Estrella, while running through the hallway with her portable computer, happened to glance at my room next to her own patient's. I am a woman that looks like I am on my deathbed. I am emaciated, pale, weak and exhausted. I am a cancer patient not a day older than 40 chronologically, yet look like 80. I summoned Estrella with a wave of my pale gray hand to come closer. With a wavering voice that was almost a whisper, I asked if she could give me some medication for nausea. I could tell she was busy with other critical care patients and ED patients, she was probably thinking "I AM BUSY", and although I wasn't her patient, she looked through my record and saw that I was due for a dose of Zofran and Dilaudid.

As she was giving me the medication, I touched her hand, looked her in the eye and whispered: "Thank You! Nurse, can I tell you something?" I just looked at her and calmly said: "I just want to tell you, that my time and your time here in this world are limited. Everything that you do, you have to do because you want to do it. Make every decision count. Make every minute count. Slow down, enjoy yourself. Money, fame, looks, titles aren't everything."

Estrella writes: "If this one person can remind me what we should value in life, I hope that this can help one or two people in my circle, reevaluate how life should really be lived. We often ignore the warning signals, stress, the chest pain, the sleepless nights, the relationships that do not work. These daily signs are telling us to realize that each minute that passes cannot be retrieved or relived again. Before we know it, what little time we have left in this lifetime, is spent regretting the mistakes we made; the bad choices; the people whom we didn't appreciate; the people whom we loved and never took a chance to share it with them; the places that we have always dreamed of visiting: all the "what, ifs" and the "might and could have been."

This patient reminded us to realize what is important and the patient was so grateful for this personal interaction and Estrella's kindness, it shows that both patient and RN were at the receiving end of comfort and catharsis. Estrella also goes on to say that as an RN she is truly humbled and grateful for the opportunity for being in the profession where I can take care and help people. Without her knowing or expecting it, she too is being healed with every patient she encounters.

Estrella is a positive force in our ED. Rarely a week goes by that she does not receive recognition from her patients and families for her positive spirit. She is both sympathetic and empathetic.