I'm a little delayed in writing this as life got crazy after my Dad passed. However, it's been on my mind, so I am taking time to do this now. During my Dad's last six weeks of life, he spent a lot of time in the Hospital at WMC. (4 weeks and 1 day to be exact.) My dad, sick as he was, was in good spirits overall and loved giving the nurses a hard time. He's not always the easiest patient to deal with. They moved him to CCU3. During his stay in CCU, we came across a lot of great nurses and all of them could easily be DAISY Award recipients, but there were a few that really stuck out.

During the last week of his life, he and our family got to know Vanessa. Vanessa was the nurse who started him on his comfort care that Sunday evening. She had worked her regular shifts and had been with us for 2 days. We were surprised to see her on the 3rd morning. My dad and Vanessa started calling each other "Trouble" before the comfort care started. Vanessa sat in the room talking with me early one morning during the beginning of her shift, and couldn't believe my Dad was still hanging on. I asked her what she was doing here again since she had already worked her scheduled shifts. She told me that they were short-staffed, and she didn't have anything planned, so she volunteered to work the extra shift.

Since she had been with my Dad, she was able to stay with him (and us). As we talked, she shared that her husband was a little "miffed" that she was working this extra shift because he had the day off. She mentioned that they didn't have any plans, so she wanted to help her fellow nurses as well as spend time with this patient and his family. He asked her what was so special about this one? She told him the story about the hours leading up to his comfort care and how he had lots of family and visitors, and he was cutting up with everyone and giving her a hard time. Vanessa gave it right back. She was also with us when the family teamed about "P". He was, of course, using a catheter, so if you think about it, you can put two and two together! LOL! This became a funny story that was shared by the staff and family. She didn't share this detail with her hubby because it's not something most men want to know about. She handled this in a totally professional manner. She told her husband that my Dad told her that he just had his Best Day Ever, and he was actually "Happy" about dying. She shared with me that her Husband said he felt like crap, and he was glad she was there with us. We were glad to have her with us, too.

Vanessa not only helped her fellow nurses by taking on an extra shift on a Holiday week, but she was very important to our family, and those of us who had the chance of getting to know her fell in love with her right away. She has definitely found her calling in the CCU.