Occasionally companies sponsoring giveaways for nurses contact me. I usually don’t post about them unless they are offering something kind of awesome. Well team, I found an awesome one!
This is sponsored by Fastaff Travel Nursing (thanks for partnering with me on this post!) and the giveaway is called #NursePraiseLove. In the spirit of everything that just happened with Kelley Johnson and the View, Fastaff wants to hear your “Kelley Johnson” story. Kelley took to the stage and talked about her experience as a critical care nurse, caring for a patient named Joe who was suffering from Alzheimer’s that profoundly affected her. It was a pretty touching story and made me proud to be a nurse.
The prize? A $500 gift card to Southwest Airlines. (Legit, I know.)
All you have to do is go to the following website and submit your own #NursePraiseLove story!
Click here for official rules and to enter.
My sample entry:
I was taking care of a patient who suffered a massive stroke. He was a younger guy with a family and this was very scary and sudden. No one could have predicted this, he was in fantastic health. The prognosis for patients with big strokes are difficult to predict early on. When he came in, we had no idea if this was it for him or if he had a chance at a normal life. The first week was touch and go. I spent time stabilizing him and educating and comforting his long-time girlfriend and mother of his four kids. It was pretty emotional for her, but also for me.
He had a few setbacks, which at the time were devastating to his wife, but long-term wise he ended up doing okay and were not insurmountable. He ended up eventually getting off of the ventilator and following commands appropriately, even though he was trach’d. He was progressing with it, but not to the point where he could have a valve that would allow him to talk. He was kicking butt with therapy, and slowly meeting important milestones. The whole unit was pretty darn proud of this rock star.
He was defying the odds. Just a few weeks ago he was knocking on death’s door, and now he was getting ready to walk out of ours. We loved seeing how awesome he had done. It made us all so excited for him and his family.
I had a few days of PTO, so after taking care of him for about three weeks I hadn’t seen him for about a week. I came back and was standing at the nurse’s station at 0630 in the morning, getting my assignment for the day. All of a sudden I heard, “Kati! Hey Kati!” I knew he was the only patient within earshot, but there’s not way it could have been him. Despite taking care of him for weeks, relying on gestures and writing to communicate, I had never heard his voice before. I immediately spun around and saw him looking at me with this huge smile on his face.
I will never forget the sound of his voice. I will never forget that moment.
There he was, sitting in his hospital bed, smiling from ear to ear, ready to have our first real vocal conversation in four weeks. He told me about his weekend, his latest CT scan, and how his night went. The whole time he was talking, my eyes were filled with tears. I got my usual high-five followed by the traditional fist-pound before walking out the room, holding back tears but with a huge smile on my face.
And he did defy the odds. He did walk out of our unit. And he did recover. He kicked that stroke’s butt and made me proud to be a nurse.
#NursePraiseLove
