Stories
Over the years I have witnessed many amazing moments at the bedside of my patients. Families have given me permission to share them with you. I invite you to email me and share yours with me and I will add them to this list.
"Whether you Believe in God or Not, He Believes in You"
Upon his admission to our Hospice unit, and eyeing the angel pins on my jacket, the patient said gruffly, "I don't want to hear about any of that God stuff. I don't believe in Him." I told him, "That's ok. We're here to take care of you no matter what your beliefs are."
His wife said to me, "I'm so scared for him, and I'm afraid he won't go to heaven because he doesn't believe in God" I talked to her about the signs and symptoms of the dying process, and what to expect. I was hoping, as he went through the stages, he would accept the love that God is offering him.
He worked through his Life Review, in his sleep, over the course of a few weeeks. He was very restless at times, and then became very peaceful. When I came to work, one day, he was awake, alert and oriented. He was in a wheel chair out in the solarium with his family. After supper I took him back to his room to get him cleaned up and go back to bed. No sooner did I close his door: he looked around to make sure we were alone and said, "Jesus came to me in a dream last night."
My surprised reply was "I thought you didn't believe in God." He smiled because he knew I was teasing him and replied "Well, what I found out is that whether you believe in God or not, He believes in You." Since he was talking, I was going to ask questions and I replied "Wow! Well ...what did Jesus want?" With a big smile he whispered "He told me that He would come back in 3 days and we would go fishing." I didn't know if knew, but I knew what that meant. His family was making plans to take him home because he was doing so well. I tried to explain to them that this was "The Calm Before the Storm or Gift Time" (usually 1 to 3 days) and to just enjoy the time they had been given.
Three days later he suffered a seizure in the morning and became comatose again. When I came on shift at 3 pm his family was gathered around his bed. Later that evening, a few seconds before his death, he raised his arm and cast a line into the air. He was gone before his arm fell back onto the bed. His wife was surprised, and comforted, at the thought of her "unbelieving" husband fishing with Jesus. It was amazing to see.
"CAN I GO GET THE DOG?"
I was caring for a patient who was so afraid of dying that she lingered in a comatose state for weeks. I was repositioning her
and she suddenly opened her eyes and asked me "did you hear that?" I was shocked she was talking to me. So was her family. I asked her"hear what?' She replied "the dog barking." I asked the family sitting around her bed if she had a dog and what the dog's name was. Before the family could answer, the patient told me the dog's name. The family burst into tears and confirmed that was her dog's name, and she missed him very much because he had died a few years back. The patient then asked me with tears in her eyes "can I go get the dog?" The family was really crying now and I looked at them with the question in my eyes and no one could answer her. So I told her it would be ok if she went to get the dog. She thanked me and immediately died with a huge smile on her face reaching for her dog. The family and I were speechless. We all were crying. It was amazing to see.
"FOLLOW THE LEADER"
I had just finished my orientation at the Residential Center and I was working my usual shift on my own. I walked into the patient's room with her dinner tray. She was sitting up in bed and looked so perplexed. I asked her, "What's the matter honey?" She looked agitated and asked me, "Why are all these people in here?" Looking all around me, I didn't see anyone, and so I asked her, "Who do you see?" She started pointing all the way around the room and one by one gave me about 20 names that I wrote down on the napkin on her dinner tray. She didn't say how she knew them. I didn't ask.l I started waving and told her to tell them I said hi. She was getting a little annoyed with me because I couldn't see them and she said, "they are waving at you. I can't believe you can't see them too!" Then I asked her, "What do they want?" She replied, "They want me to play this stupid game... they want me to play 'follow the leader'. What should I do? This conversation went on for about 15 minutes as we discussed different options. She remained perturbed with them and me. Finally I offered, "Well you could play for a little while and if you get tired you can always quit." She sat there quietly and then with much hesitation and great thought finally said, "Oh ok, I'll go play for a little while." She died at that moment. I I was shocked, speechless, breathless. I didn't know how I was going to tell her daughter, who I never met what had happened. When she came in I told her about our conversation and gave her the list of names and her daughter gave me the 'rest of the story'. She told me, "the first person on the list is her mother(my grandmother). Grandma has been coming to her for 2 weeks in a dream and telling her it was time to go but she was afraid. All the rest of the names on this list are family members that have died already. Since grandma couldn't get her to go with her, she must have brought the rest of the family so the could all get her to go." The list of names gave the daughter much peace.