Lippincott NursingCenter.com is partnering with Lippincott Solutions to bring you an inspired nurse’s story every month. Here is the September 2018 inspired nurse story, Laughter through the Pain.
 
Laughter through the Pain
Holly Tarta
McGuire VA Medical Center Nurse
 
There’s one special patient I will always remember. Time spent with her made me realize that nurses truly can make an impact on someone's life.

I was a new nurse on a telemetry floor. My patient was admitted for complications related to lung cancer. During my visits with her, we talked about her family and friends and she shared her feelings, fears, and the impact lung cancer had on her everyday life. I remember taking the time to be a good listener and shortly became the nurse she trusted most. Being new to nursing, I was not experienced in maneuvering her extra-long oxygen tubing, when she asked that I help her on a trip to the toilet. I was assisting her to a bedside commode, and during the transfer, both she and I became tangled in the tubing. We twisted left and right trying to get untangled, then laughed until we cried.

The following day, when I arrived to work I noticed she was not on my assignment list. I was shocked to learn it was because she had passed away peacefully, the night before, surrounded by family. To this day, I think about her and the time we spent talking and laughing too. And from those memories, I find peace in knowing that she and I shared her last laugh.