />I'll listen anytime you need it ~bobbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14353836074794786357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-33196379929431434032011-06-05T08:11:22.025-07:002011-06-05T08:11:22.025-07:00Wow. This is going to be an interesting blog to fo...Wow. This is going to be an interesting blog to follow. Thanks for doing this. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-32347020865602579282011-06-05T03:51:02.253-07:002011-06-05T03:51:02.253-07:00Words aren't enough here, but they are all i h...Words aren't enough here, but they are all i have.<br /><br />Please accept my condolences.messymimihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10649529601786689712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-7619286754152519532011-06-05T02:48:18.617-07:002011-06-05T02:48:18.617-07:00Hugs of the virtual kind Jo - because many of us D...Hugs of the virtual kind Jo - because many of us DO understand what it was like for you. That's part of why you have a blog isn't it?Eileennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6833607.post-3329609014640295172011-06-04T21:22:21.461-07:002011-06-04T21:22:21.461-07:00Jo. I just lost my second sibling in less than thr...Jo. I just lost my second sibling in less than three years and they were both under 50. Brother just went on Wed night late. He had had a massive MI on Thursday 5/26. He turned 48 the next day and died five days later. I am heartbroken again and there’s no one to talk to this late at night so I sit, with you and your heartaches and join you with mine. Thanks for listening.Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O)https://www.blogger.com/profile/08938791116446859160noreply@blogger.com