Crystal was our father's nurse his first night in the hospital. He came in with some abdominal issues and after a few scans, we found out he had multiple blood clots in both lungs. The subject and possible choice of palliative for him came up and made everything for our family hard and extremely sad. The next night, luckily enough, Crystal was his nurse again. When she came in to bring him his night medications, he was being difficult and was in a lot of pain. Crystal raised the bed up so she could give him his medications and to try to get him to calm down. After a few minutes of holding his hand and talking to him, he had calmed down and they were joking back and forth with one another. Singing is one of his favorite things to do and he sang her "Happy Birthday" and I knew by him doing that, he was in a happy place again. Crystal just smiled so big at him and in that moment after several weeks, he cracked the biggest smile back at her; a smile we hadn't seen like that in a good while. In the midst of that moment, all the decisions and heartache went away when we saw him smiling back at Crystal the way he did. The way he took to her was pretty amazing.
Crystal was so patient, kind, gentle and soft-spoken with him that it made such an impact and difference on him that night and for our family as well. You can definitely tell the care, compassion, and pure devotion Crystal carries within herself with her patients; she gave him and our family some light after a very difficult day. By her taking those few extra minutes with him and making him smile the way she did, she will never know the impact she made on him and our family. She's a remarkable nurse and one we won't ever forget; thank you, Crystal!