A few of the nurses chatted with me about this Monday being my “last day,” and how I felt about it. I wasn’t sure how to respond, because although it may have been my last day for the semester, I still have another year of school to go before I’m finished with this academic pursuit towards becoming a nursing professional. It seems like this semester came and went in a blink of an eye, yet unlike the passing of any other academic semester, I do feel that this brief time of clinical exposure has made an impression and changed me for the better. I feel ready to take on patient assignments, because in essence I’ve been doing exactly that.
My last day did include two first time experiences: I cared for a donor patient and a first day post-op patient for the first time. The donor patient was on his way to discharge after giving a kidney to his daughter and the post-op patient was an older woman who had just received a kidney after being on dialysis for seven years. Caring for both spectrums of the transplant process was a special treat for me, because it allowed me to witness the unique confidence and loving demeanor of a man who had just given one of his organs to help better the life of his daughter, while at the same time witness the gratitude of a donor recipient who just went through a successful surgery. Having that exposure allowed me to savor the unique miracle of the transplant process, how it transforms the disease process into an opportunity for new life.
I’ll definitely miss the nurses and patients of 9 Long. Throughout the day I found myself taking in a considerable amount of time reading the personalized notes posted at the patient’s doors that thank the staff for the new life granted to each of the transplant patients. My curiosity for finality even prompted me read up on past patients that were saved in my electronic charting patient list, and I was pleased to discover the progress of ailing patients who had long been awaiting livers who eventually received those much need livers and were finally able to go home, renewed.
