Jess

Content is R rated so if you have a weak stomach or are squeamish in any way please do not read on.




Jess was a patient of mine in the intensive care unit. Names have been changed to protect privacy.

One night being the admitting trauma nurse I was told I had a patient coming in who would "never make it through surgery". Jess had been talking to his grandmother standing on a porch step. He had been a crack addict. Jess went through rehab and had kicked his habit. He was 20 years old and had started college. According to grandma he was talking to her on the porch and she said he went sheet white, his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell backward. His head hit a cinder block and crushed his cerebellum. The reasoning is that he probably had an aneurysm that blew. We'll never know because he crushed any evidence.
He made it through surgery. Over the next six weeks I was his nurse from 7pm to 7am. Having boys of my own I started to bond with Jess. I thought of him as one of my own. He was in a vegetative state and did not respond to anything. This six weeks was spent awaiting his family coming to terms that they had lost their son. Jess was scheduled to become an organ donor. He ruptured a vessel and went back to surgery to have part of his left brain removed.
Every night I would sing to him as we worked his muscles and had a bath. We called it our "spa time". Every night he would vomit on me as I sang.
On our last night together I did my hourly neurological exam (always negative). At 4 am his eyes moved toward my moving finger. It kind of creeped me out but you never know. He was scheduled for organ donation at 6am. His parents had been sleeping in our trauma room for six weeks. They were especially upset this night as you can understand.
At our 5am neuro exam I asked Jess to move his left leg...he did. OK so wierd things happen right? Move your right leg Jess. He did.......show me your teeth. And this boy DID!!!! I called in another nurse to repeat my exam with the same results. Jess was following commands. There was someone in there! I called his parents in to see him and he smiled at them. Dad promptly fainted into all of my 14IV pumps!
One hour before we made Jess an organ donor he woke up!!
Six months later Jess walked into the ICU to give me a hug and ask me to never sing to him again. This is why I love being a nurse.