🌟 Our November My Why story comes from our Powell, Wyoming agency — meet Kathy Warne.
“My introduction to hospice began in 2009. My dad had melanoma, multiple surgeries, and later mouth cancer that spread into his bone. After chemo, radiation, and everything offered, he said enough. He wanted to go home. As a nurse and his daughter, I was ready to honor that.
The hospice team came in while he was still in the hospital, and we made a plan for him to go home in a day or two. But he never made it. That night, I noticed his breathing slowing. His heart rate was dropping. My 15-year-old daughter was with me. I sent her to find my sister, and I pressed the call light. And waited. No one came.
I stood in the doorway looking for help while call lights rang unanswered. I watched him closely — long pauses between breaths — and finally a CNA came. Still, no nurse. I sat by him, talking to him, singing quietly. He loved show tunes. I think he even chuckled. His heart rate fell into the 30s, his breathing nearly gone. I took the stethoscope off the wall and climbed into bed beside him. At 8:23 pm, I was the last person to hear his heartbeat. I wrote the time on my hand and kept waiting for someone to come.
My why for working in hospice is this: I never want another family to experience that loneliness, uncertainty, or helplessness. I knew what was happening medically, but it took from me the chance to simply be his daughter. And yet, that last quiet hour with him was a gift. I got to be there with my dad.”
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