What Now? Who Next?

One of our wonderful hospice nurses is leaving. She’s returning to A&E to carry out, as she puts it, “some unfinished business”. I told her that wherever she lands in healthcare she will leave her mark. Our hospice’s loss is A&E’s gain. It came as no surprise to discover that she wants to acquire more experience in critical care before eventually returning to a palliative role once more. She’s passionate about hospice work, helping terminal patients to live out their lives by responding to and treating symptoms as they arise. As far as living is concerned the goal is always achievable quality in spite of the stubborn ‘unknowns’ around quantity. She will be sorely missed but we have the greatest trust and belief in whoever comes next. The hospice has an outstanding nursing team.

It’s been a difficult fortnight or so, largely due to Mags having a bad reaction to new meds. So I’ve been leaning a little more on the hospice. “When in a quandary just pick up the phone,” I was told by one of the team. This is new and changeable territory we find ourselves in and it’s virtually impossible to map. Anyone who travels here leaves no footprints, although the landscape is littered with turned stones. Most clues are non-specific. Potential answers are all too often obscured by a veil of vagueness. So tapping into the well of expertise and experience with one phone call can prove to be an almost magical event, and to have confidence in the offered reassurance is priceless.