Marilou writes of her recent experience with her Leukemia patient:

I took care of a patient who is 50 year old newly diagnosed with leukemia. What caught my attention about this patient is that she is always smiling. Every time I went to her room, she always had a lot of stories to tell such as being a housekeeper, how she loves to cook and clean, how proud she is of her two daughters going to school, and how much she loves her husband. She always loved to talk about her job and the people she worked with. Although she wasn't working anymore, her employers love her so much that they still honored her by providing her salary and continuing her health insurance.

One time, we were talking about the things that she loved to do, but the only thing she missed in her life was learning something new that no one else has time to teach her, which was knitting. I found out that it was her birthday the following week and I thought to myself, "What can I give her that will make her feel good and occupy her thoughts from all the negativity in the hospital?" I decided to get her a knitting loom kit. On one of my days off, I came to visit her and I took the time to teach her without any interruptions that I would usually get while I'm working. From that day, I still remember the smile on her face when we started knitting together.

Every time I went to work, she always asked me when I am coming back to work and she always told me to never forget to visit her. Before I started my shifts, I set aside some time to see her and to check up on her progress of knitting. Knitting became her biggest hobby and it diverted her from a lot of pain that she has been going through as a cancer patient. We formed a connection from the love that she developed for knitting. She was so proud with the first hat that she made that she came out of the room and showed everyone her accomplishment. She told me that no one has ever taken time to teach her something new.

What felt good about this whole experience is that she relied on me and trusted me with everything that is going on in her life. I was able to be by her side and help her with a lot of life-changing decisions that were to come. When they found a bone marrow match, she was so excited but scared that she came to me and asked for more of my opinion. It made me feel like an ally and it made me feel like I did something extraordinary in her life. It may be simple to help someone like this, but it really makes a difference in their lives. If this is one of the ways that I can provide comfort, I will continue to do this as a nurse.