|
Back to Article List
April 9, 2002
By Charlotte Barry, Ph.D., RN, CS
Assistant Professor
Florida Atlantic University
This spring marks the first anniversary of my 4-year-old great niece Caroline’s death from the sequela of a liver and bowel transplant. Caroline’s death was terribly sad; my heart was broken. However, in breaking, the pieces revealed facets of Caroline’s life that would forever make me smile, forever make me love nursing and forever make me appreciate hope as described by Mayeroff (1972), as the moment alive with possibilities. I was invited into a sacred space, as a companion to Caroline on her journey. After each visit with her I would write an e-mail to family, friends and colleagues. I invite you to experience this journey through an e-mail.
…I spent the weekend at Mt. Sinai Hospital, playing, drawing, reading & singing 5 Little Monkeys, Down by the Bay, and the Little Duck Swimming in the Water. I slept in the hospital and despite all the chaos of hospital life Caroline and I slept pretty well. Again, the nursing care was beautiful. The nurses are very kind and respectful of Caroline and myself. They seem charmed by Caroline; she has an elfin quality about her that the nurses describe as angelic. My niece Grainne came by to “make me up” for my high school reunion. She arrived, spread all her beauty wares on the bed and Caroline, her nurse Barbara and myself were fascinated with this stuff. I think the beauty of the whole nursing experience here is how the staff participates in the unfolding of the day-to-day activities of life including the “beauty shop experience”. There is a naturalness on this unit that creates an environment of understanding the wholeness of the little lives entrusted to their care….
The nursing care at Sinai renewed and refreshed my love for nursing. The nurses’ thoughtful and intentional participation in Caroline’s life, including acceptance of family members like myself who would arrive and stay at the bedside for several days, honored our connections to Caroline and to them. They cared for Caroline tenderly and with skill. This spring let us each renew our commitment to those we nurse to make each moment alive with possibilities.
References
Mayeroff, M. (1972). On caring. New York: HarperCollins.
Barry, C. (2000, September 24). Update on Caroline. Message posted to electronic
mailing list at www.fau.edu.
About the Author
Dr. Charlotte Barry is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing. She has published several articles on caring in nursing.
|
|
 |
Corporate