"My patient cried again, but this time she cried tears of joy. She said no one had ever done so much for her before."

Nurses provide care to people in need, and sometimes we have the opportunity to take  everything to a higher level. It happened for me when caring for a 59-year-old female patient with kidney failure. She was hospitalized for repair of her dialysis access device. There was a mix-up with her surgeon, and we had to postpone her 7:30 a.m. surgery for 10 hours, making an overnight stay necessary.

My patient cried and was upset. She had family at home who depended on her. She lived more than 100 miles away with her husband, who has a brain injury, and she took care of her granddaughter. Her husband could only care for the child for brief periods.

I went to work! I telephoned her husband, who gave me the phone number of a daughter who lived 50 miles away. She agreed to care for the child overnight. Then, I discovered that our patient had been transported to the hospital by a service that is paid by the hour and was still waiting for her. After more phone calls, the service agreed to release the driver and send another the following day.

As I went to tell my patient the good news, I realized she would need dialysis the following day. I called her physician for an order that would let me contact a local nephrologist for dialysis orders. The nephrologist arrived, examined the patient and wrote orders. Outside the patient's room, I asked the nephrologist if she thought our patient was a candidate for transplant. The physician said the patient was an excellent candidate. Upon learning of the possibility, our patient was delighted. We were even able to set up an appointment for her at a transplant facility.

My patient cried again, but this time she cried tears of joy. She said no one had ever done so much for her before; and, if the surgery had not been postponed, she would not have met me and would not be on the transplant list. She said that Saint Elizabeth is the best. I agreed and cried right along with her, both of us feeling very good about life.