Why do we do what we do?

2 I was reminded yesterday.....

Patient of mine had surgery a couple of days ago.. palliative...wonderful appreciative lady.
Had an "accidental code brown" a brown streaky path from her bed to the bathroom.

I was informed of this when 2 nurses came giggling into the med room saying "your patient had a situation"

I quickly gathered all the supplies I thought I would need. Chux, biohazard bag, new gown, complete bed change.

I found her crying her eyes out in the bathroom "I'm so embarrassed" were the first words that came from her mouth.

I'm used to dealing with bodily fluids so I was fine, quickly got to work getting her cleaned up, cracked a few jokes, got her at ease. I cleaned the room as best I could and called housekeeping to sanitize.

Got her back in bed tucked in with a nice blanket from the warmer.....all routine things that I would usually do.
She started crying again and told me how wonderful she thought I was and how much she appreciated what I had done. I told her it was no problem...

Today, I received a call from my manager. Apparently her son is an Attending at one of our area hospitals. She had called him after our little adventure. He told my manager that I was the best nurse his mother had ever had and that the entire family appreciated everything I had done for her...

I CRIED!!!!!!
It's so rare to get appreciation in our field...and to get it because of something so routine is pretty awesome...
Wonderful job. I can feel how she must have felt and to have the kind, caring, respectful response made all the difference.

Don't you just love when that happens?? And it doesn't happen very often. I took care of a little confused lady yesterday...I had to irrigate her bladder several times, and it was extremely painful (I had to close the door because she was screaming so loudly). I felt horrible, and her family arrived about an hour later. I thought that the patient was going to tell horrible stories about 'the mean nurse', but when I rounded on her, she placed her hand on my cheek and thanked me for being patient with her! It just made my day. This is why we become nurses; we do really make a difference! Keep being the great nurse you obviously are, and your good days will outweigh the bad!

What is "routine" for us sometimes has a profound effect on our patients.

That's wonderful! I have received two cards from pts in the last two weeks and it has made me so happy and proud!