I scheduled myself like a crazy person and I'm working 6 days strait so that I can have 7 days of in a row for the Christmas holiday. It was kind of a crazy idea on my part but I really wanted the time off and we self-schedule so I can. Tonight is day four of six and I have to say it has been kind of fun. I'm taking care of the two most interesting and amazing people, on of which is the man that has touched my heart this week.
My patient was brought in for chest pain (duh, I'm in the CIC) earlier this week. As I have taken care of him, I've really gotten close to him and his wife. He is a pretty wonderful man and has such an awesome story.
He was married for over 42 years to his first wife. She was diagnosised with lung cancer and battled it for a few years before it took her life. However, shortly before she died, she told him that he needed to go out and get his own insurance policy because she was the carrier of their policy. So he did as his wife wished and got his own health insurance policy. She also made him a list of women's names. She told him that he was going to get lonely and she wanted him to remarry. So on the right-hand side of the page there were 3 names of women she thought he could marry. On the left-hand side there were 8 names of women that she told him never to date! One of the ladies on the right-hand side was actually the CFO of the vineyard that he owns. He thought she was married all these years and turns out she was single and his wife loved her! He ended up marrying this women that is wife had suggested.
Four months after she had died and he had purchased the insurance policy his upper spine snapped. This man keep working but decided to go to the hospital because he was having "a little back discomfort". (Ah, yeah...you think) Come to find out that the reason it broke was because he had multiple myeloma. (Myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, a type of white cell found in many tissues of the body, but primarily in the bone marrow. Plasma cells are part of the body's immune system.)
This man has been battling this cancer since 2007. He gets Chemo every week and is still going with an extremely positive attitude. The doctors think he is a miracle man and I do too! I won't go into his long health history but it's extensive and to look and talk to him, you'd never know.
Obviously I didn't know him before he was sick but he has such a joy for life and love and his wife. (Both current and previous wife) He told me, " I just love women, you guys are so wonderful and special. I love to listen to you talk and learn from you guys." He had a horrible childhood from the brief conversation about it but he still has a love and respect for women that I haven't heard from a lot of men. He and is wife are adorable together. He said to me the other day "you know, she's the only thing keeping me going, she's just such a wonderful person." He also told me that she was the one who taught him about Christ and what he did for all of us.
He knows he is going to die. This disease is terminal and they are pretty much at the last line of treatment for him according to his doctors. He is doing all of those things on his "bucket list" and he literally said that he had a "bucket list". He seems fairly invincable to me but I know we all have our time to go. I know Heavenly Father has a plan for this man because he should have been dead long ago.
I can't explain how rewarding it has been to take care of someone who is such a good person. I have such a great job to be able to help families like this. I honestly haven't had to do too much for him except listen and talk really, but that has been the most rewarding of all!
My second patient is a lady that was "found down" and for lack of a long story had a stroke and is now in a coma. She doesn't respond to anything really, other than when we move her and is gets a little irritated with me.
Although she can't talk and she is non-responsive to almost everything I do to communicate with her, there is just something special about her. She has a certain spirit about her and I know when I'm working with her that she is one of Heavenly Father's daughters. I'm not sure what is going on in her head, but I know that Heavenly Father is with her because I can feel his presence when I'm in the room with her.
It's hard to understand why things happen to certain people in their lives, but when I go into a room, like hers and feel the Spirit, it makes things okay. His plan is not always our plans but he loves us and wants us to be happy.
It's such a wonderful privledge to be sharing moments with people during their most vunlerable times. What a blessing it is to be a nurse.
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