New life. New hope

I was supposed to be the charge nurse on duty today, but due to the dreaded Philhealth accreditation obsession, I was moved to becoming the bedside nurse which somehow worked for me because I was still a practicing charge nurse and it was just my third day on board. i did not want to be the cause of any mark down in the grading system.

I was assigned to a VIP patient who's hooked on mechanical ventilator. She's a breat cancer survivor and they thought that the cancer has metastasized to her lungs compromising her effective airway clearance.

At patient's requests, she wanted ordered for a DNR (Do not resuscitate)when she crashes. When I arrived, she really looked frail and pale. DNR form was only good for 24 hours, so I was asked to have the relatives sign the DNR form. It was really hard explaining to them the purpose of DNR.

Before lunch time, patient's attending physician who happened to be our hospital director broke the good news to them. The patient is cance free and what causes her problem breathing is due to a lung that collapsed caused by infection. THe effect of the message was sudden that suddenly the atmosphere changed. As if someone has turned on the switch bringing light to a very dark room.