A Rememberance

Before I even step into the ward for practical, I was told by my tutors:

"There is a line between patient and nurses, dont cross it, be professional"

and I finally knew why..

We were told to talk to the patients in the ward by our clinical instructors, help them pass through time, cheer them up..
But there is always a borderline which we must not over stepped..

If you're lucky, it does no harm..
Unfortunately, mine was bad..

I still remember in Semester 1, when a group of us friends were posted to the same ward..
There we met an Indonesian lady, came in because of Ca Colon..
She had done an operation and was having a colostomy..
She was quite ill, she only lies on her bed even during mealtime..

We finally got close to her and her husband (which was good in joking), and her daughter..
Then one day, she collapsed and fortunately she was resuscitated and placed in CCU..
Even more fortunate was, she eventually was transferred out to the normal Cardiac Ward for heart monitoring..

This is when we met her son as her daughter went back to Indonesia..
Then we would be visiting them whenever we got the time..
And one day, I was so happy to see her finally sat up by herself to the bedside, taking her lunch!

Few days later, she was fit for discharge!
Before they left, we exchange our Facebook email with her son to stay in contact..
One of my friend asked
"is it ok to be so close to the patient?"
I replied that it was her son, not the patient..

Whenever she came back for a follow up, her husband would sure to contact one of us..
And we will always have a small gathering..
Their visit during my last semester was her final one..

2 days ago, I received an inbox message in my Facebook..
It was her son telling that her mom had passed away on the 11th of November..
I was shocked..
We never expected it..

Truly it was sad..
What we can do now is to hope she is in a better place..

..Nursing is a job not only of its skills and knowledge..
..But it also involves emotion and values..
..It is not an easy job, it was never an easy job..

Still, I did not regret crossing the line, because I know, we made a difference in their life..
We may not find another patient to be this close to again, but I really enjoy the time I can care for others..