We had to call 911 because we could not get my dad out of bed. He was transported to Covenant Emergency and I drove my mother there. We were told he was in critical condition and once stabilized would be put in ICU. The previous Thursday he had quite the conversation with his doctor telling him he "just wanted to die and had been praying for that." We had brought along with us his Living Will and when we were asked many times to have procedures, tests, and blood drawn we refused because that was what he wanted. A couple hours later he was taken to ICU and put into the care of Kaitlyn Pisney, the nurse assigned to him.
From the minute we arrived, she treated us and dad with care, compassion, and respect. What should have been the worst day of our lives was tough, but the care she gave dad and us made all the difference in the world. The first time his heart stopped she was there along with several other nurses who all showed tremendous concern to us. Before I could even get the words out, she told us they could keep him comfortable and put in a request for morphine and shortly after that she gave him a shot. Just knowing he wasn't suffering helped. My dad did die that afternoon and it didn't take hours, but my mom just couldn't watch. Kaitlyn encouraged me to take her home, promised she would not leave him and called shortly after we arrived home to tell us he had passed.
On the drive home, we knew we had done what dad wanted. He did not want to spend two nights in ICU, he did not want to be moved to a nursing home, he had faith and just wanted to finally be free from pain and be with God. To not be judged based on his and our decisions really helped that day.
We have a nurse in the family and have always understood the importance of their job and that at least 90% of the hospital experience is your nurses. On that day when we needed care and compassion more than we needed knowledge and medical procedures, we felt like we met an angel who helped my dad and us get exactly what he wanted.