SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Barb Barnes. In 2005, Barnes underwent major open-heart surgery. She was a single mom and terrified of what might happen to her young daughter if things didn't go well.
BARB BARNES: I mean, it was open-heart surgery. And at one point, during the hospitalization, they were going to start tapering my opiate meds, and I remember being filled with terror. It just came from my feet all the way to my face, and I felt like it was just wrong. And so I declined tapering and kept asking for the opioids.
And at one point, this nurse that had been taking care of me, this wonderful woman, came in - I'm going to tear up - and closed the door, asked if she could take my hand. And she said, I need to talk to you about some things I'm worried about for you. But first, I need to tell you something about myself, if that's OK. She told me that she had just been back to work for about a month from being in rehab for recovery from opioid addiction, and then she said, I don't want this to happen to you.
What she told me was that she had watched me, and she believed that I was confusing pain with fear and that I was trying to take the opioids to make the fear go away. But she said that she would be with me every step of the way with a pain plan, that if I - the pain came back, whether she was on duty or not, they could call her, and she would help me work through it.
And from that incredible experience, she changed my life. I mean, oh, my gosh, the vulnerability of a medical person saying, I'm an addict. I don't know if, even since, I have felt that cared about by someone. And the reason that I felt so much care is because she was willing to be right shoulder-to-shoulder with me, and I trusted her completely.
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BARNES: I don't know where I would be, honestly, without her having done that. I'm pretty sure I would not be where I am today with a terrific relationship with my daughter, terrific relationships with my friends, independent and able to help others. And she always will be my unsung hero and not just when I'm in pain.
PFEIFFER: Barb Barnes lives in Helena, Montana. Her daughter is Autumn Barnes, who's now a producer of the "My Unsung Hero" series. Autumn recorded this interview with her mom. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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