Erin Trainer
September 2020
Erin
Trainer
,
RN, BSN
ICU
UC San Diego Health, Jacobs Medical Center
La Jolla
,
CA
United States
Erin is an exceptional nurse. We first met her last year, when my mum was made a rapid response while on IMU. She was confused and in VTach after receiving a few days' worth of IL2 treatments. My mum spent 3 weeks in 3H after that. I don't remember seeing Erin much during that stay. But fast forward to April of this year and Erin popped back up in our lives. She was the resource for rapid again on Friday, which is the day we decided to honor mum's wishes and make her comfort care as there was nothing left to do to treat her cancer. Erin worked the 4 days we spent with mum while she deteriorated and became sicker.
She would poke her head in just to say hi, remembering us from last year. If our primary was busy she'd pop in and see if we needed anything. She also fought for us not to leave the room we were as we knew the nurses already and had a room big enough for my dad and me to stay in. She helped calm my fears over the plan of care and gave me some idea of what to expect, even though I am an ER nurse myself. She was never hurried, and listened so patiently to our stories of mum, in our desperation to let people know this wasn't her.
She was a vibrant, healthy person, who loved life, and deserved to live, but not like this. Erin gave out hugs and smiles freely. When mum finally passed, she was there right after and subtly turned off the monitor, removed what she could from mum's body, and gave us time to say our final goodbyes. She offered to take down the cards and pictures we'd placed and get them to us another day. She brought me water and went to the cafeteria to get my dad Gatorade (he doesn't drink just water).
She called my husband when I couldn't find the words, and let him up to the ICU to be with us on the toughest day of our lives. She explained the procedures and what would happen tremendously. I work through the death packet often in the ER, but somehow I still needed it explained. On leaving there were more hugs, even though she'd offered us the out of the Irish Goodbye. Losing my mum at 66 to cancer, when she had no medical problems, in the hospital where I work is terrible, but Erin was a little ray of sunshine in that terrible weekend and memory.
She would poke her head in just to say hi, remembering us from last year. If our primary was busy she'd pop in and see if we needed anything. She also fought for us not to leave the room we were as we knew the nurses already and had a room big enough for my dad and me to stay in. She helped calm my fears over the plan of care and gave me some idea of what to expect, even though I am an ER nurse myself. She was never hurried, and listened so patiently to our stories of mum, in our desperation to let people know this wasn't her.
She was a vibrant, healthy person, who loved life, and deserved to live, but not like this. Erin gave out hugs and smiles freely. When mum finally passed, she was there right after and subtly turned off the monitor, removed what she could from mum's body, and gave us time to say our final goodbyes. She offered to take down the cards and pictures we'd placed and get them to us another day. She brought me water and went to the cafeteria to get my dad Gatorade (he doesn't drink just water).
She called my husband when I couldn't find the words, and let him up to the ICU to be with us on the toughest day of our lives. She explained the procedures and what would happen tremendously. I work through the death packet often in the ER, but somehow I still needed it explained. On leaving there were more hugs, even though she'd offered us the out of the Irish Goodbye. Losing my mum at 66 to cancer, when she had no medical problems, in the hospital where I work is terrible, but Erin was a little ray of sunshine in that terrible weekend and memory.