Submissions are welcome from oncologists, oncology nurses, and other cancer caregivers. E-mail only, please, to: mailto:[email protected], and include affiliation/title, address, and phone number, along with a photo, if available.
A Nurse's Tear
I gaze down and realize you are surrounded by snow white sheets that are embracing you like the gentle wings of an angel
I turned and you were not there
Family and friends paralyzed by grief, wondering as the minutes pass, when it will be your time to leave
Each breath is cherished...
Each moment a memory
An avalanche of emotion fills the empty space in this sterile room
In the blink of an eye you are gone
I am honored to have listened to your dreams[horizontal ellipsis]
Hopes[horizontal ellipsis]
Fears[horizontal ellipsis]
In those final precious days of your life empathy and hope exposed human fragility
We laughed, we cried, and we embraced
My soul experienced the essence of compassion and suffering
I am a nurse
Peace finally comes as a ray of sunshine breaks through the morning light
My tears gently cascade down to the tranquil wings of an angel that is now[horizontal ellipsis]you
ROBIN J. PHILIPS, RN, BSN, PHN, who works at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, writes that this poem was inspired by a young nurse who experienced the death of a newly diagnosed lung cancer patient:
"The poem was given to the family as a 'gift from the heart,' since the death was so sudden and so sad. The inexperienced nurse was affected by this tragedy, both professionally and personally. Oncology nursing is not an easy professional path, yet in many ways it brings one to the essence of what being a nurse is all about. I am also currently attending Vanguard University to obtain my MSN with the hopes of teaching the next generation of nurses."