Tales from the Pager Chronicles

This book, written in the narrative nonfiction tradition, follows the protagonist as she goes from one patient to the next, prompted by her pager, in the research cancer hospital in which she works. The 32 patients run the gamut from the expected elderly patients receiving death with dignity to newly diagnosed patients in denial. The unexpected comes into play with Gypsies, Native American healers, Jesus-over-the shoulder, and a widow’s black-cloud exorcism. All this and their families too!

Rancour has an honest, humane, funny, and poetic style. She sweeps you along with her compassion, her wit, and her unerring ability to see into the truth of the matter. This book is for anyone who has an interest in what goes on in the patient rooms, hallways, stairwells, and elevators of a cancer hospital. You won’t be able to put it down.

This wonderful collection of stories captures both the miraculous and the prosaic work of nursing. These stories remind us of the intimate and profound work of the nursing profession. As this book illustrates, a day in the life of a nurse is a lifetime of meaningful work. In addition to amazing stories, Patrice Rancour gives us insight into what it s like for patients, families, doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals to face the challenge of the end of a life. --Betty R. Ferrell, PhD, RN, FAAN

Tales from the Pager Chronicles is a moving book and a call to action. The many dramatic scenarios presented by Patrice Rancour confirm the importance and urgency of the need for palliative care services to be available in every acute-care hospital. The drama, the exasperation, and the crises management could be avoided as a result of proactive palliative care management, thereby creating the dignified quality of living each and every one of us so desperately want under these circumstances. --Judy Lentz, RN, MSN, NHA