As Father's Day approaches I am thinking back at my father's last days here with us and one special person comes to mind. Alethia was my dad's nurse in his short stay here in our ICU. My dad had stage IV cancer but to protect him and us, my mom never told us. He was given 5 years to live, 6 years ago. He went through chemo and procedures, always thinking and hoping that he would get cured.
One day the last week in January, he was having difficulty breathing so my mom brought him to Jefferson. To make a long story short they told us his organs were shutting down and he was dying. No one in our family felt comfortable telling my dad this, probably a combination of denial and fear on our part. Alethia was taking care of my dad on this night and we had talked to her about our difficulty in handling the situation; her answer to us, "Do you want me to talk to him?" What a relief we felt.
Not only did she take that burden from us, but she made us feel comfortable enough to leave him in her care for the night; this was the first night we didn't sleep in the waiting room. When we returned the following morning and anytime someone walked into the room, he would say "Do you know?" As we each discussed his death with him, we had such a feeling of thankfulness and gratitude to this wonderful person who helped us with the most difficult task of coming to terms with what was going on.
My dad later explained to us that Alethia sat with him for over an hour, holding his hand, explaining the grim situation. They talked about his love for food and the shore, he told her to come and stop down to eat at his favorite restaurant down there and to make sure she stops by to see his family when she does go. They talked about what he should expect and how everything would be handled. He could not praise this young nurse enough. What could have been a disastrous night turned out to be very soothing and comforting to him.
I have wanted to nominate Alethia for a long time now but didn't have the strength to do this. I spoke with my dad after she talked to him and asked him how he felt about knowing he was dying, and he said he was glad he knew. Without her, we would have never had the strength to tell him and we didn't want the doctors telling him. She was warm and caring and treated my dad like a family member. I am sure she didn't have an hour to sit with him but that didn't seem to matter to her. She gave him time to talk, gave him the dignity he deserved and helped us more than I can ever describe, by doing this for us. Alethia is such a beautiful and caring soul. My family can't thank her enough for that time she spent with my dad plus all the other things, medically, she did for him and us.