New night nurse has done wonders to aid my health and relieve stress
Her arrival eliminates an ongoing problem we've been having on the weekends
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Our prayers have recently been answered with the arrival of a new weekend night nurse, and it feels like the wheels of progress are finally turning on my journey with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), hopefully in a big way.
The nurse couldn’t have come at a better — or worse — time. My mom recently had to fly out of state to be with loved ones during a family emergency, which a month ago she wouldn’t have been able to do because, for the past two years, I’ve been too short-staffed with home health nurses, and she has had to cover many nights in a row.
For months, I’ve been asking people to pray for a replacement nurse. Finding nurses who can work nights on weekends is certainly challenging, but the new nurse is meeting expectations in many ways. She has been such a gift from God in alleviating stress.
Many problems solved
The weekend night shift has been a great source of anxiety for my mom and me. When it’s time for the night nurse to arrive, we start watching the clock intensely.
As the seconds tick by, every minute the nurse is late fills us with dread. This is because my mom gets up at 4:30 a.m. every morning to work on things all day. By 7 or 8 p.m., she is totally exhausted. Every extra minute the nurse comes past their arrival time is very hard on her psychologically and physically. When the nurse is 15-20 minutes late, we start panicking and begin wondering if they are coming at all. Will my mom have to cover the whole night when her energy is already so low?
Seeing how hard it is on my mom causes me to feel bad, too.
Thankfully, my new night nurse has been working the weekend nights for a month now, and has been consistently arriving a couple minutes early. Her punctuality gives me more comfort than a warm, soft, fluffy pillow. We hope she will stick around on my case a while. Without her stability, my mom wouldn’t have been able to leave to be with our family in their time of need.
I seem to be on a roll. My nursing agency has found two other phenomenal nurses in the past year who take good care of my physical health and have done wonders to heal my psychological stress.
I believe the Lord is creating a specially designed nursing team to power up my wheels of progress and propel my way forward. I’m so glad whenever my new night nurse smiles when she is taking care of me. This makes me smile inside and helps me to soar!
Note: SMA News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of SMA News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to spinal muscular atrophy.
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