[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” text_font=”Georgia||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”20px” text_line_height=”1.6em” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
A Life in Nursing, Service, and Grace<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve spent my life as a nurse\u2014first in the Navy, then the Air Force, then in civilian practice\u2014and if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned, it\u2019s that no two days, no two patients, and no two moments are ever the same. What stays constant is this: you keep the patient first, you keep the team close, and you keep going.<\/span><\/p>\n Some encounters stay with you forever.<\/span><\/p>\n There was a retired gentleman with more medical issues than anyone deserved, but he was always kind to me. He refused to be admitted unless I was on duty. I knew his history so well I barely needed to look at the chart. He once told my chief nurse that I had \u201cgrown up into a fine nurse,\u201d and I carried that with me for years.<\/span><\/p>\n There was a young mother with a terminal diagnosis\u2014small children at home, a husband still in training. Our chief nurse held that family together with a kind of grace I still admire. When the young woman passed, our whole unit went to the funeral. We had dinner afterward and cried together. That\u2019s what a real team does.<\/span><\/p>\n I made mistakes too. Every nurse does. Early in my career, I misread an order because I wanted to prove myself. My preceptor and the doctor sat me down, talked me through it, and I never made that mistake again. That lesson stayed with me longer than any textbook.<\/span><\/p>\n Nursing has changed over the years. What we once thought was safe practice would be unthinkable now. We used to check sugar and acetone before giving insulin. We titrated morphine drips by hand, adjusting hourly based on respirations. It was a different world, but we did the best we could with what we had.<\/span><\/p>\n Some patients break your heart and strengthen it at the same time. There was a man who came in often\u2014unstable, declining, and overlooked. One morning I found him slumped in a wheelchair, deteriorating fast. I called the doctor, got orders, and pushed past every delay to get him medevaced. He survived. When he returned a few days later, he cried and thanked me for saving his life.<\/span><\/p>\n Another young man refused ER care. I talked with him the next day about not denying help. He cried too. Sometimes the hardest patients are the ones who need you most.<\/span><\/p>\n I cared for a hospice patient whose sister sat quietly at his bedside. She whispered, \u201cIt\u2019s okay to go.\u201d A single tear rolled down his cheek. I stepped forward to call the time of death, and he took one last deep breath with his sister holding his hand. No other family. Just us.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve taught many students over the years\u2014new grads, corpsmen, EMTs. My daughter grew up around it. She was ten years old and could place a Combi-tube better than some adults. That early exposure sparked her interest, and now she\u2019s been an ER nurse for over a decade. She told me she would graduate cum laude, and she did\u2014BSN from BSU. I\u2019m proud of her.<\/span><\/p>\n Military service shaped me too. I was selected to staff a Pacific ship. I earned my med-surg clinician credential twice because I got bored and recertified again. My evaluations reflected that drive. I was stationed in Illinois first\u2014folks there weren\u2019t impressed with a Chicago girl in Rantoul, but I learned to win people over by teaching, listening, and showing up.<\/span><\/p>\n Some memories still sting. A corpsman I grew close to was killed. Military rules said officers and enlisted shouldn\u2019t get too close, but life doesn\u2019t always follow rules. Losing him taught me that compassion is worth the risk.<\/span><\/p>\n And then there are the funny moments\u2014families bringing cookies so often we finally realized it was a bribe. A surgeon asking me a patient\u2019s name in the OR and me wanting to crawl under the table because I didn\u2019t know it. Lessons learned the hard way tend to stick.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve had my share of medical challenges recently. They\u2019ve slowed me down, but they haven\u2019t taken away my gratitude. God has thrown some wicked things my way, but I take it one day at a time and pray every morning. I come from a big, close family\u2014four kids born within a year\u2014and that foundation has carried me through everything.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve lived a long nursing life. I\u2019ve saved lives, held hands at the end, taught students, raised a nurse, served my country, and tried to leave every place better than I found it. If any of this helps someone else, then it\u2019s worth sharing.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mary \u2014 In Her Own Words A Life in Nursing, Service, and Grace I\u2019ve spent my life as a nurse\u2014first in the Navy, then the Air Force, then in civilian practice\u2014and if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned, it\u2019s that no two days, no two patients, and no two moments are ever the same. What stays […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-720","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n