We had the pleasure of meeting Nurse Wayne. He would turn out to be our dad's day nurse for the next 3 days.
Our dad was diagnosed with ALS 10 months ago. The disease was extremely difficult for him as he has always been very independent and doesn't like anyone helping him with anything.
Although our dad could no longer speak, he did have a "boogie board" and that was how he communicated. Wayne "talked" with my dad and learned that he was a veteran as well as a retired firefighter.
The days prior to meeting Wayne, we had grown concerned that our dad might not be in the right place because of the amount of constant care he needed. Upon seeing Wayne interact and care for our dad, we immediately felt much better.
While Wayne was excellent with his care of my dad, and also to me since I had some very difficult decisions to make. Wayne was there with me the entire time providing explanations, support, and advice.
As we started to prepare for my dad's passing, Wayne put a note on my dad's door instructing all visitors to see him before entering the room. He wanted us to be able to spend all of the time we needed with my dad. Next, he set up a cart with sandwiches and drinks in my dad's room for us. He also suggested that we put my dad's favorite music on in the room. (Luckily, we had a laptop and 2 of his CDs with us.)
Wayne stayed with us during/after the mortuary prepared our dad for transport. And confirmed with us several times that we were sure we didn't need any more time with our dad.
I've never been one to believe that people are put in your life at certain times for certain reasons. However, I fully believe Wayne was put in our lives to get us through the most painful days of our lives because, without him, I don't know that we would have. We will never be able to find all of the right words to express our gratitude and appreciation to Wayne.