To Pay it Forward

In what job can you serve people in as profound a way as nurses do every day?

My son was in the hospital for three days prior to his cancer diagnosis. The doctors performed many tests on him to try and discover the cause of his declining health. On the third day, they finally decided to take a biopsy of his bone marrow, which required a procedure to be done under general anesthesia. My little Matthew was terrified. We took him into a huge, sterile room, laid his head on a donut-shaped pillow, and then the anesthesiologist slowly began injecting a medicine called propofol into his IV. The medicine stung, which scared him, and he flipped out. We all quickly went from apprehensive to panicked, and the anesthesiologist quickly put my son the rest of the way under to regain control of the situation. We were firmly ushered out of the room.

Back in the exam room, where we waited, my husband and I held onto each other sobbing in fear. Our son was about to be diagnosed with cancer, and we both knew it. The only thing we really knew about cancer is that it kills. These were the darkest moments of our lives. During those horrible moments and in the days to come, the nurses were there, comforting us. They cried with us. They taught us how to advocate for our son. When we no longer felt qualified to care for him, they instructed us. Hours upon hours were spent giving us the knowledge to feel comfortable enough to take our son home again. Their charity, empathy, and caring nature is hard to describe and is unrivaled in any other memory I have.

At the end of the week, when we were preparing to go home, I asked one of the main nurses who cared for us how he does it without giving up too much of himself, and he told me he gets more out of his job than he gives. It was a statement I’ll never forget. 

Nursing is a service to others. Service is beneficial both to the one giving and the one receiving. In hindsight, my previous job seems so pointless. It helped no one. It was over a decade and a half of busywork. As a nurse, I will have the ability to help people every single day, and sometimes that help will come during the darkest moments of their lives. After what I’ve seen, how could I possibly choose to do anything different with the rest of my life?

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