My mother was admitted to Sanford and coded that night. She was a vibrant, energetic and independent 82 year old. We said good-bye with hugs and kisses that night and said we would return the next day to see her.
Little did we know, mom coded that night and was anoxic, which affected her being on life support with a very weak heart. She was not conscious and could not speak. As the week progressed, she was in a multi-organ system shut down and we had to make mom’s life decision of shutting off the ventilator.
The Palliative Care team of Marian and Bonnie were very kind and educated on what to expect from mom’s injuries and the choices we had to make. They offered as much support to us with making decisions. Every nurse that worked on mom was kind, talked to mom like she was there, but were very task oriented to take care of her.
On Friday, there was a new nurse for the weekend and mom would be her patient through Sunday night. She immediately introduced herself and talked to my father and I each time offering to talk, assist us with getting beverages and always updating us on mom’s vitals. It was emotional at times for us, and she took the time to listen, hold our hands and give hugs. Barbara listened compassionately, as we arrived at the answer to take mom off life support.
Barbara had to listen to all of us (20 in total), two family members at two-hour time slots for visitations. The grandkids all were talking about this wonderful nurse that grandma had and that Barbara had consoled the ones that needed it. They could not believe someone cared about them! She educated and updated them on grandma’s condition also.
On Mom’s final hours on Sunday, Barbara was so wonderful with my family members when the life support was removed. Once again she was there for my 84-year-old father as she consoled him.
I believe she helped our family move through the tough decision that needed to be made with her experience, love, compassion, and selflessness.