Christy Samuel lives in Wylie with her husband Ryan and their two children: Carson, 13, and Riley, 8. A hospice nurse, Christy also does speaking events and is writing a book to educate others on the importance of hospice care.
7:15AM I get out of bed, as it’s safe with all of the boys gone. I’m not a morning person by any means, and my wonderful husband gets the kids ready and off to school. I throw some stuff in the crock pot for dinner tonight.
7:20AM I get my coffee and sit outside with my laptop and phone, checking reports from overnight to see if I need to change my schedule for the day. If one of my 13 patients calls overnight, I follow up with them by phone and see if another visit is needed.
7:30AM I hop in the shower with my coffee and prepare for the day.
8AM I head out to see my patients at the nursing home. I can go early, because the workers have them up for the day. Most of my home patients prefer later visits.
8:45AM I’ve seen my three patients and start to chart my visits. As I prepare for my next visit, I get a call from school that my youngest son hit his head in the gym. After talking to the school nurse, I know he’s OK, but I go ahead and give my office a heads up.
9:30AM My oldest son sends me a text telling me he forgot a book he needs for class. I rush home to get it and bring it to him.
10:30AM I drive to my see my home patient in Farmersville; it’s a 45-minute drive from my house. During my drive, I get five texts from aides updating me on patients and a new order from my doctor that I have to call the pharmacy about and get delivered. By the time I’ve made it to my patient’s home, I’m also given a new admission.
11:45AM My visit is done, and I’m headed to the office in Dallas for supplies – an hour drive. On the way to my office, I call the LVN I work with to update her on my last visit and see if she can add another patient to her caseload since I have an admission now.
1PM I get what I need from the office and contact the marketer to be sure the admission is signed up and ready for me. This admission is in McKinney in the person’s home. I drive 40 minutes to get there.
1:30PM My husband sends me a sweet message and asks if it’s OK for him to go out for drinks after work. I’m fine with it, because he rarely does this and we only have swimming tonight, no basketball practice. I text my oldest son, telling him to stay after school for a make-up test.
1:45PM I arrive at the admission’s home. It’s going to be a long one; I can tell as soon as I walk in that there are lots of issues and questions about hospice care. I educate the family and answer questions while obtaining a detailed health history.
3PM I didn’t make it in time to get my youngest son in the car line, so he’s gone to after-school care. I arrive to get him a little early. He asks if I had a patient die today. I tell him not today, but I got a new one. We talk about my job a lot around our house, and both of my boys are so compassionate and caring. Most important, they’re not scared of death.
3:30PM We arrive home. I start charting my admission, and I place several calls to families to update them on their loved ones.
4:30PM I run up to the junior high to get my oldest. While I’m driving home, I get a call that one of my nursing home patients has had a change in condition and isn’t responding. I send the boys to my neighbor’s house while I go see my patient.
5:45PM I get home from seeing my patient, who had just been sleeping heavily. No emergency. I get the boys home from the neighbor’s house and feed them the crock-pot dinner.
6:15PM We all head out to go to my oldest son’s swim team practice. I get to work out while he swims, and the youngest plays basketball in the YMCA gym.
8PM We get home and my husband is watering the yard. I get the boys off to shower and get ready for bed.
8:45PM The boys have quiet time in their rooms with a book until 9pm. I sit down to finish charting my visits for the day and send a text to one of my aides about meeting her tomorrow for a visit with a difficult patient.
9:30PM I’m finally done charting. I write a brief story for a book I’m writing about hospice and send a few email inquiries about speaking at churches. Now it’s time to relax with my husband. We talk about the day and catch up on our recorded show New Girl. We’re behind two weeks. Next thing you know, my youngest son is sleepwalking upstairs, and we have to redirect him to his room.
10:30PM I get ready for bed and lie down to read.
11:15PM My husband wakes me up when he turns off my bedside light and removes the book I apparently fell asleep with. Yes, that happens a lot!
12AM I wake up because I’m sweating, and there’s my youngest boy curled up next to me; he apparently sleepwalked into our room. This happens a couple times a week.
Diaries are penned by moms (and dads) in the Dallas area. The authors volunteer to share a day of their choosing and are not paid or endorsed by DallasChild. Send your diary to editorial@dfwchild.com. All submissions are subject to editing and may be cut for space.
Published November 2013
