He sat on his mother’s lap clinging to her for dear life as
he screamed in fear. The hospital bed
seemed to hug them as they sat in the center of it, leaning against the head of
the bed that was at a 75 degree angle. His little body was shaking and his
large dark eyes darted from one nurse to the other as they prepared to take out
his existing IV and replace it with a new one. “No, No,” he cried. “Mom, mom,”
he pleaded between screams and sobs. His
young mother was desperately trying to sooth his fear while suppressing her
own. She was tired, and her eyes
betrayed her calm exterior as they were filled with sadness and protective
instincts for her child.
I watched them. I
prayed for them. I desperately wanted to
take this experience away from them.
This young patient is only 21 months old. He is my grandson. She is my daughter. I was not there to be his nurse but to be
their protector and guide through this experience and I felt like a
failure. I wanted to grab him and run
away. I wanted to cry.
The nurses approached them cheerfully and tried very hard to
sooth him by explaining things and by quickly and skillfully doing their
job. He would have none of it! While he was a good trooper he was
scared. Fear is hard thing to watch your
grandson and son struggle with. The
doctors were very good at providing us with timely updates and filled us in
often of their concerns and thoughts as treatment progressed. Added to the current fear of being in the
hospital with a sick 21 month old, was the knowledge that the doctors were
concerned that possibly our amazing little man “might possibly have lymphoma”
because of his lab values…something they were looking into…
He was hospitalized after a week of strept throat that wasn’t
treated or diagnosed by his pediatrician despite my daughter visiting the
office 2x that week with her child who had a fever of 101 every day, consecutively
all week. As a result, he developed a
large abscess posterior to his parotid gland that was drained of 15cc of
bacteria after the second admit day. He
had to receive IV Vancomycin until they knew what the cultured drainage was
growing. He was sick of being sick and
sick of being trapped in a small room with people accosting him!
My daughter is a wonderful mother, she gets her protective
instincts from me…anyone who knows me will know that I take protecting those in
my care very seriously…as does she. I
watched her with awe and admiration as she loved, protected and cared for her
son. I watched in awe at my grandson who
could still show curiosity, kindness and have fun during the times he wasn’t in
pain or fearful. The ability of being
able to adapt to his situation was inspiring.
My son-in-law was equally strong as he provided his own brand of
presence to the situation. Watching them
together parent their child in this very stressful situation gave me peace as I
saw the strength and love they have for their child and one another.
Being an ER nurse I of course understood why all the medical
interventions were needed. As his
grandmother, and my daughter’s mother, I was scared, angry and protective. My husband and our family that was home in
Maine were also sitting on pins and needles as they waited and worried about
this precious little boy of ours. The experience reinforced a few things for me. As a nurse it is our job to skillfully and
compassionately provide our patients and their families with the treatment and care
they are prescribed. It is our
responsibility to bring them accurate and knowledgeable information in a timely
and routine fashion; giving them time to ask questions and to answer those
questions without impatience or judgment. It is our duty to care about the situation
they are in and to convey that with a kind presence, a caring touch and to give
them moments of our uninterrupted time to show them they are not alone. It is
our calling to see the patient and the family as human beings in a scary
situation. There is also a piece that
hit home for me…those family members and friends that continually come in to
see their loved one are coming out of concern and they offer hope and
distraction from fear for the patient and family. I challenge anyone reading
this who is a nurse to reflect on your practice and be sure that you are truly
the nurse you were meant to be. Your
presence is vital to the mental and physical wellbeing of your patients and
their families.
Lynchburg General Hospital in Lynchburg Virginia has an
amazing pediatric unit filled with compassionate and truly skilled nurses who
did all of the above with grace and humility.
The doctors were equally skilled at their job and also did it with much
compassion. My grandson fully recovered
and is now running around at breakneck speed as usual! He does not have lymphoma! Thank you Jesus.
