Sometimes you go to work. And it's just another regular day. And you meet a patient that is nice and sweet and friendly. The one who always says thank you and calls you sweetheart. And you enjoy taking care of them and go home with a smile on your face. Then you come back to work and something has changed and you realize, once again, how fragile life is. And you watch the struggle of the doctors and the family and the nurses as we try to decide when to stop fighting for life. And you realize how close you can become to a person after taking care of them for only twelve hours. You realize that your life is better for having met them and their family. You watch the strength of the spouse when after twenty four hours of valiantly fighting, the fight is over. And you cry on your way home from work. Because you remember why we do what we do.
The impact a nurse has on their patients is talked about a lot. I think we often overlook the impact patients have on the people that have the opportunity to take care of them. I am grateful for the chance I have to interact with people during some of the hardest moments of their lives. You can't go through that without learning something.
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