02.20.09
Intense tea: Serving tea in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
posted by Nini Ordoubadi | 20 comments
Not in a million years did I think that I would be serving my tea blends in the ward of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at Providence Hospital in Portland, Oregon, where only critically ill patients are cared for 24 hours a day by a dedicated staff of nurses and doctors.
When my older brother, Noah, suffered an aortic dissection on November 30 and was admitted to this ward, it took me a short while to absorb the fact that my perfectly healthy brother (a doctor himself), happily married and the father of two small children, suddenly went from an energetic, healthy man to a “critically ill patient in the CICU”.
I packed my suitcase, kissed my husband goodbye (we live in New York City), and left for Oregon as soon as possible. I was not, nor could I ever have been, prepared for what I encountered next. I walked in to find my brother lying on a bed, with a million tubes, catheters, and wires attached to him. He had just undergone yet another surgery (he has had ten to date) and was intubated, a giant plastic tube in his mouth, connected to a heart-lung machine that was breathing for him. His face was jaundiced and swollen. Where was my healthy, always smiling brother? I felt my heart swell with an indescribable pain.
Nonetheless, I kept a stoic face in front of my sister-in-law, Kim, and just quietly looked at him and held his hand in mine. Noah seemed inert, barely breathing with eyes closed. I send a voiceless prayer to God asking for strength and patience. I had come here to serve him with what I call my own brand of “Spirit Entertainment”. It would be in this room that I would practice my daily regimen of aromatherapy and hands-on Reiki and serve him and others a vast array of my own tea blends as well as amuse him with silly stories and jokes of our childhood supplemented by music and slide shows on my laptop.
I took a quick look around the room. There was no window and my brother (a sun worshipper) needed light. I knew immediately that I had to request a room with a view. The very next day, this wish was granted and we were moved to Room 7, the only large room in the CICU with a huge window that faces south.
Next on the to-do list was creating a “Healing Altar” on the windowsill. I moved his bed around to face the window and the altar and away from the buzz of activity and noise near the front door. On the altar, I placed pictures of Noah with the entire family and some objects that were symbolic of him and his world, a crystal Buddha, toys made by his kids, two purple hyacinths (his favorite flower), a copy of his recent book, Wellness At Warp Speed, and three of my teas: Better Than Sex , Persian Rose, and Noah’s Arc (a new tea that I had blended in honor of my greatest tea fan).
Each morning, I made a fresh pot of tea and served it to all the nurses and doctors that walked into his room. Soon everyone on the ward was drinking tea, loving the taste, and referring to Room 7 as “the spa room”! The favorite was my Better Than Sex blend, which is a no-caffeine Rooibos tea with bits of Belgian dark chocolate and peppermint. I asked my manager, Cathy, to send Tay teas for all of the CICU staff.
Not only were the teas a hit, they created an instant connection between the staff and us, the family, that were in the room caring for my brother. I learned a big lesson here. I had always thought of tea served and shared in a peaceful and beautiful environment. Being an interior decorator and stylist, aesthetics has always been my top priority in creating environments, be it in my own home, in clients’ homes, or in my tea shop and especially when serving my teas. I have always insisted on using my favorite glass teapot and warmer and the delicate Persian tea glasses that I serve my teas in.
What I found out in the trenches of the CICU for over a month and a half was that this was nice, but not necessary. The hospital’s wobbly, white styrofoam cups did the job just fine. The comfort that tea provides is heartfelt when served with the right intent, even if it is in a sterile hospital room.
I am so grateful that I have had this opportunity to experience yet another facet of tea and to be part of the healing journey of my beloved brother.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Nini,
This is an amazing story! I work in a hospital where we have created a patient-centered environment. However, your story goes beyond anything that we have tried to do for our patients. I dearly want to give every patient and family (as well as staff) the kind of environment that you created. Thank you for sharing this.
February 20th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Your story is heart felt. Noah is lucky to have such a devoted sister. I hope there’s a happy ending and that your brother continues on the road to health. I did a similar situation at OHSU with a friend in the cardiac unit - but just for a few days - clearly not as sick as your brother. I brought in an electric dispensing hot pot and opened the door to all the docs and nurses. They reacted the same way as was your experience. Tea is a great healer, connector and soother for ALL. It should be offered to all patients throughout the day just as water is routinely given. I hope what you’ve done at Providence will be a model that someone will continue. Let’s all send some healing energy to Noah. I imagine this experience will for ever change his practice of medicine. It sounds like he was a unique physician even before this ordeal. Thanks so much for sharing your story.
February 21st, 2009 at 1:56 am
I feel so honored to have been part of this experience. I love you Nini. You are the coolest aunt and a best friend. Your energy is full of love and you spread it everywhere you go. You leave a trace everywhere you go. I am so proud of you.
February 21st, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Nini -
Thank you for sharing this great story. It’s wonderful to have yet another tea aficionado hallow the halls of Providence Hospital. Tea is the universal healer and connector. All hospitals should have tea shops within their walls, instead of McDonalds.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:38 pm
nini, i wish i had you there at the hospital in NY when my father was sick. Hospitals are awful places these days and one has to know how to navigate oneself. To have someone like you in ICU serving tea, is a testament that the hospital was empathic to the family’s needs but i can imagine you and with your beautiful spirit, lifting everyone’s spirit.
i want a sample of this tea at the memorial on Saturday.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Dearest Nini,
Thank you so much for sharing this moving account of how you enlightened people’s spirit in a grim critical care unit of a hospital by serving your tea which became not only an elixir of sobriety and wakeful tranquility but also a means of spiritual refreshment.
I can only imagine how in a most stressful environment of a hospital where people live in a sea of negativity of life and its circumstances, your engaging in a ritual of brewing tea and partaking of it created an occasion for spiritual conviviality and a way to go beyond this world. At that point your tea went being beyond a mere physical refreshment to an aid to meditation everyone needed.
My firm belief is that our dear Nasser accepted your gift of enlightenment and soared above the physical suffering.
I also believe in a time where people needed a connection and a stepping stool to the realm above, you provided them with that tool.
I love you for being so insighful and so caring, and above all, such a devoted human being ready to forego your own needs.
PS: Sorry, I had forgotten to type my name on above comment.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Nini,
This was such a moving account of your experience. Your kindness, love, and compassion for your brother really shine through in your writing. It is very easy to become completely emotionally drained & disheartened during such trying situations, so I commend you for bringing positive healing energy into your brother’s hospital room. Conventional hospitals are so cold, impersonal, and not at all conducive to holistic healing…I have no doubt that your presence made all the difference. Best wishes to Noah…and please keep us updated on his progress! We’ll happily celebrate his imminent recovery!!!
February 25th, 2009 at 2:44 am
Nini - your account of the mood in our CICU brought about by your teas is so true - it created a special kind of bond in the unit. The atmosphere completely changed - everyone truly embraced the energy promoted by your teas - from the ceremony of being served (even in our paper cups), the wonderful fragrances, intriguing names and delightful flavors of your teas….. The whole care team (doctors/surgeons/nurses/chaplains/aides/ therapists, etc) felt it was such a treat to share your teas. You really created such positive energy not only for your brother but for our whole unit!! Thanks.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Dear Nini:
The beauty of what you did was to bring life, warmth and spirit into such a sterile and cold environment. My own father spent over two weeks in the ICU before he died, so I have witnessed the environment you describe first hand. You endowed room 7 and the whole division at the CICU at Providence Hospital with the same positive energy and love you bring to so many people around you and did it with your life’s passion, tea. I am sure your presence gave Noah the hope and inspiration to fight his illness as long as he did.
These are the qualities we all love about you.
Love, Maryamdi
February 26th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
What a mixed bag -wonderful and sad, at the same time. You, responsible for the wonder : )
Does ‘Noah’s Arc’ have any of your brother’s favorites -any special ingredient?
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Thank you, dear Nini, for the gift of you and your teas.
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:33 pm
Okay, you are not going to believe this!! I was one of the nurses working in a neighboring unit to the CICU and I have been googling trying to find this tea!! I thought it was from McKay’s but it must be Tay’s!!
I am a new tea lover and fan over the past 5 years or so and would love to learn how to make it from loose tea?
Donna
Oregon
March 5th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Nini-
It seems that no matter where you go, in whatever kind of circumstances, you have the ability to bring people together with your lovely teas! You have such a warm spirit, and you bring that energy with you in the most dismal of places.
And I can’t wait to try Noah’s Arc!
March 10th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Is it in the Ordoubadi genes to put a positive spin even in the worst of situations? Your brother was always like that and you are no less, bravo. Thanks for sharing memories of moments that only a cup of Tay tea can sooth the pain.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Your response to this traumatic experience is extraordinary. In the darkest of situations you brought in light, not only for Noah but also for the entire unit at CICU. You have so much warmth and positivity that has affected not only your closest friends and family, but also strangers. Your teas are healing because they are created with your love and compassion. Your act of kindness is more than touching – your seemingly small acts of kindness amidst so much pain is profound. Your generosity and ability to reach out through Tay Tea has made suffering even just a little more bearable. It’s so amazing that you have been able to show patients and their families that they are not alone and that they have support from someone who understands their grief. You are a role model.
March 11th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Your brother, our dear friend, our teacher lives on.
Through you, his family, his book, and everyone he touched.
And now through your tea and the ideal it represents.
When life gives you lemons, what do you do? Make tea, of course.
Thanks so much.
March 17th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Beautiful…Please start thinking of bringing this amazing healing experience to hospitals, and clinics..you and your brother are healers. ..Noah would love for you to carry on this beautiful experience of yours that came from loving him and caring for him. xoxo
March 19th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
The power of tea…It brings together friends and family, in good times and in bad. It now connects heaven and earth. Thank you for sharing your story.
XO,
Lynda & Andy
March 26th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Nini - thank you so much for sharing your experience. You are indeed a healer - as one of the comments stated. Healing through tea - which helps to embrace the human spirit - the human sense of taste and smell and memory - universal connection.
April 27th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Dear Nini; I just found out yesterday about Dr Noah’s passing. As you may know we had a “stupid” falling out because of damn “business” dealings over a decade ago, however I
always considered him as a good friend and remained so to him in my heart.
He is truly an amazing soul with positivity engrained in his existence. In the forty years that I knew him and worked with him he was always an inspiration to me and all he came across. We all will miss his physical presence and wisdom in this plane, though I am sure he is expressing his positivity in the world beyond.
all the best
Robert