I was Margaret’s nurse when she was admitted to the hospital, Saturday July 3rd. At that time, her daughter’s, Marcella and Linda, told me they had planned a party for Mom and Dad on Sunday July 11th to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. The party was to be held at their residence in a nice family gathering room. There were to be 40 people attending, even Margaret’s flower girl she had in her wedding and her husband’s friend who had set them up together as a couple. Margaret and her husband, John met on a blind date 65 years ago.
Thursday, July 8th, she was discharged to go home. She was dressed, in her wheel chair, ready to go. The tech took her discharge vitals and discovered she had a fever and her oxygenation was very low. Unfortunately Margaret had to stay in the hospital and be re-admitted. She was very disappointed, as was Marcella and Linda.
I was blessed to be Margaret’s nurse again Friday July 9th. Marcella updated me on what had happened the past week and asked if there was any chance I thought Mom could make it home for the party. I told her we would do our best to make it happen, but if she couldn’t make it home, we could come up with “a plan B” – to bring the party to the hospital.
Mid morning Friday, Margaret’s health took a turn for the worse and we thought we were going to loose her. I notified Dr. Rennick of Margaret’s change in status. He left the clinic right away and came over to the hospital within 15 minutes. I notified the family and they made it to the hospital as soon as they could. By the time Dr. Rennick came, Margaret was starting to stabilize. By Saturday, Margaret was back to her normal baseline, even doing better than expected. Her appetite improved, she was being weaned down on the oxygen and her activity increased. She was able to tolerate walking in her room 3 times! We were all hopeful that she may be discharged Saturday if she continued to do well.
I offered to go with Margaret to her party for 2 hours and return with her. But I told the family and Margaret that I need to get this cleared by Dr. Rennick, my supervisor, Andy, and Margaret’s insurance. Andy said we need to check with Margaret’s insurance and he would check with his boss, Sharon. He said he didn’t think Medicare would allow a 2-3 hour pass but he would check. Dr. Rennick didn’t feel Margaret was stable enough to be discharged. He said he would feel more comfortable with Margaret leaving for 2 -3 hours with nursing supervision and oxygen. He even wrote this as an order. Unfortunately, Medicare wouldn’t allow a 2-3 hour pass. Margaret would have to be discharged and this wasn’t going to happen.
Sunday morning, I knew we had to go with “plan B” - having the party here at the hospital. I told the family and Margaret. The family was disappointed but understood. I knew by Margaret’s demeanor the rest of the day, that she was very disappointed. I asked the daughter’s if they would be bringing their dad to the hospital for the party. They said “unfortunately Dad wasn’t feeling well enough to come to the hospital.” They would be inviting who ever could come from the party after it ended (at 7pm) and continue the celebration with Mom here at the hospital. I told Margaret that I would do all that I could to bring the party here for her. At this point Margaret didn’t care anymore. I felt helpless and knew I needed to do something.
I was in contact with Linda during the day. She was planning on bringing a couple of items over from the party and a nice dress Margaret could change into. She said all of her brothers and sisters and couple of grandkids would be coming but not sure of how many others would come.
I thought we should have the party in our newly remodeled waiting room, off of the main entrance. It was a beautiful, comforting, spacious environment, and easy for people to find. I discussed this with Andy and the security guard on duty, Mike. They both thought this would be a great idea. I presented this to the family and they all thought this was a wonderful idea. I asked Andy and Mike if there were any party decorations in the hospital that I could use to decorate the area for the party. Mike said “No, but you can always go to the dollar store in town.’’. I asked Andy if this would be ok. He said “definitely” and handed me some money. Julia RN, the nurse working with me, said she would watch my patients for me while I went into town.
So I left and went to the dollar store. When I arrived, I noticed they were closed. Franks Grocery Store was just next door, so I went there to see what they had. I bought Margaret a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a card and found a package of balloons that had “celebrate” on them and had all 18 of them blown up. I also found a Hawaiian lei (in the dollar section) for her to wear. I bought one for John too. Just in case he was able to come. If not, the family could bring it home to him. Also purchased 2 disposable camera’s for the family (incase one of them didn’t bring a camera or if a battery ran out).
I arrived back to work and kept the balloons and flowers in a room off of the nurses’ station. We all signed the card for Margaret. Jo (HUC) assisted with calling the kitchen to see if they could bring up a couple of carts with coffee, soda, chips and snacks to bring down to the lobby. . It was supper time, a busy time for the kitchen, and Char took the time to set up and bring the refreshment carts to the floor. Jo also arranged to have a VHS player and TV to bring to the lobby, so the family could show Margaret the video of the party she missed.
I was able to pass the rest of my meds and round on all my patients. At the end of my shift, I asked Amy, one of the tech’s working 3p – 11p, to assist me with bringing the balloons, flowers, etc down to the lobby to help set up the room. She was more than willing to help. As we were heading towards the elevators, Linda and Marcella stepped out with bags of items to set up for the party. I asked Jo if she could help Linda get Margaret into her dress and wheelchair and get her ready to go down to the lobby. She, again, was more than willing to help.
Marcella, Amy and I went to the lobby and set up for the party. We were greeted by Margaret’s family: her son Phillip and his wife, her son John and his wife, Marcella’s husband, her daughter Linda’s boyfriend and two of the grandsons. Marcella said the others wouldn’t be coming; it was too difficult for them to make it.
Marcella had brought a couple pictures with. One was the original picture of Margaret, her husband, the best man, maid of honor and flower girl at their wedding. The other picture was of the whole family, with all the kids, grandkids and great-grand kids that was taken a few years ago. The original cake topper was even brought and displayed. I scattered the balloons all over the room. Everything looked beautiful!!!
When Margaret arrived, she appeared to be overwhelmed and in shock. She said “I didn’t expect all of this”. I put the lei around her neck, gave her the flowers and told her that we wanted her to be surprised. She was speechless.
The family showed her pictures from their cameras of the party, she opened cards and a few gifts family had brought over from the party. They even sang to her. We took pictures. The family also brought over some cake from the party.
I gave Marcella the number to the nurses’ station to call when they were ready to bring Margaret back up. I told her there was no time limit, to take their time and enjoy. Margaret and her family were very appreciative for all that we did to make this day special for her.
As I walked away I thought to myself, how blessed I am to be working with a wonderful group of people every weekend, here at Lakeland Medical Center. It was heartwarming to see the teamwork and collaboration that made the day so special for Margaret and her family. Everyone was more than willing to help. They didn’t hesitate one bit. It’s also nice to know that my philosophy of taking care of patients is shared by my co-workers, no matter what department they work in.


Laura Reuteler, RN (Weekends)
Medical Unit
Lakeland Medical Center