Good nursing care is not EZ to give.

Someone in the Prostate Cancer support group shared what he called his 'most embarrassing prostate cancer moment' where dignity was out of the question and asked if anyone else wished to share. This was my response from the day of my surgery, just over a year ago:

I feel like my worst moment goes beyond embarrassing--I'd just call it out and out humiliation. And it showed to me just how much nurses deserve to be called angels or even more. It was the evening after my DaVinci RP. I was in a hospital bed, thankfully in a private room, about 6 hours after surgery, catheterized and hooked to an IV and vital sign monitors. My family had just gone home after a loving visit when the nurse came in and reminded me that my surgeon wanted me to get up and walk some that same day if I could. Hell, why not? I felt pretty good. No pain, and I felt alert. So the nurse helped me deal with the various tubes and wires, got me out of the inflatable socks and into some slippers and holding my hand helped me to slowly stand beside the bed. As I stood, I suddenly felt a bit dizzy, so I sort of leaned back toward the bed. At the exact moment that the nurse asked if I felt OK a wave of nausea washed over me that shook me to the core and suddenly, with absolutely no chance to control it, everything that had been in my "core" was shooting violently out of me. At both ends. I'm told this sometimes happens when one comes out of anesthesia. The expelling must have only lasted a second or two and the dizziness passed just as quickly, but, oh, my! What an ungodly mess. With no exclamation, the nurse gently led me to the bathroom and asked me be seated on the toilet. Once I was seated, she asked if I would be OK to wait there a few moments. When I answered in the affirmative she fetched cleaning supplies, linens (and maybe help, I don't know). In what seemed no time, she had me cleaned and dressed in a clean gown, the room cleaned, my bed made with fresh linens, and me comfortably back in it. Never a word of complaint from her as she dealt with my mess that I found disgusting. With a smile she said, "Perhaps you should wait until morning to try to walk about." With that she left me to rest, and to my knowledge I have never seen her again. What a demonstration of human kindness. Yes, it was her job, but still...Did I mention she was truly a beautiful person? I inquired about her the next day and told that her shift rotation had taken her to another ward.