The Nurse's Story: Authors Note

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The Nurse's Story Author's note - 1997

It's been over ten years since I first wrote "The Nurse's Story" and in that time much has changed, in nursing, in the medical system and in my life.
Still, as I read it over again from the perspective of time and experience, I see a love here that for me has never been matched.
The nurse in this book is not only me, but when Teri Daley's experiences were my own, and when her patients were mine, like Yves and Rachael and Robin and Steve....and of course, Melody, I found myself amazed at how much of each of them had stayed alive within me over all this time.

I remember how each looked and sounded, I still remember the touch of their skin, the way they smelled, the sound of their voices, their essence.
Though they died, my love for them never did. And I can see now that it was in helping these special people and watching them fight their battles, that I was inexorably molded and eventually armed for my own life's journey.

Now, from this vantage point, I can sometimes laugh at the young nurse in this book: she's so angry, so passionate, so self righteous even, but I am grateful that with all her flaws, she took me to very deep places in my heart which helped prepare me for the difficulties that I would encounter in my own life.
It was that young nurse in me with the fervent optimism and anger at injustice who allowed me to survive and help my daughter through my grandson's death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The knowledge I garnered from all those years spent on hospital wards, from bedsides, loving and caring for all my "patients," helped me develop the ability to stay strong for my family when they really needed me.

I write this note to all of you, especially those of you who are caretakers; whether nurses, doctors, mothers, or wives, to let you know that even after all this time, what I've learned best are the lessons I learned as a nurse.
Most important of all, my patients taught me that Life was a very special gift to be lived to its fullest and that only when we welcome life completely - with both its joys and tragedies - can we let it go with grace at the time of our own Death.

I believe with all my heart that nursing is a calling, and that especially in this time of changing agendas in the health care system, with all the changes that will be invented and enforced, the most important thing to remember, and the most healing component of that system is still the "caretaker," the nurse who is willing to risk loving her patients - because then healing will take place no matter what the outcome.
I also know now, without a doubt, that caring for others is the greatest gift of all....and when done with love and compassion, it heals the healer as well.

I offer this to you with love,
-Carol Gino

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