What’s going on everybody. This is Jon Haws, RN, founder of nursing.com/. And I’m here to just talk to you guys about, well, it’s mother’s day, to be honest. And I’m here to just tell you a story, of one mom that really sticks out in my mind that, or maybe two moms that really sticks out in my mind as I was, practicing in the ICU, you know, an ICU, you see a lot of traumatic experiences and some of these experiences stick with you forever. So these stories are going to telecom from several years ago. as I was one, when I was pretty new as a nurse and another, you know, maybe a couple of years later, but the first story I want to tell, comes from a woman who was, who was pretty young. And she had had, suffered from cancer and the cancer had metastasized to her brain.
And so she was very, very sick and this cancer was very, very advanced and she was in her early forties. And so she had children who were in their teens and who were young and every night and everybody on the floor knew her because she would come in a lot, for the different complications that would occur with her cancer, and to receive care. So I remember one night, specifically, and I’ll tell you why I remember this night so well, but one night specifically, everyone was there. She was feeling really, really, really sick. and I did night shift. So I got there at seven o’clock and by 8 30, 9, 9 30, whatever, maybe a couple hours into the shift. She, we were preparing her to go to bed. So we put her asleep machine on. her family kind of went by away and you could tell she was a very, very upset.
She was low on energy. She was sad and the family was kind of preparing to leave and they had just barely left. And it was very shortly after they left that she passed away. And this was a particularly hard, death experience for me. And I was the nurse taking care of her that evening. and we called the family and they came back up and they were, again, like I said, they had teenage sons. And I remember just sitting there with the teenage sons and telling them, and trying to comfort them, trying to console them as their mom had passed away. Now her husband and the siblings, they were glad that the suffering and pain was over for her, but they felt very sad. obviously, and so that’s one experience that really stick out in my mind, was watching this young mom pass away and having to, as a nurse, be there and be support to the family.
Now we got her ready. We cleaned her up. And as the family sat there saying goodbye to her, it just gave me a very special kind of insight into my family and my mom and my kids. And it really kind of was a new insight to how precious and fleeting, these moments that we get with our families. So if you have family, if you have parents that you’re in touch with, if you have kids, if you have others, if you have a godmother or something in your life, please reach out to them and let them know how much you care about them. The next story I want to tell, and I’ll go briefly on this. One is a story of a young man who passed away and the experience I had with his mom. But before I do that, I want to tell you guys about a special nurses week promo that we have going on.
If you head over to nursing.com/, you can actually get access to our two year program for half the cost. It’s a monthly cost of just $41, and it’s only six payments. And then you get access to nursing.com/ for two years, everything that is nursing.com/ from the courses, the practice questions, the cheat sheets, and even some clicks. You get five attempts on simplex. So head over to nursing.com/ and you’ll find out more about that. Just click into pricing and you’ll see all the details that are happening with this nurses. We promo again, just over to nursing.com/ and you can get access to that. But the second story, it comes from a, a, a young man. He had suffered a stroke and ischemic stroke. That was pretty advanced. And so his, family was all there. And his mom was this older woman. She was maybe in her, well, hold a really she’s maybe in her sixties because this patient was very young.
He was in his forties and he suffered this large ischemic stroke. And when I got there, the plan was we were going to withdraw care on him. And so he went through all the process and I’ve told this story before. So I’ll be brief on it this time and went through all the process and we withdrew care and let him pass away. Now, throughout the ordeal of this, I was coordinating the care of all the different providers from the chaplain to the physician, together nurses to the corner. And I was to the respiratory therapist and I was with her son. I was with her and I was with the family, caring for them. And then when he passed away, we got him clean. Let the mom know, you know, we’re going to take care of your son. And when she left, she was leaving her son in my hands as the nurse.
And that was a really humbling experience for me. Cause this happened pretty early on in my career as a nurse. And she was leaving her son in my care and trusting me to care for her son. So that was a truly humbling experience, going through that and knowing that, but as she left, I was standing on the side of the room. We had the blind shut, the door shut, and she came up to me and I was standing by the door and she was a short little lady, maybe four feet something. And she gave me this big hug and see, she said, John, thank you. I love you. I will never forget you. And in that moment though, I knew that she wasn’t talking about me specifically, but about all nurses and the care that we provide, people mean so much to them, especially in these deep, dark, hard moments of life.
So as you go out, as you practice, remember that, remember the place that you play in the lives of these patients that you take care of. And again, those that are around you show them that you love them, tell them that you love them, especially the moms here on mother’s day. When I’m recording this, let them know that you love them and that you care for them because we never know just how fleeting life can be. Guys. We love you. We want you to succeed here@nursing.com. That is our purpose. That is our mission. That is our goal is to end the nursing shortage. And we want to do that through accessible visual education. If you’re struggling through nursing school, you’re struggling with a specific class. Please head over to nursing.com/. And especially right now, you can get access to our two year program. It’s usually $82 a month for six months, and then you get the rest of the two years for free. And now you can get it for just $41. And that ends next on, what is it? May 12th that ends May 12th, 2021. So head over to nursing.com/. No coupon needed. You can get two years access $41 a month. And that’s such a great deal. That’s about 50% off, but that ends May 12th, 2021. All right, guys, we love you guys. Go out. Be your best selves today. Happy nursing.
