Lessons Learned

Last night was probably one of the best nights I have had at work. I had some amazing people I had the opportunity to care for and learn from. One sweet lady whom I will call Susan (since I can't use real names) left a lasting impression on me. She is a 46 year old female with ovarian cancer. A month ago she had a total abdominal hysterectomy. A week or so after surgery she started feeling some abdominal pain along with a lot of nausea and vomiting. She couldn't keep anything down, which led her to return to the doctors. One side-note, she didn't have this first surgery done at the Huntsman, but decided to go to the Huntsman when she started having these problems. Anyways, an x-ray was performed and they found that a sponge had been left in her abdomen from the previous surgery. In surgery they use these sponges to help soak up bleeding ect and before surgery they count them as well as after to make sure that nothing was left inside the patient. There must have been a miscount in her case. So she came to the Huntsman to have the sponge removed along with a washout to help with the abscess. Now, we live in a time where if that were to happen to a person they would be able to sue the hospital for all the money they could get and most people would do this. As I was talking to Susan I asked her what they were going to do. She told me, "We are not going to sue anyone. No one who was in on my surgery went into work that day saying "I'm going to leave a sponge in our patient so she can have more complications" Everyone makes mistakes and we just need to accept that and move on. Nobody needs to be sued over this." Wow! Talk about an amazing women! To top it off she has 11 children, 7 or which are adopted. They were the nicest family and her little girl drew/colored me a picture of their family. I love being able to go to work and learn from my patient's. I feel I have learned so much and I haven't even worked at the Huntsman for a year!

I also got to take care of the sweetest man who has Stage IV pancreatic cancer (not a good prognosis) and was in for a feeding tube placement for palliative care (end of life care). He was so grateful for everything and my heart just ached when I would go in the room. He and his wife were very emotional last night and I had to fight my hardest to not tear up when I entered the room.

Another patient of mine was the biggest joker I have ever met, he constantly had me laughing. The best part of the night with him was when I knocked on his room door to find him, his wife and his son kneeling around the bed saying family prayer with their daughter on the phone. What an amazing family.

So there you have it, that is just a glimpse of the type of people I get to work with on a daily basis, how lucky am I? I learn so much from them about life, hope and happiness. They make me want to be a happier person and after caring for them I feel so selfish, I am not even going through a glimpse of the trials they are and they are happier and more positive than I am at times. I need to be better and am making it a goal to be happier everyday because this life is truly a gift and time goes by all to quickly.

Remember, we live in a beautiful world and "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured."