In November, my dad was admitted to the hospital for possible inpatient hospice initially. My dad was in no way an easy patient. We are pretty sure that the cancer he had spread to his brain due to the way he was acting, the things he was saying, etc. My dad was admitted to hospice with stage IV renal cell carcinoma with mets to bone, and a pathologic fracture to his hip (the 2nd fracture). This nurse was so beyond patient with him. The night before they started him on a morphine and Versed drip, he wanted a date with my mom. Due to the fracture, he was unsafe to be up. This nurse, even after being called in multiple times during her shift due to him trying to get out of bed and with all of the confusion, listened to what my dad wanted and turned his bed into a chair. She then set up the table in the room and a chair for my mom so they could have their date. My dad did not want to listen to what I had to say and would continually try to get out of bed, fix things, etc. Each and every time she would come in and listen to him and then explain to him why he couldn't do whatever he was trying, she would answer absolutely every question he asked her, no matter how many times he asked it or how off the wall it was.

She was actually the nurse working the day my dad passed. She was so patient with all of us. My dad was a retired fire chief (who had just retired a few months before all of this) so there were multiple people who showed up not just during his stay but especially the day he died. She was amazing with everyone. Always making sure we had everything we needed, always making sure my dad had everything he needed. Anything to make us all feel more at ease. She laughed with my dad, which was a feat difficult to do sometimes since he wasn't himself. She gave him a smile each and every time she walked in the room and made it quite obvious that she was truly listening to his concerns, etc. I know she had more patients than just him, but never once did she make us feel that he wasn't her only patient. I'm sure his situation stressed her. Who knows what else she was dealing with on the floor, but we never would have known. She definitely went above and beyond anything we ever expected. My dad was there a total of 6 days, and we are blessed that he had her for half of that time.