Categories: spirituality
Date: 10 February 2008 19:16:47
I recently had the experience of caring for a baby on their last night on this world. We knew it was likely that she would die the following day, and considering everything, it was the best thing that could happen. For obvious reasons I'm not going to discuss any of the specific details, but instead my personal reaction.
Privileged. Deeply privileged to have the opportunity to care for someone on their very last night. Which is a feeling that struck me by surprise. Obviously it was also very sad, but for most of the night the overwhelming feeling of being incredibly privileged was apparent. I personally had the responsibility of making sure that she was comfortable, peaceful and pain free. A task that I took seriously, more seriously than I would do normally (which raised an ethical question in my head).
When I was a student we had a lecturer who had been a specialist in children's palliative care. She taught me most of what I know about the subject, and was an excellent lecturer who I have remained in contact with since finishing university. She once managed to scare the living daylights out of me when she told me she thought I had the potential to be a palliative care nurse one day. She said I had v.good listening skills and she sensed I would be good at it. As a friend put it once, its like being told you'll make a good minister. Its scary. Incredibly scary.
Who knows what the future holds. I don't have any definite career plans, only vague ideas and I'll have to see what comes up when I feel ready to move on (which probably won't happen for a while). But I do know one thing - I will never forget the emotions I felt and the memory of that night.