Have You Hugged Your Nurse Today?

We love Steph's GI and feel very grateful to have found her. Her approach with us and with Steph is just right, she explains things well, she's straightforward, and she's kind. She even called me today from her vacation to ask how Steph was doing, and immediately worked some magic to switch around a followup appointment next week so we can go to Newton-Wellesley instead of shlepping back into town.

We met lots of other doctors this week, both at Newton-Wellesley and at Mass. General, and we felt confident that Steph was getting great care with all of them. One doctor from NWH even came to check on Steph over the weekend at MGH. Granted, some doctors are better than others at explaining things or at talking to a kid. When it comes right down to it, I'd rather have a competent doctor who's lacking in bedside manner than the other way around, but most of the doctors we saw were both skilled and personable.

We also had a terrific team of paramedics in the ambulance—imagine, we were smiling and laughing during what would have otherwise been a very anxiety-producing ride!

There are also "child life specialists" who work on the pediatric wards, bringing DVDs or art supplies or just themselves. (As an aside, we watched Bride Wars, The Parent Trap, Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, Bedtime Stories, Made of Honor, 13 Going on 30, Cheaper by the Dozen, Night at the Museum, and several other movies that I can no longer remember.) And there are lots of volunteers; we even got visited by Tucker, a sweet and affectionate golden Lab, on Pet Therapy Day.

 

But the nurses, that's another story. We had the most amazing nurses. And somehow I suspect that if we'd had an entirely different group of nurses, we'd feel just as lucky and blessed. I think nurses are magical. Nurses get very protective of their patients and will go out of their way to make them comfortable. For instance, Steph has horrible veins for drawing blood and putting in IV lines. She had more than one session of getting poked and stabbed numerous times without luck, and we were both ready to lose it. The next time, our nurse moved Steph's scheduled blood draw up 3 hours so she could have "the best" IV nurse do it before her shift ended. What a difference! Afterward, Steph turned to "the best" IV nurse and said with gratitude and awe, "You are my favorite person in the whole world."

The day before we went home, it was a nurse who said we could disconnect the monitors so that Steph could get out of bed without having to unplug everything. It was the same nurse who later asked the doctor if Steph could get off her IV so she could walk around without dragging her IV cart with her. (One nurse named her IV cart "George"; she said, "For the next few days, George will be your best friend. You won't go anywhere without George.") We even had one nurse at both NWH and MGH—that was like a reunion with an old friend!

So, our warmest thanks to Janice, Elise, Daniel, Helen, Mary, Kathy, Karen, Meredith, Donna, Katie, and all the others whose names I've forgotten. Every one of you made a difference. Every moment of cheer or optimism or comfort that you brought to Steph (and to me) helped make a very hard week a little easier.

Comments

[Deborah]

I'd love to plug a very special charity in response to your aside on the DVDs. Child's Play is a charity that provides materials to children's hostpitals. You buy things through your Amazon account and they are shipped directly to the hospital to be used by the children there. Since I'm often looking for things to get to the free shipping limit on Amazon, my local children's hospital gets several packs of markers, crayons and/or books a year from me.

Ok, I'm done hijacking your post. And I'm so glad that Steph's doing well!

[Laura]

So sorry to hear all of this, but I'm glad Steph is feeling better. And yes, MGH nurses are the best!

[Margalit]

I totally agree with you about nurses. I tend to spend a lot of my time in the hospital and the nurses make it so much more pleasant than it would otherwise be. Like Steph imhave terrible.veins and IVs no.longer work
for me. I have to get a pic line and it can be pretty traumatic but for the nurses who go way out of their way to distract me.

I'm so glad Steph is feeling better m

Hadlunch at the Biltmore today and thought of you. Also Zape has been totally renovated and revamped with newmerchandise. My kid works there!

[Laura]

Makes me think I should be a nurse. It was on my list in fourth grade. Then I learned about blood and bed pans and said forget it. I'm not cut out for it, but I wish I was. I wish I knew WHAT I'm supposed to be!

[Steve]

I couldn't agree more about nurses! Cliff was just in the hospital 2 weeks ago with viral meningitis (it was awful). The nurses made it so much more tolerable. Their patience and kindness was astounding.

Because he was in isolation, all the nurses wore masks, so we never even got to see their faces!

And I am so glad that Steph is feeling better! No fun for anyone, especially a kid.

[caroline]

thank you for saying all those things about nurses. I've been a nurse for a long time and didn't know how appreciated and respected that we really are.

[Rachel Kagno]

I guess I'm biased toward NWH nurses... :) Glad you had a positive experience at NWH and MGH. We always like to hear the good stuff! Thanks Karen.

[Liz]

So glad all is ok....Nothing like being in the hospital with your child to appreciate not being in the hospital with your child...Were you on Ellison 17? We spent 2 months there and loved many of the nurses.