Cancer is awful. Despite our best efforts, both in medicine and nursing, cancer usually wins in the end. What makes it even harder, is how the family suffers right alongside the patient. Obviously they aren't the ones with the disease or the receiving the treatments with the terrible side effects, but the physical, mental, and spiritual strain they face in supporting their loved one and navigating the healthcare system is still overwhelming. The story I want to tell is about a simple act of kindness made by Jess that made all the difference. What I have learned from my time working at Blanchard Valley Hospital is that everyone knows everyone. Coming from Columbus, this was a bit of a shock to me, but I saw firsthand how it has its advantages. Being on the palliative care team, I am used to delivering bad news to patients and their families. I have studied therapeutic communication and how to be present to guide patients and their families through difficult conversations. However, I was humbled and so grateful for the simple acts of kindness that Jess took on behalf of a patient's wife. My preceptor and I were at the nurse's station with a patient's wife, and we were talking to her about her husband's poor prognosis and how we had exhausted all goal-directed therapies. Jess, the patient's bedside nurse, was part of the conversation, taking it all in. The palliative care team wanted to talk about thoughts on switching code status, entering hospice, and forgoing further cancer-related treatment. The patient's wife was clearly struggling with all of this, but she knew the team was right. She just didn't know how to explain it to her husband and get him on board with the plan. That is when Jess spoke up and asked, “Do you want me to call your friend K.?” The patient's wife, initially didn't want to bother her friend, but then said, “Yes, would you please call her.” Jess got out her cell phone, called the friend, explained the situation, and the friend was able to come to the hospital within an hour. The friend was a former nurse at the hospital and was a great source of comfort for both the wife and the patient. The palliative care team, the wife, K., and Jess were all able to meet with the patient and help him through this difficult decision. Jess took further actions in getting the patient a unit of platelets before he was discharged and coordinated with his primary hospitalist and the palliative care team to ensure he had medications and orders to ensure that he was comfortable for his last days in the hospital.

Furthermore, Jess did all of this while precepting a new nurse, a difficult task by itself, so the fact that she was still able to act so compassionately and professionally is even more impressive. The patient was stabilized and able to be discharged home on hospice, to spend his final weeks with his family and friends. I was so touched by the actions Jess took, and I know that had she not been there to call K., the end-of-life discussions could have gone totally different, and the wife would have felt isolated and alone. Cancer is awful, but nurses like Jess make it more bearable.