These real life stories will inspire and amaz you. A priest learns to forgive the drug abuser, a man he was trying to help, who shot him. An elderly blind woman learns to accept a second failed surgery to restore her vision. A terminally I'll woman who live just long enough to dance at her son's wedding. 'The Human Side of Nursing' is a short story collection about the day-to-day experiences of a visiting nurse and the patients and families under her care. This is the second edition which adds six more stories to the original book. Through these 21 vignettes, the author, a registered nurse, illustrates how illness, aging, and disability affect individuals and families. As her patients learn to manage their health and reconstruct their relationships, they regain hope and meaning for their lives. The patients' interaction with the nurse and the professional challenges and joys she experiences are the central themes of this book. The vignettes, all written in layman's terms, will make you smile, laugh, and cry. The stories are meant to look beneath the surface to the deeper part of human nature. They show the connection among individuals, families, and communities and the challenges and triumphs of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The story themes are similar--joy, fear, anger, confusion, self-determination, and personal growth. Nurses, nursing students, family caregivers, or anyone interested in warm inspirational stories will enjoy this collection. Many have been published previously in nursing journals.